The sea inside her

Sarika Sharma

Leaving her loved ones behind and setting sail had been tough for Pratibha Jamwal. Throughout the eight months that she was out on the sea along with her colleagues, Pratibha pictured the day of returning home in her mind so many times. But a few metres from the berth, she didn’t feel that joy. There was, instead, a sinking feeling. She was going to miss her mornings surrounded by the sea. She was going to miss being with her gang, along with whom she had just become one of the first few Indian women to circumnavigate the earth — she was part of the six-member women team of Indian Naval Sailing Vessel (INSV), Tarini.

The feat achieved by Pratibha, who hails from Mohal in Kullu, Himachal Pradesh, is unique. The mission makes her and her colleagues an example to follow. Understandably, it was a hard road. As women officers are not posted on sea-going platforms, they had to start from the scratch. “We did our theoretical training in various naval schools and trained in navigation, communication, meteorology and seamanship,” she tells. Then, they were posted at INS Mandovi, where they trained on-board INSV Mhadei, the first Indian boat to circumnavigate the world. “Captain Dilip Donde, the first Indian to circumnavigate the world solo, became our mentor. We covered more than 22,000 nm during training,” tells Pratibha, whose teammates included young women from various backgrounds, all “naive and amateur”, but each “strong headed”.

For eight months, she was there in the sea. She says she loved the azure expanse. Was she scared too? She shrugs. “All of us had volunteered for this as it required huge commitment. You can’t force someone as it involves risk of life,” says Pratibha, whose father retired from government service and mother is a homemaker.

Rough weather struck near Cape Horn in January when every bit learnt during those three years of training was put to test. The winds were 70-knot strong and waves as high as 9 metres. Pratibha remembers frantic manoeuvring and cherishes their teamwork. “Next morning, everything was clear and there was a sense of pride and accomplishment,” says Pratibha.

They met two more storms at the shore while in Falkland Islands and one in Port Louis Mauritius. “While we were close to Falkland, the storm was greater than hurricane force and it was raining continuously,” Pratibha recalls. The temperature too subzero and they were out, steering the boat. “The night had descended. We were wet and cold, but no one could sleep as the person on the wheel had to be relieved every hour. Half of the crew was drying clothes for those steering.”

Those eight months were also spent understanding the sea. Pratibha realised they differed in temperament. “The Arabian Sea and the Indian Ocean are calm compared to the Atlantic and South Pacific. There the waves are normally 4-5 m high and winds blow at 60kmph, but, in case of a storm, they can go as high as 9-10m with winds of 140kmph.”

So, if the sea was ferocious, it was bountiful too. “The waters offer you a lot of beautiful things. We saw different varieties of marine life, encountered auroras and bioluminescence — things you get to see only at the sea,” she says. Among all this fun, madness and fury, lay the sole aim of creating history. She hopes more and more women are inducted as sailors. “It will widen the horizon and make the working environment better for both the genders,” she says.

At the shore in INS Mandovi, Goa, now, she soon heads to Kochi, where she will be an instructor at a school for Naval airmen. Until then, the sea inside her will continue to rise — bring a smile to her face, maybe give her goosebumps too.

The team

INSV Tarini sailed 22,000 nautical miles in 254 days to circumnavigate the globe. The expedition, christened Navika Sagar Parikrama, was flagged off from INS-Mandovi boat pool in Goa on September 10, 2017 and they reached back on May 21. The INSV Tarini team, led by Lt Commander Vartika Joshi, comprised Lieutenant P. Swathi, Lieutenant Pratibha Jamwal (Air Traffic Control specialists), Lieutenant Vijaya Devi, Sub-Lieutenant Payal Gupta (both Education officers) and Lieutenant B Aishwarya, a naval architect.

The tour

The all-women team completed the expedition in six legs, with stopovers at Fremantle (Australia), Lyttleton (New Zealand), Port Stanley (Falkland Islands), Cape Town (South Africa) and Mauritius