26/11 Tribute: 6 swimmers, 3 boats, the sea and a shot at Guinness glory

“It’ll be a long picnic,” says Manav Mehta.

The 16-year-old is referring to a more than 300-hour non-stop, relay swim in a vast sea, riddled with sharks and jellyfish. Seasickness-induced barfing, severe sunburns, bruises, blisters and sleeplessness are guaranteed to add to his company of five swimmers over the fortnight.

You’d be forgiven to think that Mehta is off-kilter for equating the gruelling and brutal journey to a picnic. Fortunately for team Sea Hawks, this is precisely the kind of mental make-up that will see them through their expedition: a 1,000km open water relay swim from Mumbai to Mangalore.

Mehta, Wing Commander Paramvir Singh, Sergeant (retired) G Narihari, LAC Vicky Tokas, Mumbai policeman Shrikant Palande and national-level swimmer and coach Rahul Chiplunkar took to the 28degree Celsius water at the Gateway of India on Saturday evening.

Flagged off with much pomp, swimmer number one, Wing Commander Singh, started freestyling until team Sea Hawks disappeared into the Arabian Sea. Sticking to their sequence, swimmer number two, Palande would replace him in the water after an hour, such that each swimmer would take to the water every five hours. The sequence and the swimming are expected to continue non-stop for two weeks, until December 10, when the team hopes to reach Mangalore. “The first three days are horrible,” admits the cheerful team leader and Singh. The 41-year-old, who conceived this swim, is a serial expeditionist, having led the record-breaking 433.11km-Goa-Mumbai open water relay swim as well as the first human effort to swim the 2,800km-length of the Ganga from Devprayag to Frazergunj, both in 2015. “It’s your mental strength and the motivation that keeps you going.”

Tribute to terror victims

Sports and adventure, feels Singh, offer great avenues to impact society. So it’s only natural that the Air Force officer, whose father was in the Army, looks at this expedition as a way of showing solidarity with the civilians and officers who perished in the 2008 attacks as well as with those killed in the line of fire at Pathankot and Uri earlier this year. 

“The 26/11 attack shook the world. Not just India, but many lives were lost from Israel, Canada, France, Britain, Australia and the US. This Guinness record attempt is an apt way of spreading the message of peace and 
condemning terror,” says the 41-year-old.

“Our team comprises people from all strata of society,” he says, referring to his mates from the armed forces, the Mumbai police, civilians and youth, who are supported in the endeavour by IDBI Bank. “But they are all of the same mindset and feel strongly for the cause.”

Fortitude and fitness

The six swimmers’ quest for a record will be monitored by an independent observer of the Swimming Federation of India. Shekhar Kale will be onboard the second of the three fishing trawlers that are vital to Sea Hawks’ mission. Staying up day and night, closely watching each of the six swimmers incessantly come easy swells or rough surges, it will be his word that will seal the record, assuming that the six members just keep swimming for the 343-odd hours.

Open sea swimming isn’t for the faint-hearted, and some even consider the Mumbai-Goa stretch to be among the toughest, more than the English Channel, to swim. The team leader is aware that fatigue levels will be exceptionally high. Cuts and bruises are par for the course and waves in rough weather feel like whiplash. 

“Besides, we’ll have to be mindful of marine life like jelly fish, sting rays, sharks, and rocky coastline. Sea-sickness is inevitable as are sunburns and mouth ulcers. And these challenges will only multiply, making the expedition demanding,” says Singh.

This is why it is critical that each member be mentally strong and demonstrate ample team spirit. The slightest of hesitancy to get into the water or giving up in rough weather or due to exhaustion would jeopardise the expedition, derailing months of preparation, involving planning as per tidal patterns and undercurrents and getting approvals and clearances from the police, the coast guard and the navy.

“I need mentally strong people. Nobody can be a part of the expedition if they don’t exhibit the right attitude. There is no room for an agenda or one-upmanship,” clarifies Singh, for whom this is the first such expedition with assistant sub-inspector Palande and swimmer Chiplunkar. 

“I know their capabilities and endurance levels. But even exceptional swimmers can falter in such a challenge. It’s not physical strength, rather 80 per cent of what is required is mental strength. We cannot afford to raise hands.”

Ensuring the six of them are tethered in an unyielding bond has been the wing commander’s toughest challenge since he conceived the tribute swim four months ago. Given that his mates live in different places, Delhi, Ahmedabad, Mumbai and Willingdon, it has helped that some of them have been together on a few expeditions earlier. 

“We are more like a family now,” says Mehta, the youngest among the six men. “I talk to them about my crushes and they tell me about their girlfriends.”

Ready to go

Mental strength aside, the Sea Hawks aren’t overlooking the physical attributes. An average day’s training includes an 8-10km run, a few hours of strength building, which would involve high-intensity exercises as cycling, cardio or crossfit, and a few hours of swimming.

“We don’t want to build muscles, because muscles rupture easily under water. We need to build strength and add reserves,” says Singh. So the six members have been increasing carbohydrates and fat in their diet to bulk up.

“It’s not just Vidya Balan who puts on weight for a suitable role. We do that too,” he quips. “After a few days at sea, when not even a drop of water stays in your stomach because you are throwing up constantly, it’s the fat that keeps you going.”

Accordingly, their rations onboard the trawler will include food that is easy to ingest, such as fruits, coconuts and noodles. “And adequate supplies of ORLS (oral rehydration solutions) and energy drinks,” adds Mehta.

So what will they look forward to when they aren’t in water. “The sunrise and the sunset are amazing sights,” says Mehta.

“Truly phenomenal. That’s also the time when one tends to become philosophical,” adds the team leader. “I ask questions, like how does one define happiness? Everyone has a different definition. I’ve realised over time that happiness is relative...”

So is it the happiness that prompts such expeditions? “It’s for the same reason that people climb the Everest... because it’s there. Our challenges are much like that, because of our passion for the open sea.”