Indian Navy's All-Woman Crew to Circumnavigate the Globe

The first all-woman crew of an Indian Navy vessel will circumnavigate the globe in August 2017. 

The INSV Tarini docked in Mauritius on Tuesday on its first sea voyage. The vessel, inducted into the Indian Navy in February, is a sister vessel of Indian Navy’s first sailing vessel INSV Mhadei.

“Tarini aims to promote a spirit of adventure and camaraderie amongst young Naval personnel in the years ahead,” said a statement from the Navy.

INSV Tarini is 55-feet in length and built in India in line with the “Make in India” initiative at the Aquarius Shipyard in Goa. The boat was built to a stock design by Van de Stadt of the Netherlands.

The hull is a wooden core fiberglass sandwich construction, and the vessel has six sails. The 25-meter (82-foot) mast was custom built by Southern Spars, Cape Town, for sailing in extreme conditions.

The vessel is skippered by Lieutenant Commander Vartika Joshi (a naval architect). The crew consist of Lieutenant Commander Pratibha Jamwal, Lieutenant P Swathi, Lieutenant Vijaya Devi, Lieutenant Payal Gupta and Lieutenant B Aishwarya.