Mhadei class
![]() INSV Mhadei | |
History | |
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Name | INSV Mhadei |
Namesake | Mhadei River |
Builder | Aquarius Shipyard Private Limited |
Commissioned | February 2009 |
Identification |
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General characteristics | |
Displacement | 23 tons |
Length | 17.1 metres |
The Mhadei class are ocean going sail training boats of the Indian Navy & include INSV Mhadei and INSV Tarini as the 2 sail boats of the class.[Note 1] On 19 May 2010 as he sailed Mhadei into Mumbai harbour, Commander Dilip Donde became the first Indian national to complete a single-handed circumnavigation under sail, in an Indian-built boat. He sailed from Mumbai on 19 August 2009 and returned to Mumbai after four stops on 19 May 2010. It was later used by Abhilash Tomy for his own single-handed, unassisted, non-stop circumnavigation under sail.[1]
Design and description
[edit]INSV Mhadei the first boat of the Mhadei class is a cruising sloop built at the Aquarius Shipyard Pvt Ltd shipyard in Divar.[2] The vessel was handed over to the Indian Navy in February 2009 and christened INSV Mhadei, after the Mandovi River.[1][3][4][5]
Mhadei was built to a stock design by van de Stadt called Tonga 56[6] measuring 56 feet in length and displacing 23 tons. It was decided to build a wood-core and fibreglass sandwich hull for better performance than steel or aluminium. The boat has two mainsails, two Genoa's, a stay-sail, one try-sail and two gennaker's. She is also fitted with satellite communications and electronic navigation systems.[1][7]
Service history
[edit]Originally built by Ottavio Tofful and Yohan Vels on the Divar Island in Goa.
After launching in Goa, Commander Donde sailed Mhadei to Colombo and Mauritius. Donde then took the boat on a circumnavigation voyage on 19 August 2009, and returned on 19 May 2010; Mhadei was the first Tonga 56 to complete a solo circumnavigation.[5]
In 2012, Mhadei was used by Indian Navy Lt Cdr Abhilash Tomy to complete a single-handed, unassisted, non-stop circumnavigation under sail. He was the first Indian, second Asian, and 79th person to do so.[8] Mhadei finished the journey at Kochi, after completing a voyage of 23,100 nautical miles (42,781 km).[1][5][9][10][11]
In 2013, the navy's first all female team of sailors began preparation for another circumnavigation of the world, led by Lieutenant Commander Shweta Kapur. The crew practised in a race from Cape Town to Rio de Janeiro.[12][13][14]
In May 2016 INSV Mhadei set sail from Goa for a voyage to Port Louis in Mauritius skippered by Lt. Cdr. Vartika Joshi, a Naval Constructor. This was the first open-ocean voyage of the Navy's all-woman crew of the Mhadei. It was a training voyage to expose the young crew to the weather that they would confront during the circumnavigation of the globe scheduled for 2017.[15] The crew entered Port Louis, Mauritius, on Tuesday, 14 June 2016. The crew members were skipper Lieutenant Commander Vartika Joshi, a Naval architect, and five others: Lieutenant P. Swathi, Lt. Pratibha Jamwal, Lt. Vijaya Devi, Sub Lt. Payal Gupta and Lt. B. Aishwarya.[16][17]
Second Boat
[edit]A second boat in this class, INSV Tarini, was ordered in 2016 and commissioned into active service on 18 February 2017. She was built by Aquarius Shipyard Private Limited.[18][19] The sail boat was inducted by Admiral Sunil Lanba at the INS Mandovi Boat Pool with an all women crew and is skippered by Lieutenant Commander Vartika Joshi. The vessel will be Indian Navy's first all-woman global circumnavigation vessel and the extremely challenging expedition by Tarini's all-woman crew is slated to commence in August 2017.[20]
Specifications
[edit]- Displacement: 23 tons[7]
- Length (overall): 17.1 m[7]
- Beam: 5 m[7]
- Height of mast: 21 m above waterline[7]
See also
[edit]Notes
[edit]- ^ "INSV" stands for Indian Navy sailing vessel.
References
[edit]- ^ a b c d "INSV Mhadei docks at Ezhimala Academy". The Hindu. 25 March 2012. Retrieved 4 January 2014.
- ^ Article about Mhadei (made in Goa by Aquarius Fibreglas Pvt Ltd) at aquariusgoa.com Archived 14 July 2015 at the Wayback Machine Retrieved 1 January 2017
- ^ Anandan, S (28 March 2013). "After a solo voyage round the world, hero's welcome awaits Tomy". The Hindu.
- ^ "Indian Navy Sailing Vessel Mhadei ready for solo sail around globe". The Times of India. 20 October 2012. Archived from the original on 28 September 2013. Retrieved 11 August 2013.
- ^ a b c "Coming full circle". The Hindu. 10 August 2013. Retrieved 4 January 2014.
- ^ Tonga 56 stock design, Stadt Design
- ^ a b c d e "INSV Mhadei". Indian Navy. Archived from the original on 22 September 2013. Retrieved 4 January 2014.
- ^ "INSV Mhadei completes first Indian solo, non-stop circumnavigation of the globe". India Today. 6 April 2013.
- ^ "INSV Mhadei touches Kochi after completing a voyage of 5000 Nautical Miles". Indian Navy. Retrieved 4 January 2014.
- ^ "Navy officer Abhilash Tomy becomes first Indian to circumnavigate the globe solo and non-stop". Deccan Chronicle. 6 April 2013. Archived from the original on 3 June 2013. Retrieved 4 January 2014.
- ^ "Indian Navy Sailing Vessel Mhadei ready for solo sail around globe". The Times of India. 20 October 2012. Archived from the original on 28 September 2013.
- ^ "Spirit of Adventure Overrides All Else". New Indian Express. 22 December 2013. Archived from the original on 25 December 2013. Retrieved 5 January 2014.
- ^ "Indian Navy leads the way: Women officers set to circumnavigate". Sail World. Retrieved 5 January 2014.
- ^ "INSV Mhadei with First Naval Lady Officer as Crew Casts Off for Cape 2 Rio Race". Indian Navy. 6 January 2014. Retrieved 6 January 2014.
- ^ "All-woman crew of INSV Mhadei sets sail for Mauritius". The Hindu. 25 May 2016. Retrieved 15 June 2016.
- ^ "Navy's woman power reaches Mauritius shores". The Hindu. 15 June 2016. Retrieved 15 June 2016.
- ^ "Indian Navy's all-women crew yacht INSV Mhadei creates history, docks in Port Louis". Zee News. 14 June 2016. Retrieved 15 June 2016.
- ^ "INSV Mhadei crew set to circumnavigate the globe in 2017". Times of India. Retrieved 29 June 2016.
- ^ "Navy's All-Women Sailing Crew Prepping To Go Around The Globe". NDTV.com. Retrieved 31 March 2016.
- ^ "Indian Navy inducts second sailboat INSV Tarini with all-woman crew".