An all-women crew of Indian Navy, preparing to circumnavigate the globe in 2017, today returned on the INS Mhadei after participating in the International Fleet Review at Visakhapatnam.
"What's unique is that Mhadei, Indian Navy's famous sailing vessel, is skipped and crewed by an all-women crew for the first time," a Navy spokesman said.
The boat today returned to her homeport of Goa.
The crew of Mhadei is undergoing a training to attempt circumnavigation of the globe in 2017.
Lt Commander Vartika Joshi, a naval architect, was appointed the first woman Skipper of Mhadei on February 8, prior to the return voyage. Her shipmates are Lt P Swathi, Lt Pratibha Jamwal (Air Traffic Control specialists), Lt Vijaya Devi and Sub Lieutenant Payal Gupta (both Education officers).
The sixth member of the crew, Lt B Aishwarya, is a naval architect and is expected to join the boat shortly.
After undergoing theoretical training in navigation, communication, seamanship and meteorology at Kochi, the team is now training under the guidance of Cdr Dilip Donde, the first Indian to circumnavigate the globe solo in 2009-10 by the same boat.
As a part of the training, the crew would make a voyage to Mauritius in May.
They would shift to a new boat, of the same class as Mhadei, ordered from Aquarius Shipyard here and slated for delivery in February 2017.
During the return voyage, Mhadei and her crew encountered moderately rough weather and heavy seas in the Gulf of Mannar.
