Indian Army aims to sail around Indian Peninsula

PANAJI: Dodging three cyclones, an Indian Army sailing expedition made a port of call at Goa as part of an attempt to sail around the Indian peninsula from

Haldia

in Kolkata to Porbander in Gujarat. The Army personnel aim to spread awareness against ocean pollution.


“This is the first time the complete Indian peninsula has been attempted to be covered on a sail boat,” said Major Alok Kumar Yadav the crew leader. “We had to do meticulous planning especially for the navigation to avoid bad weather. In fact since we sailed, we have avoided three cyclones.”

In October cyclone Titli wreaked havoc in the Bay of Bengal area followed by Cyclone Gaja in November. A further deep depression was noticed in the Bay of Bengal and in the

Arabian Sea

after Cyclone Gaja.

The expedition crew includes 55 sailors including 25 officers of which five are women. The crew members are rotated at each port of call with just eight crew members on the vessel. The crew started off from Haldia with stopovers at Vishakapatnam, Chennai, Trivandrum, Kochi, Mangalore, Goa and Porbander.

The crew cast off from Haldia on October 21 and departed from on Thursday from Dona Paula for Mumbai.

“We want to promote sailing. We want to make people aware of saving the ocean. We have seen polluted water, plastic floating around. We want to create awareness about the sanctity of the Indian Ocean and the integrity of the Indian coastline,” said Yadav.

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