Two women officers of Indian Navy start their round-the-world trip on a sailboat

Chief of the Naval Staff Admiral Dinesh Kumar Tripathi flagged off the historical journey in presence of Chief of the Southern Naval Command Vice Admiral V Srinivas and others.

New Delhi: As they set sail for a 40,000 km voyage around the globe, Lt Commander K Dilna and A Roopa will also look for large animals and collect data on micro-plastic pollution for Indian scientists.

The two Indian Navy officers on Wednesday embarked on an eight-month long circumnavigation journey in a sailboat during which they will cross the equator twice and sail across some of the world’s most desolate and dangerous places, hoping for a successful return by May 2025.

“They represent an India which defies societal dogmas and aspires to explore new frontiers,” Chief of the Naval Staff Admiral Dinesh Tripathi said.

Admiral Tripathi, who flagged off the journey at Panaji, said the two navy officers on board INSV Tarini would also collect scientific data for experiments planned by two leading research institutes.

They would collect samples and carry out a few preliminary tests for a collaboration with the team at Panaji-based National Institute of Oceanography studying the impacts of marine microplastics and ferrous content across the seas.

They will also look for Mega Faunas or large sea mammals for a project with the Wildlife Institute of India, Dehradun.

Lt Cdr Roopa and Dilna will spend most of their time on setting up sails, keeping a close watch on navigational aids, maintaining the equipment and the boat and sending daily situation reports to the naval headquarters.

Their first port of call will be Fremantle in Australia, where they may reach after 45-50 days. The next stop will be Lyttleton (New Zealand) followed by Port Stanley (Falkland) and Cape Town (South Africa) before they return to Goa.

All alone in the middle of nowhere, the two women sailors will have to brave the ‘roaring forties’, ‘furious fifties’ and ‘screaming sixties’ as they will move across four continents through three oceans and three challenging capes.

For nearly three years, they received extensive training and sailing exposures as they took part in multiple deep ocean expeditions. In the ocean, they will completely rely on wind power, even though the boat has an engine for entering and exiting a harbour. The boat also has modern navigation and communication tools.

This is the second all-women circumnavigation attempt by the Indian Navy, which comes seven years after the first one by a six-member crew on board INSV Tarini.