INSV Tarini docks at Cape Town

Visakhapatnam: Navika Sagar Parikrama INSV Tarini entered Cape Town, South Africa on Friday as part of its maiden voyage to circumnavigate the globe. 

Tarini was received at Cape Town by the Mayor of Cape Town, Helen Zille, Ruchira Kamboj High Commissioner of India to South Africa, Consul Generals of Johannesburg and Cape Town, chairpersons of Western Cape and South African Sailing associations and members of diaspora. The crew members were greeted with bouquets, dhol beats and Holi colours.

Defence Minister Nirmala Sitharaman had flagged-off INSV Tarini from Goa on September 10, 2017. The vessel has covered 17,500 nautical miles from Goa, crossing the Equator, Cape Leeuwin and Cape Horn.

This is the first-ever Indian circumnavigation of the globe by all-women crew. The vessel is skippered by Lieutenant Commander Vartika Joshi and the crew comprises Lieutenant Commanders Pratibha Jamwal and P Swathi, and Lieutenants S Vijaya Devi, B Aishwarya and Payal Gupta.

The crew and the vessel have encountered rough seas and extremely cold temperature coupled with stormy weather conditions, making the task of circumnavigation highly daunting and challenging. The vessel which passed through the Indian, Pacific and Atlantic oceans, has witnessed winds more than 60 knots and waves up to 7 metres high.

The expedition titled ‘Navika Sagar Parikrama,’ is in consonance with the national policy to empower women to attain their full potential. It also aims to showcase ‘Nari Shakti’ on the world platform and help transform societal attitudes and mindset towards women in India by raising visibility of their participation in challenging environs.

The indigenously-built Tarini showcases the ‘Make in India’ initiative in the international forum. The vessel would return to Goa in April, on completion of the voyage. The expedition is being covered in five legs, with stop-overs at four ports including Fremantle (Australia), Lyttleton (New Zealand), Port Stanley (Falklands), and Cape Town (South Africa).

Presently, the vessel has covered four of the five legs of the voyage. The crew has also been collating and updating meteorological, ocean and wave data regularly for accurate weather forecast by India Meteorological Department and monitoring marine pollution on the high seas.