I acquired the habit of number-crunching from magazines, national dailies and TV channels. So here we go crunching numbers: did you know, for instance, that around three hundred persons (there are precisely 259 till 2005) who have sailed round the world single-handedly till today. In fact on the 15th of November 2008 world’s youngest person, Mike Perham, aged 16 only, set sail from Portsmouth to go round the world solo. Now that is called adventure.
Sailors from 25 nations only have gone solo. They are mostly from European and North American nations and Australia and New Zealand (USA, France, Britain and Australia have the largest representation) or shall we say the First World countries. A sprinkling of names from Japan, Israel, South Africa and Malaysia also appear in the list. Very soon India will also join this prestigious group.
The very first solo sailor was none other than Captain Joshua Slocum of the US. But he took the adventure rather leisurely and took almost three years to go round the globe at the close of the 19th century. Then in the 20th century, in the 1920s, 1930s and 1940s saw only two sailors each in each decade, in the 1950s - 7, 1960s - 22, 1970s - 39, 1980s - 60, 1990s - 70 and the decade of 2000s some 90 persons would have circumnavigated the globe sailing solo.
The element of time in such adventures entered into the equation only in 1968 when Captain Sir Robin Knox-Johnston, then 29, won the Sunday Times Golden Globe Race. The First ever such a race. He did that in 313 days sailing some 27,000 nautical miles. This was an East to West affair generally considered relatively easier than the West to East crossing. Ours will be an East to West crossing.
Most of the 300 solo sailors have had stops en route and only 30 odd attempts had been nonstop solo sailing round the world. Ours will be with a few stops. The time taken has been gradually reducing from 300 days to around 60 days owing, primarily, to the induction of multi-hulled yachts, GPS and improvement in autopilots and power etc.
In fact a substantial reduction in time was achieved by Dame Ellen MacArthur, a young British woman born in 1976 who broke the world record for the fastest solo navigation of the globe, a feat which cemented her international renown, in 2005 and set the record at 72 days. But in early 2008 a French sailor, Francis Joyon, recovered the record again (he held the record prior to Dame Ellen) and set it at 57 days. LOA of the yachts going solo varied between 6 and 27 metres but most common size had been around 12 metres.
From the above it would be obvious that an Indian attempt at solo navigation of the globe is in the offing. In fact Admiral Awati gave us an inkling of it in his letter to the editor in the issue of November 2008. I take the liberty of quoting the Admiral’s email to me on the subject, “Sagarparikrama (circumnavigation) was my idea and has therefore been put into my lap as the mentor. I have long toyed with the idea of an Indian solo circumnavigation. Nobody bit the bait until Admiral Arun Prakash did in 2006. I had written to successive CNS about it since 1990. Arun told me to go ahead and do it. He would find the resources. He did. Six crores. Four have gone into building this boat, now almost completed. She will be launched on the midnight of 15/16 Dec (2008) on Mandovi, Goa. You know how I came about the name of ‘Mhadei’ (Please see Admiral Awati’s letter to the editor cited above for more on the choice of the name).”
“The design came from Holland, Van de Stadt. It is labelled Tonga-56. The builder was found from among three who had tendered. He is Aquarius Fiberglass from Divar Island off Goa Velha on the Mandovi. The soloist was selected by NHQ from among volunteers called by an IG message. He is Commander Dilip Donde, a clearance diver and a keen and experienced boat sailor. Dilip will pace himself in the next months before he sets out with the Monsoon in 2009. The route is Eastbound with two halts in Australia and South Africa. The voyage should take 8 to 9 months”.
“I was lucky to obtain the interest of Sir Robin Knox-Johnston in Dilip whom he knows very well. He will be here in Feb and again in April. Soli Contactor (Captain Indian Navy (Retd)) is with me in this as my technical adviser and also to advise in pacing Dilip.”
Those of us sitting in the warmth of our armchairs have no conception as to the challenges such an adventure entails. The greatest challenge, however, comes from the sea environment itself. Whilst romantic full moon nights, balmy weather and placid seas undoubtedly mesmerize the soloist, mountainous seas, sub-zero temperatures with howling winds bring him back to reality to the vagaries of the oceans. It is an ultimate test of human ingenuity, grit, determination along with that of one’s expertise in seamanship, endurance and tenacity of the yacht and all its equipment and gear. There again it is a test of the mental faculties of the sailor who is all alone for months on end and for better part of the voyage sleeplessness, loneliness, broken gear or limb in fearsome sea environment can totally break down his morale. Many a soloist has cracked up and committed suicide or simply perished along with his yacht in the unforgiving and cruel sea because he or his boat could not stand up to extreme hazards that he or his boat encountered at sea. Yet the greater majority carried on regardless as they were made of sterner stuff even when they or their yachts were grievously wounded.
Then why do they do it? Young Mike Perham had this to say, “…It is not just me. It is about setting an example. If I can inspire kids to get up and do something, it is fantastic. That’s what drives me.”
I suppose it is like climbing Mount Everest. “I climb it because it is there,” as one mountaineer put it. Setting an example, or gaining personal glory or simply putting India on the map where most seafaring nations have left their imprints such adventures need our whole hearted support and encouragement. We became the fourth nation to send a satellite to the moon. We have climbed to almost the top rung in the IT sector then why we have not been seen even as a tiny blip on the radar of solo circum-navigation. Thank Admiral Awati, it will now happen.
Here is wishing Dilip Donde and his yacht ‘Mhadei’ bon voyage and fair winds in the summer of 2009.
Captain RN Gulati
First Course NDA (Navy)
