The First Indian

Dilip reached Australia in time to celebrate his birthday as well as Diwali 'the Festival of Lights'. Having completed the first leg successfully, he could see light at the end of the tunnel. He had grown confident of his, and Mhadei's, sailing capabilities and was ready to take on the Southern Ocean!

"Well, the first time you face a big one, you are convinced that it is the end of the world and you are not going to survive. The second time, you tell yourself you just might survive, as you managed the last time. The third time, you are sure you will come out of it alive as you have survived so far. When you are getting ready to face the tenth one, you are worrying that you may not be able to get hot food for the next few days! But to reach that state, you have to go through the first nine stages" Robin Knox-Johnston

We're recording this podcast a week at a time and attempting to align the sail dates with current dates. As a result we have reached Sunday 13 September 2009 in the course of Dilip's circumnavigation. A harrowing week in which he crossed into the 'Coldrums' and had to do emergency repairs on the pad eye that held the boom on Mhadei.

But, as always, he had the good fortune to see some whales up close; a memory that helped erase thoughts of bad weather and possible accidents!

The image shows where Dilip was 12 years ago on 4 Sep, 2009. A little dot in the middle of the Indian Ocean.

Readers responded with kudos and more. One was inspired to poetry...

Sir, this short evocation for the Lord of the Seas (is there a special one for the trade winds?)

"When it was sunny you were kind
When it was glassy you were generous
Now that it is choppy we pray do not rescind
The blessing which ye showered on Captain courageous

The gale will test and go away
The storm will also remain at bay
As Mhadei cuts the trade winds
Remains she always in our minds

best luck always,"
Atty

Happy anniversary Skipper! Today is exactly 11 years since that said you cast off the lines and sailed out of Mumbai harbour.

You're not ready till you're ready. Dilip wrestles with the naval bureaucracy even as he counts down to his departure on August 19th!

Serendipitiously, we are recording this in the same month, in fact the actual recording was done on August 10th, the day Mhadei sailed to Mumbai in preparation for her maiden voyage. 
Inevitably, some of the craziness from that time seems to have rubbed off on this recording. Our apologies!

Dilip had initially planned two stops in his circumnavigation, but the powers-that-be decreed otherwise. He finally cast ashore at Fremantle, Australia; Lyttleton, New Zealand; Port Stanley, Falkland Islands and Cape Town, South Africa. 

As we recorded the later half of this chapter, the rain petered out, changing to a pitter pattern, providing a soothing backdrop to Dilip's voice, with the cicadas piping up as punctuation!

In our attempt at an authentic background sound, we recorded this episode with the rains pummelling Goa during one particularly rainy day. The birds that sheltered in the balcony offered a refreshing refrain with the crickets chirping up as the weather eased!

Here's the first half of Dilip's sail to Mauritius. It ends where he starts out on his first ever solo sail, back to Goa.

Mhadei's first trip abroad with Dilip and Abhilash Tomy

INSV Mhadei is ready to show off her moves as Dilip's mentor, Sir Robin Knox-Johnston pays her a visit

Typically a ship's transfer is marked by a handover of her keys. Since she is a sail boat, a winch handle was used to mark the occasion of handover of INSV Mhadei, to the Navy.

This is the final episode in a long chapter recounting the story of Mhadei's christening, creation and birth; in that order. We have shared it in multiple episodes just to give you a sense of the anticipation that went into bringing Mhadei into being!

Once the 9 tonne keel is affixed, Mhadei is raring to go; ready to float, on her own in the dry dock, and insisting on an early launch!

This is a long chapter recounting the story of Mhadei's christening, creation and birth; in that order. We have shared it in 4 episodes just to give you a sense of the anticipation that went into bringing Mhadei into being!

What's in a name!? Here's how Mhadei was christened in Sunaparanta - the Golden Land. 

This is a long chapter recounting the story of Mhadei's christening, creation and birth; in that order. We have shared it in 4 episodes just to give you a sense of the anticipation that went into bringing Mhadei into being!

The trip to return Sameer home gives Dilip a much needed shot in the arm and boosts his confidence in his preparations for ocean sailing.

PS: this episode was recorded in the midst of a downpour on a particularly wet monsoon day

Enter Johan, boat building guru and mentor to Ratnakar, providing much need resuscitation to the Project.

Meanwhile the magpie robins, the keels and the sparrows chirrup in the background as we continue our recordings during lockdown in Goa

Dilip learns about seasoned wood and Ratnakar, thinking on his feet, comes up with a brainwave!

Rediscovering Bombay with Robin, while talking 'boat' all the while. Dilip uses this opportunity to get precious feedback on the construction of his boat.

An off shore sailing rally from Kochi to Kavaratti on J 24s just as Dilip has given up any hope of some local sailing experience. He then decides to focus on the building of his own boat 

A Christmas gift to himself: boat construction was officially started on 25th December 2007, less than two years before the start of Dilip's circumnavigation.

Three times in a row and Dilip has had it with attempting a training sail. You can almost see him shrug his shoulders as he bats aside these hiccups and decides to focus on building his boat.

Comic relief in the form of a failed sortie with a mathematically inclined science genius and sailor. Followed by more bureaucratese as Dilip is forced to finalise his sail dates 2 years ahead of time!

A case of too little too late. Dilip finally does away with the idea of buying that elusive training boat.

Navigating Naval bureaucracy often proved more challenging and tested Dilip's patience, diplomatic skills and sense of humour. Here he helps steer his file through Naval Headquarters with aplomb, while funneling all his fury into rebuilding Sameer.

One way to establish what you don't want in a boat is to sail on a 10 year old derelict and showcase her to your future boat builder

Meeting Sir Robin Knox-Johnston for the very first time and getting hands on experience in preparing a boat for a solo circumnavigation.