Navika Sagar Parikrama: India’s first all-women circumnavigation expedition flagged-off

India’s first all-women crew circumnavigation expedition named as Navika Sagar Parikrama was flagged off by Defence Minister Nirmala Sitharaman in Goa.
The crew belongs to Indian Navy and is sailing Indian Naval Sailing Vessel Tarini (INSV Tarini). It will circumnavigate globe in approximately 165 days and is expected to return to Goa in April 2018.

Key Facts

The expedition will be covered in five legs, with stop-overs at 4 ports viz. Fremantle (Australia), Lyttleton (New Zealand), Port Stanley (Falklands) and Cape Town (South Africa) for replenishment of ration and repairs as necessary.
The 6 member crew: Lt Cdr Vartika Joshi and Lt Payal Gupta from Uttarakhand, Lt Cdr P Swathi (Andhra Pradesh), Lt Cdr Pratibha Jamwal (Himachal Pradesh), Lt Aishwarya Boddapati (Telangana) and Lt Shourgrakpam Vijaya Devi (Manipur).
Women Empowerment: It has been named Navika Sagar Parikrama in consonance with National policy to empower women to attain their full potential. It will help to discard societal attitudes and mindset towards women in India by raising visibility of their participation in challenging environment.
Environment Friendly: The expedition also aims at harnessing renewable energy as sailing encourages use of environment friendly non-conventional renewable energy resources. During their voyage, the crew will collect and update Ocean/Meteorological/Wave data on regular basis for accurate weather forecast by India Meteorological Department (IMD) and subsequent analysis by R&D organisations. It will also monitor and report marine pollution on high seas.

INSV Tarini

INSV Tarini is a 55-foot sailing vessel, built indigenously by M/s Aquarius Shipyard Pvt Ltd, Goa. It was inducted in Indian Navy in February 2017. Its mast is 25 metres and has been custom-built by M/s Southern Spars, Cape Town (South Africa), for sailing in extreme conditions.
It carries a suite of six sails, including a main sail, head sails (Genoa and stay sails), downwind sails and storm sail. It has Raymarine navigation suite and array of satellite communication systems on board. It is sister vessel of INSV Mhadei which was used by Captain (Retd) Dilip Donde to successfully undertake India’s first solo circumnavigation in 2009.

Month: Current Affairs - September, 2017