Panaji: More than eight months after it set sail from Goa, Indian Naval Sailing Vessel (INSV) Tarini, with an all-women crew of the Indian Navy, is set to return to the coastal state on Monday after completing its circumnavigation of the globe.
The crew will be welcomed near Panaji by Defence Minister Nirmala Sitharaman, along with Admiral Sunil Lamba. Confirming the same, a Navy spokesperson had said, “The Defence Minister and Navy Chief Admiral Sunil Lanba will be present for the flag-in ceremony of the ship near Panaji on Monday.”
The expedition by the all-women crew onboard INSV Tarini was named ‘Navika Sagar Parikrama’, and had embarked on the historic journey on September 10, 2017. It is led by Lieutenant Commander Vartika Joshi. Five others who took the journey were – Lt-Commanders Pratibha Jamwal and Swati P (Air Traffic Control specialists), and Lieutenants Aishwarya Boddapati, S Vijaya Devi and Payal Gupta.
The officers were trained by Captain Dilip Donde, who is the first Indian to have circumnavigated the globe alone in 2009-2010.
The expedition was sailed in six legs, with stopovers at the Fremantle (Australia), Lyttleton (New Zealand), Port Stanley (Falkland Islands), Cape Town (South Africa) and Mauritius.
“It covered 21,600 nautical miles in the Indian-built sailing vessel INSV Tarini that visited five countries and crossed the Equator twice, sailed across four continents and three oceans, and passed south of the three Great Capes – Leeuwin, Horn and Good Hope,” Navy spokerperson had said.
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