INSV Tarini, the naval sail ship with an all-women crew circumnavigating the globe for the past nine months, will return to India this week after successful completion of the ambitious mission.
A Navy spokesperson said the flagging-in ceremony to receive INSV Tarini will be held at 4.15 p.m. on May 21 at Mandovi, Goa. Defence Minister Nirmala Sitharaman will be among the dignitaries receiving the six women officers who left India on September 10 last year.
This is the first ever circumnavigation of the globe by an all-women Indian crew.
Named the ‘Navika Sagar Parikrama’, the expedition was originally expected to return last month after four port calls. However, it was delayed because of damage to the steering gear, which forced the crew to take a fifth, unscheduled stop at Port Louis in Mauritius for repairs.
The team is captained by Lt Commander Vartika Joshi and includes five other officers — Pratibha Jamwal, Aishwarya Boddapati, Patarapalli Swathi, Vijaya Devi and Payal Gupta.
The group underwent their basic sail training courses in Mumbai at the Indian Naval Watermanship Training Centre (INWTC), and at various schools in the southern Naval base in Kochi. The officers sailed on INSV Mhadei for the International Fleet Review 2016, and then to Mauritius and back. They also sailed to Cape Town in December 2016, before eventually leaving on the circumnavigation trip in September 2017.
