‘Young Indians should undertake adventurous expeditions’

Commodore Dilip Donde, the first Indian sailor to complete a solo circumnavigation of the globe, on Sunday described the expedition as a life-changing experience and urged other sailors to undertake adventurous journeys.

Donde shared his experience while speaking at the 18th anniversary of the Indian Maritime Foundation in Pune on Sunday. Vice Admiral (retd) MP Awati was the guest of honour at the event attended by other officers from the Indian Navy.

Donde threw light on the entire expedition ‘Sagarparikrama’, starting from preparing the project report, making the boat in India and his thrilling voyage for nine months.

“This expedition was the best thing that ever happened to me. I was not the first person to be asked for this expedition, but others refused and I grabbed the opportunity. Now, all of them will have regrets in life, but not me,” he said.

Describing the joy of the expedition, he urged the young generation to participate in such adventures. “We have such a beautiful sea around our country and youngsters should take advantage of it. Through this voyage, I experienced that it is not so difficult compared to what you imagine from the shore. Therefore, my advice to the young generation to get out of your harbours and give it a try,” Donde said.

Explaining the difficulties faced during the journey, he said, “The boat I used was the first sailing boat built by an Indian boat builder in India. Nobody in the country had the experience of building such a boat, but we managed it in time.”

“The boat was flagged off by the then Chief of Naval Staff Admiral Sureesh Mehta from Mumbai on August 19, 2009, from where I went to Fremantle in Australia. Strong winds were forcing my boat towards Africa instead of Australia; however, I completed that journey in 35 days. The worst conditions I faced during my journey were in the southern ocean where I had to struggle with the worst weather, iceberg warnings. During this journey the genoas of my boat tore, there was huge fluctuation of temperature, but I managed to complete the journey after nine months and it ended in Mumbai on May 22, 2010,” said Donde.

Vice Admiral (retd) MP Awati who had floated the idea of solo circumnavigation in the country for the first time spoke about the preparations of the expedition. “There are sailors from Europe, America, Australia, South Africa and Japan who have completed solo circumnavigation, but there was no Indian in that list.

Therefore, after my retirement, I kept on writing letters to successive chief of naval staff and finally in April 2006, the then Chief of Naval Staff Admiral Arun Prakash responded to my letter and this idea was triggered off and named as Sagarparikrama,” said Awati.