|
Sail-World.com : Solo Sailors and they trouble they get into - India's Dilip Donde
Solo Sailors and they trouble they get into - India's Dilip Donde
|
|
|
'Dilip Donde Mhadei'
.
|
The sailor setting out to be the first Indian solo sailor to circumnavigate the world has reached Capetown after one of the last legs in voyage. In this account Commander Dilip Donde tells of his ups and downs during the journey.
Donde sailed into Cape Town this week on his 56 ft yacht Mhadei. He had set off from Mumbai on August 19 2009, and has travelled eastward via the Southern Ocean, passing Cape Horn with good conditions, to reach this next milestone of Cape Agulhas.
Donde volunteered to undertake the Indian navy project Sagar Parikrama, which in Hindi means 'circumnavigation by sea' - the first attempt by an Indian.
The 42-year-old sailor, who has spent 20 years with the navy, said sailing around the world had been 'good fun'.
After setting off from Mumbai, Cape Town was Donde's fourth port of call after Fremantle in Australia, Christ-church in New Zealand and Port Stanley in the Falkland Islands, and will leave Cape Town at the beginning of April.
As with all the other circumnavigators, circling the world conventionally entails going around the globe, starting and ending in the same port, and crossing all the meridians at least once and the equator at least twice.
The Mhadei, which was built in Goa, has modern navigation, communication and pilotage equipment, all prepared with the help of the Indian Navy.
He said the main difficulties he had encountered during the voyage were machinery or equipment failures, stormy weather and running out of coffee.
'It depends on how you pursue a difficulty, whether you take it in your stride as just another day's work. I managed to get here in one piece and without any support.
'There were times when my steering almost broke and my auto-pilot gave way.
 | Dilip Donde - .. . |
'I enjoy sailing and therefore volunteered to do this project. I had no idea what I was in for. I had never read about solo sailing and didn't know such a thing existed.
'I started reading about it and realised it was something far bigger than what I thought it would be, not as fancy or romantic as I thought. The excitement grew with that.'
Donde said that in spite of the problems encountered, it had been wonderful sailing solo. 'There's no one to yell at you, and you can make mistakes and get away with them. While at sea, there was enough work to do on the boat,' he said.
'You are always busy or just catching up on sleep. I have with me books and movies and music on my laptop to keep me entertained. There is no time to be bored or feel lonely.'
He said that while he was in Cape Town he would work on the boat. 'There is not much time for anything else, and that is most important if I want to reach my next stop in one piece.'
He said there wasn't anything that he missed from home. 'I cook my own food on board, like I do at home, so it is still home-cooked meals.'
by Taschica Pillay, Times Live/Sail-World Cruising
Click on the FB Like link to post this story to your FB wall
http://www.sail-world.com/index.cfm?nid=67154
11:48 PM Sun 7 Mar 2010 GMT
Click here for printer friendly version
Click here to send us feedback or comments about this story.
|
|
|
Our Advertisers are committed to our sport, please support them!
This site and its contents are © Copyright TetraMedia Pty. Ltd and/or the original author, photographer etc. All Rights Reserved.
Photographs are copyright by law. If you wish to use or buy a photograph you must contact the photographer directly (there is a hyperlink in most cases to their website, or do a Google search.) with your request.
Please do not contact Sail-World.com as we cannot give permission for use of other photographer’s images.
Only if the photographer named on the image is Sail-world.com, Powerboat-world.com or Marinebusiness-world.com
Contact us
.
Ph: +61 2 4977 2116 fax: +61 2 4977 2116
or complete our
feedback form
Contact us
.
View our Privacy Policy.
[ Go Home]
[ Banner Advertising Specification]
[Bot Archive ]
Customised news feeds -Marine Industry companies, Clubs and Associations have their own customised version of our Sail-World news feed on their website.
Look_here_to_see_examples
|
| | |
.jpg)
