How two women navy officers on INSV Tarini successfully navigated the globe: Their mentor explains

Indian Express

08-06-2025

After sailing aboard INSV Tarini for nearly eight months across four continents, three oceans and three Great Capes, Lieutenant Commander Dilna K and Lieutenant Commander Roopa A sailed into history on May 29, becoming the first Indian duo to circumnavigate the globe without external assistance and relying solely on wind power. The officers covered a distance of 25,600 nautical miles in the expedition with port calls at Fremantle (Australia), Lyttleton (New Zealand), Port Stanley (Falkland Islands) and Cape Town (South Africa).
Retired naval pilot Cdr Abhilash Tomy – the mentor for the expedition – holds the distinction of completing two single handed non-stop circumnavigations, including the Golden Globe Race in 2023, where he spent 236 days at sea alone with no technology.
Speaking to The Indian Express, he talked about the training of the INSV Tarini crew, and the most difficult leg of the voyage.
You have mentioned that the women officers executed a 'textbook' circumnavigation. What does that entail?
I laid down three simple rules – no collision (do not hit anything), no grounding (do not put your boat on a rock) and no man overboard (no crew falling into the water). If you do the basics right, these three things will not happen.
For instance, if you do navigation correctly, you will not have grounding and if your watchkeeping is correct, you will not have a collision.
Another objective was that it should not take too long to finish the circumnavigation. We wanted to be conservative, yet fast in approach, so that we are able to arrive at each port with minimal damage to the boat. In sailing, it is said that heroics are not rewarded, but mistakes are punished. This was a circumnavigation where there were no heroics and no mistakes.
The officers took care of the boat really well. The result is that the boat has returned in pristine shape. So, it was a 'textbook' circumnavigation.
What went into training the INSV Tarini crew?
Both officers had done about 20,000 nautical miles as part of the six-member crew during the trans-oceanic expedition from Goa to Rio de Janeiro via Cape Town. When you have six people, you can hide inside the boat. But in a circumnavigation of this sort, one has to know everything.
So, I structured my approach by first having classroom sessions, where I explained the nitty-gritty of all the components – the shape of the hull, what performance to expect from a [sloop] rig, how to start the engine, what weather to expect.
I also conducted some practical drills, where I taught them how to cast off, how to put the boat alongside [parking], and how to leave the jetty.
As most scratches to the hull usually happen while parking, I took them to sail just outside the harbour and explained the shallow patches, what is the point of no return and how to deploy the anchor.
I let them sail out solo after a couple of sea sorties with me onboard. We did a sortie to Karwar port where I joined them on the way out and they returned on their own. Then, we sent the boat to Port Blair and back with several stops. And finally, a training sortie from Goa to Mauritius and back on their own.
What did you say to the officers before they cast off for the circumnavigation?
I gave them a pep talk. I said 'do not tell yourself we are doing a circumnavigation'. I told them you have already sailed to Mauritius, just sail a bit further and you will get to Perth. Perth to Christchurch is a short hop – over 2000 miles. From New Zealand to the Falkland Islands is a tough leg.
In the Pacific, I told them I will hand-hold and constantly monitor and guide them. I gave a basic template to follow – catch on to a particular latitude, reach up to a particular longitude and from that point till 'Cape Horn', make a mad rush when there is a weather window.
En-route, they faced cyclones and we routed around them. From there, Falkland to Cape Town is the best leg since the weather is friendlier and the wind is behind you.
What was your biggest fear about the voyage?
The South Pacific leg, which is the longest with no diversions. What may happen is that there can be a big wave, something the boat cannot handle. It may start with a minor breakdown and quickly cascade to something big. The good thing about a big boat is that it does not topple or capsize quickly, but if something goes wrong, it requires a lot of effort to repair. The sail itself weighs 100 kilos. It is extremely tough for two people to change the main sail at sea. I changed it once in the Pacific, along with a crew, during a training voyage from Brazil to Cape Town. It took us seven hours and for the next 14 hours, we could not get up.
In the middle of the Pacific, the officers had a navigation panel blackout for nearly three hours. It was a challenge, but the boat was set up to deal with it. During a navigation panel blackout, the electronic chart goes off and one cannot see any wind instruments. The crew had hand-held GPS, so in such a situation, they can plot their location on the chart. Another alternative is that the electronic charts were duplicated in their phones, so the crew could use their phones for navigation.
Why is rounding 'Cape Horn' considered a major milestone for seafarers?
Rounding 'Cape Horn' is the Holy Grail of sailing. Cape Horn is located near the southernmost tip of South America and just over 800 kms from Antarctica. One has to go through difficult and unpredictable weather conditions – storms, extreme winds and towering waves – to cross the Cape, and it is a leg which has no diversionary ports. So, if anything happens, you are on your own out there. People think that rounding Cape Horn is tough. It is not the rounding that is difficult. What is difficult is to reach there.