1st Indian Navy sailboat with all-women crew safely reaches New Zealand

New Delhi: The all-women Indian Navy crew, on an eight-month-long expedition to circumnavigate the globe, has reached New Zealand’s Lyttelton port on Wednesday, the Indian Navy said.

The six-crew of the Indian Naval Sailing Vessel (INSV) Tarini, led by Lieutenant Commander Vartika Joshi, started their maiden voyage on September 10 from Goa.

The expedition is being covered in five legs, with stopovers at four ports — Fremantle (Australia), Lyttleton (New Zealand), Port Stanley (Falklands), and Cape Town (South Africa).

Presently, INSV Tarini has covered two of the five legs of the voyage, with the first port halt at Fremantle (Australia) in October.

Reacting to the development, Prime Minister Narendra Modi tweeted: “Delighted to know. The team of #INSVTarini continues their mission with unmatched determination.”

This is the first-ever Indian circumnavigation of the globe by an all-women crew.

Besides Lieutenant Com-mander Joshi, the crew comprises Lieutenant Co-mmanders Pratibha Jam-wal, P. Swathi, and Lie-utenants S. Vijaya Devi, B. Aishwarya and Payal Gupta.

The vessel has so far covered 7,800 nautical miles from Goa, crossing the Equator on September 25 and Cape Leeuwin on November 9. INSV Tarini would return to Goa in April 2018, on completion of the voyage.

“The indigenously-built INSV Tarini is a 56-foot sailing vessel, which was inducted in the Indian Navy earlier this year, and showcases the ‘Make in India’ initiative on the international forum,” an official statement said.

The crew has also been collating and updating meteorological, ocean and wave data on a regular basis for accurate weather forecast by India Meteorological Department (IMD), as also monitoring marine pollution on the high seas.

The vessel is likely to depart Lyttelton on December 12.