A true story of human endurance and resilience against the mighty nature.
Far away from the shore, deep into the ocean the sailor had gone where the hoary sea howls at the moon to pull down the arching sky, the blue midnight starry roof! Alone, amongst the wave towering to the heaven and plunging like a hell, storm after the storm he sailed. The boat almost wrecked, floated like a dead! The nearest help seemed thousands of mile afar yet the fearless he never thought how far the coast was! The misty wind roared with the zenith waves, unknowing that he had the best tools for the utmost defense.. knowledge, experience determination and courage! He got all the skills to deal with what the nature had hurled to his dismay.
"THE SUN APPEARED BRIEFLY LIKE A RAINBOW AFTER BIBLICAL FLOODS AFTER SUFFERING TWICE" his message to the control room beeped with the pride.
But the sea was rough with the gusty winds and swollen waves, nature's challenge for a maddening game. His eyes became blurry that could no longer gaze! And then a death wave raised from a deep to a mountain high, crashed; dismasting the ship, rolling him up-high. It rammed him with a thud and his body got numbed yet to outrun the death storm he grinned and shunned. He laid there motionless for countless hours floating like a spirit following the sea; not like a survivor but the warrior who fought that fuming old sea. It took three days for the modern technology to locate and rescue the nature trapped.
This is just a glimpse of the adventurous voyage of the deep sea pilot Abhilash Tomy that had started not on 1st July 2018 as a participant in an International sailing race, but way back when he decided to follow his father's footsteps and joined Indian Navy.
A 39-year-old Indian Naval Commander Abhilash is the first and the only Indian to circumnavigate the globe, non-stop all alone for a long 151 days covering 40,000kms during 2012-2013. He was about 30 when he helped Commander Dilip Dhonde, the first Indian to complete Sagar Parikrama with a few stops, by being his shore support in preparing his boat. Cdr. Abhilash also accompanied him from India to Brazil. He had sailed all alone from Cape Town to Goa thereafter.
He was the Indian entrant to Golden Globe Race 2018, the 1968 race that is restaged on 1st July 2018 for its 50th anniversary. The first round-the-world yacht race was held in 1968–1969. However, the race went down in infamy for the failure of 8 out of its 9 competitors to finish the race with one believed to have jumped overboard!
The 50th Anniversary edition of the race has a unique format wherein the participants are not allowed to use calculators, digital watch, GPS but to navigate using the sun, stars, sextant and magnetic compass all alone in the sea round-the-world for about 311 days!
Cdr Abhilash was racing a made in India yacht ‘Thuriya’, named based on a concept of pure consciousness described in our Hindu Upanishads. The yacht was a replica of Sir Robin Knox-Johnston's yacht Suhaili, the only boat that could touch the finish line 50 years ago! Surprisingly, Suhaili too was built in India! Cdr Abhilash chose the basic yacht with no modern technology whereas 6 entrants have chosen the class compliant with relatively modern yachts!
Our Indian Navy Commander was racing at third place amongst 18 competitors before nature played its game. A winner of Kirti Chakra, Mac Gregor Medal, Tenzing Norgay National Adventure Award has also won our hearts. We all are proud of his courage and skills and wish him a speedy recovery so he can ask yet again “Can I go back for another round, as the sea is the sailor's home."