29-05-2025
Joy of 10: The tale of two women naval officers and their journey around the world
On May 23, 2023, a white sail appeared on the horizon off the coast of Goa. Had it been a century ago, the bastions of Fort Aguada and Reis Magos, perched on the cliffs overlooking the bay, might have roared to life and fired upon the approaching vessel. But on that balmy afternoon, the yacht was met with a no-less thunderous applause from the Boat Pool of INS Mandovi, the Indian Navy's premier training establishment.
The vessel was none other than the much-awaited INSV Tarini, a 55-foot indigenously built cruising sloop inducted into naval service in 2017. Having already participated in several iconic expeditions, Tarini was now returning from a 188-day-long transoceanic and intercontinental voyage — from Goa to Cape Town in South Africa, on to Rio de Janeiro in Brazil, and back.
At the Rio checkpoint, four of Tarini's six-member crew were rotated out. The two who remained through the entirety of the 17,000-nautical-mile journey were Lieutenant Commanders Dilna K, from Kozhikode in Kerala, and Roopa Alagirisamy from Puducherry.
Their continued presence on board made perfect sense when, during the flag-in ceremony — presided over by Union Minister for Women and Child Development Smriti Irani and Goa Chief Minister Dr Pramod Sawant — it was announced that these two officers, the only women on the crew, were the Navy's probable picks for its most ambitious sailing mission yet: a solo circumnavigation of the globe.
A Navy officer later confirmed the voyage was a preparatory run for that mission. "Interestingly, the distance from Goa to Cape Town is twice that of the race itself. So both the women officers had ample time at sea to get used to the conditions," he said.
Indeed, the voyage proved transformative. "The Dilna who came on the yacht today is not the same who left nearly seven months ago," Lt Cdr Dilna told The New Indian Express. "Now I'm more confident on the boat. What made it possible was the support I got from everyone, especially the crew."
