On May 21, an all-woman crew reached Goa after successfully circumnavigating the globe in a 55-foot sailboat for more than eight months, the first-ever Indian expedition steered by women sailors.
Congratulations pour in
The all-woman crew commanded ‘INSV Tarini’ and were welcomed by the Defence Minister Nirmala Sitharaman and Navy chief Admiral Sunil Lanba at INS Mandovi boat pool in Panaji. The ‘Navika Sagar Parikrama’ expedition was flagged off on September 10, 2017.
The Prime Minister of India, Narendra Modi congratulated the all-woman crew of the Indian naval vessel for sailing around the world. He tweeted,“Heartiest congratulations to Indian Navy’s all-women crew of INSV Tarini for completing the Navika Sagar Parikrama, their mission to circumnavigate the globe. Welcome home. The entire nation is proud of you”.
The historic expedition mission was led by Lieutenant Commander Vartika Joshi with the crew comprising Lt Commanders Pratibha Jamwal and Swati P, lieutenants Aishwarya Boddapati, S Vijaya Devi and Payal Gupta covered a total of 21,980 nautical miles in INSV Tarini, inducted into the Indian Navy on February 18 last year.
The mission was closely followed by the Prime Minister Narendra Modi and directly spoke to them and kept the nation’s motivation and interest.
Defence minister showers praise
Nirmala Sitaraman, Defence Minister of India said, “By the grace of God and the grit and courage that the girls have shown, they are back home to join all of us, having made history. The feat is not about girls’ achievement, it is (about) youngsters from India achieving and it is a whole motivation for the youth. The women of the country have shown to youngsters that if they want to do something they can do it indeed. In every small way and big way, the Navika Sagar Parikrama is something that we can be proud of for generations to come”.
Trained for solo-circumnavigation
A Navy official said, “The six women officers were trained for the project under Captain Dilip Donde, the first Indian to solo-circumnavigate the globe between August 19, 2009, and May 19, 2010, onboard the Indian-built vessel INSV Mhadei.The expedition was completed in six legs, with stopovers at Fremantle (Australia), Lyttleton (New Zealand), Port Stanley (Falkland Islands), Cape Town (South Africa) and Mauritius. The crew covered 21,600 nautical miles in the Indian-built sailing vessel INSV Tarini that visited five countries and crossed the Equator twice. It sailed across four continents and three oceans, and passed south of the three Great Capes – Leeuwin, Horn and Good Hope”.
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Source: DD News
