First Indian sailor to make circumnavigation on yacht Mhadei
by DNA/Sail-World Cruising on 14 Feb 2009
Indian Navy is supporting the attempt SW
India’s maiden mission to solo circumnavigate the globe will be attempted on a sail boat made on the island of Divar and named ‘Mhadei’.
No boat flying the Indian flag has undertaken a solo circumnavigation under sails. When Mumbai-based Commander Dilip Donde, 41, of the Indian Navy casts away on August 15 from Mumbai, on a journey estimated to take nine months, he will also be making a bid to enter the elite club of solo circumnavigators.
Aquarius Fibreglass in Goa, owned by Ratnakar Dandekar, bagged the contract to build the 56-ft yacht and worked on a design purchased from a Dutch company.
'The boat’s construction commenced on Christmas Day 2007,' said 83-year-old vice admiral (retd) M P Awati, who was instrumental in conceiving and starting the project.
Speaking at a ceremony at which the yacht was handed over to the navy, chief of naval staff Admiral Sureesh Mehta compared the feat to climbing Mount Everest.
On his journey, Donde will have three stop-overs in Australia, New Zealand and South Africa. Asked how he would spend his time as he singly traverses the world’s oceans, Donde said if the weather conditions permitted, he would catch up on a novel. 'When I need to sleep, the yacht will be on auto-pilot,' he said.
Incidentally, one person to solo circumnavigate the globe, Sir Robin Knox Johnston of the UK in 1968-69 in 312 days, is in Goa to help tune the boat and train Donde for the mission.
The boat costs around Rs 4m (US$80,000), while the journey will come to another Rs 2m(US$40,000), the Indian Navy said.
Sail-World Cruising will be following Donde's journey when he commences in August.
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