Excited to touch the shores of Goa at Dona Paula jetty, the team participating in the Mumbai-Goa-Mumbai Army Offshore Sailing Expedition, was, in a way, thankful for the thrilling practical experience they got while battling with the winds and sailing safely through the cyclone Ockhi that hit them during the expedition.
"This cyclone gave us a good experience of currents, undersea currents, waves and winds. Due to the total disturbance the water gets choppy and doesn't allow the boat to go further, but one has to keep sailing. The speed of the boat depends on the speed of the wind and at sea the winds blow from different angles, not always in the direction we want to sail. But, thankfully, we did it," states Lt Colonel Bhuvan Khare, who led the expedition.
In his forties, Lt Colonel Bhuvan has over twenty six years of sailing experience in both expedition and competitive sailing and his technical acumen has helped to prepare well for any contingency.
"With 25 knots winds, our boats were well prepared. As the low pressure area was developing in the Southern region, we were continuously monitoring it," he said, sounding happy to announce that his team succeeded in accomplishing the mission.
The expedition team, comprising of 64 army personnel including a naval officer and two women officers - Captain Arpita Dwivedi and Captain Shweta Kanwar - was flagged off from Mumbai on December 1, 2017 with a fleet of vintage and seabird class sail boats which harnesses the wind power to propel itself under sails. The boats sailed along the coastline in open waters of Arabian Sea on the chosen course. It was probably after more than a decade that women officers participated in such expedition.
"Our expedition was fully supported by the Indian Navy and Coast Guard providing rescue cover," states Major Alok Yadav. The participation of 40 Officers, six JCOs, 18 ORs in the expedition in itself was an indication of the success of the aim of the expedition - to instil the spirit of adventure amongst the combatants of Indian Army. "Offshore sailing is considered to be the best character building platform and this expedition will go a long way in broad basing the sport of offshore sailing," adds Major Alok.
"We completed our Mumbai-Ratnagiri-Goa leg on December 7 when we successfully reached Goa after the extended halt at Ratnagiri due to cyclone Ockhi," shares Captain Arpita Dwivedi. The expedition was organised under aegis of Army Adventure Wing and HQ Southern Command and conducted by AANC and Southern Command Sailing Node.
"To prepare us for this expedition, special training course was conducted for volunteer officers, JCOs and ORs at HBTC, Marve from October 23 to November 19, 2017," informs Captain Chandraprakash Jiwnani who admits that this expedition was completely different from other such expeditions. "We had to participate in three sailing competition events in the last two years as preparation," he says.
The expedition was preceded by three weeks of training on Blue water sailing at AANC, HBTC Marve under Army Adventure Wing. The course commenced with basic sea swimming test of 100 metres. Next was lessons on nomenclature of parts of boats, rigging of boat, knots used in boats while rigging, navigational aids and rules, importance of meteorological data, contingencies and contingency drills, anchor drills, methods and technicalities of sailing. Then were the practical lessons on sailing like the understanding of sea and meteorology. Sailing practices were carried out on daily basis to help sharpen their skills of critical drills.
Each of the boats was headed by a captain who had the responsibility to keep the correct course and guide his crew throughout the expedition on the aspects of navigational, sea awareness and sea contingency.
The team futher stated that during the expedition the change of crew eased the stress to some extent and the ground support team provided the food requirement.
"Of course, we had to keep surplus food and water, in case our boats were stranded at sea due to bad weather conditions. We did not have any head cover as the boats were open and the winds were really chilly. We had to deal with dehydration during the day and fight with cold during the nights with only the open sky on our heads," recalls Captain Chandraprakash who was new to sea experience. The team also had to battle motion sickness and nausea. But since all were physically fit, they managed to sail through.
Flagged off by Maj Gen MJS Siali, ADGEME (B) and Siddharth Satardekar, president, Goa Yachting Association, the next leg of expedition casted off for Ratnagiri from Dona Paula harbour on the early morning of December 8. The expedition to Ratnagiri was expected to complete by December 12 after which the boats will proceed to Mumbai.
