Tomy's 'Mhadei' on last leg of 'globe sail'

GOANEWS DESK, PANAJI | 21 February 2013 22:33 IST

Lt Commander Abhilash Tomy sailing on Mhadei

Lt Commander Abhilash Tomy, sailing the Goa-built yacht ‘Mhadei’, crossed the Cape of Good Hope on the southern tip of Africa at 4.30 pm (IST) on Tuesday to enter the Indian Ocean on the last leg of his historic bid for a solo non-stop circumnavigation of the globe on a sail boat.

He left Mumbai on 1 November 2012, and is expected to return to the city by end-March 2013.

Tomy, who earlier crossed Cape Leeuwin in Australia and Cape Horn at the southern tip of South America, has now technically already completed a circumnavigation, as he had earlier sailed solo from Cape Town to Mumbai. 

‘Mhadei’ has survived the turbulent Southern Ocean, which has 30-50 knot (50-90 km) winds and 15-foot waves, for the second time, which is a testament to her strength and seaworthiness.

He will have sailed over 22,000 nautical miles (around 40,000 km) without taking a stop, sailing south of all the continents and crossing the equator twice.

Being alone on his yacht, Tomy cannot sleep for more than two hours at a time.

While about 5,000 people have climbed Mount Everest and 500 have gone into outer space, less than 200 people have sailed around the world solo, and only about 80 have done so non-stop.

Commander Dilip Donde became the first Indian ever to sail solo around the world on ‘Mhadei’ in 2009-2010.

Tomy – who is a naval pilot – is taking Indian achievement a step further doing a ‘solo, unassisted, non-stop’ circumnavigation, code named 'Sagar Parikrama-II'.

‘Mhadei’ was built in Divar, Goa, by Ratnakar Dandekar of Aquarius Fibreglas Pvt Ltd.


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