Two Indian Navy women officers to embark on circumnavigation journey on Oct 2

New Delhi: Two women officers of the Indian Navy are set to undertake a circumnavigation of the globe in a sailboat, crossing the equator twice in a 40,000 km voyage powered only by the wind.

Lt Cdr Dilna K and Lt Cdr Roopa A will start from Goa on Oct 2 and brave the elements for over eight months negotiating the ‘roaring forties’, ‘furious fifties’ and ‘screaming sixties’ all alone before returning to Goa in May 2025.

“The voyage will lead to discovery and rediscovery of the seas,” Vice Admiral Krishna Swaminathan, Vice Chief of the Naval Staff said here on Monday, formally launching the adventurous voyage named Navika Sagarparikrama-II.

Dilna and Roopa will sail through some of the most treacherous waters including the perilous passage around the three great Capes - Cape Leeuwin, Cape Horn and the Cape of Good Hope.

“We will also have to pass through the Drake Passage, which is very dangerous,” said Roopa, who hails from Puducherry. Her partner Dilna is from Kozhikode.

Named after 16^th century English explorer Sir Francis Drake, this is a body of water between Cape Horn, Chile and Argentina, and a part of Antarctica. With no resistance from any land mass, waves here are known to top 40 ft.

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

“We will be sailing mostly below 40 degrees south latitude and going even up to 56 degrees south. Antarctica will be 500-600 miles away from us,” said Dilna.

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. The same sail boat will be used by Dilna and Roopa.

“The stops are needed because the boat absorbs a lot of pounding. They need to check the structural strength of the boat at the harbours, where they would be spending around two weeks,” Vice Admiral Swaminathan said.

For the trip, the duo trained for three years during which they took multiple ocean trips totalling 38,000 nautical miles. They were also mentored by the ace sailor Commander Abhilash Tomy (Rtd). "We are fully prepared for the voyage," the two officers said.