Indian Navy's sailing vessel INSV Mhadei, which was home to two Indians while they scripted history by circumnavigating the world, is set to complete one lakh nautical miles of sailing this month.
"By the third week of this month, INSV Mhadei will cross one lakh nautical miles of sailing, while on its way to Goa," said Commander Dilip Donde, who holds the record of being the first Indian to have circumnavigated the world by sailing.
Donde, a Naval officer and skipper of the vessel, who will be sailing for Kochi from here today, said the sailing vessel had already completed over 96,000 nautical miles.
INSV Mhadei set sail from Kochi in November last year to Port Blair in Andaman and Nicobar Islands, from where it went to Visakhapatnam and sailed to Chennai.
While Donde is the first Indian to circumnavigate the world with four halts on his way, another officer Lieutenant Abhilash Tomy went a step further, and achieved the feat without any break throughout his voyage.
Donde is accompanied by three women -- Commander Gutta Sowjanya Sree and Lieutenant Vartika Joshi from the Navy and Assistant Commandant Vasundhara Chouksey from the Coast Guard.
"We are giving an experience to these women. We want more more and more people into this. At the same time,ocean sailing should be voluntary and you should not be forced into it because the stakes are very high," Donde said.
Asked what made her join the adventure sport, "We got the right person, right time and right opportunity. So I came on board," Cdr Sree told PTI.
Joshi is a regular in training on board Mhadei. "I have earlier sailed from Rio de Janero to Cape Town during January-February. This is my second time in INSV Mhadei."
"I was inspired by the experience of Cdr Donde in so many forums and so I wanted to be a part of it," Assistant Commandant Chouksey said.
