Commander Abhilash Tomy, a retired Naval officer, has become the first Indian to complete the prestigious Golden Globe Race. He finished second in the race, a solo around-the-world sailing race, which started on September 4, 2022 from Les Sables-d'Olonne in France.
'When I crossed that point where I had the accident, I felt light and that was a very physical experience. I felt something leave me.' Shyam G Menon chronicles the voyages of that incredible Indian sailor, Abhilash Tomy.
'Although he was bed ridden most of the time he was in the vessel and unable to move on the upper deck, his condition is stable.'
'If you are caught in a violent storm at sea you have to deal with it and find a way out which Abhilash Tomy did.'
Commander Tomy said he took early retirement from service to participate in the Golden Globe race in 2022.
Tomy has now been shifted to INHS Kalyani, the naval hospital of Eastern Naval Command, for observation and medical assistance as required.
According to rescue officer Phil Gaden in Australia, Tomy had a severely injured back.
'The Pacific crossing was the longest and toughest leg.' 'Temperatures dropped near zero and they navigated through two cyclones.'
What tasks they accomplished, how they stayed fit, what did they eat, whom did they meet, what they brought back... amazing stories from an epic voyage.
The naval officer had circumnavigated the globe in 2012-13, and was a special invitee at the race, which commemorates 50 years of the Sunday Times Golden Globe Race 1968-69.
Lieutenant Commanders Dilna K and Roopa A will remain at sea for 8 months. They will rely on wind power, do the repairs on the boat themselves and navigate some the world's most treacherous waters.
After being caught in the perfect storm and conquering near death at sea four years ago, Abhilash Tomy has made seafaring history by coming second in the world's most difficult ocean race. As he sailed to the finish line to welcoming cheers, holding the Indian flag, his remarkable story tells us the amazing things human beings can do.
Retired from the Indian Navy, his passage in the Golden Globe Race wasn't easy. Although he kept himself in the basket of race leaders, the position revealed little of what he was actually enduring. Shyam Menon captures the drama of Abhilash Tomy's incredible solo voyage across the world.
The naval officer's father said he was tensed in the last three days after hearing the news about the incident. He said the family members would go Australia to meet his son he was taken there.
Commander Abhilash Tomy of the Indian Navy will set sail from France on the 30,000-mile Golden Globe Race only with a compass, printed maps, star and planetary movements and 140 litres of fuel.
Commander Abhilash Tomy KC, who is representing India in the Golden Globe Race, suffered a back injury on Friday after the yacht was dismasted due to extremely rough weather and sea conditions in the Indian Ocean.
'Very thankful to #IndianNavy & all who rescued me,' Tomy was quoted as saying in the Indian Navy spokesman's tweet.
Lieutenant Commander Abhilash Tomy set off on his adventure a solo, non-stop circumnavigation of the world -- from Mumbai on Thursday.
It will be a dream come true for Lt Commander Abhilash Tomy when President Pranab Mukherjee felicitates him in Mumbai on Saturday for completing a non-stop solo circumnavigation of the globe under sails in 150 days.
Rediff.com's Manu Shankar speaks to Lieutenant Commander Abhilash Tomy of the Indian Navy, who will set out an extraordinary trip from November 1 -- a solo, non-stop circumnavigation, covering about 21,600 nautical miles -- in 180 days!
I can never forget the day when in a remote corner of the planet that mariners call the Horn, or the Everest of the Seas, I hoisted the Indian flag on my boat and gave a salute to our tricolour. It was the proudest moment of my life, says Indian Navy Lieutenant Commander Abhilash Tomy, the first Indian and second Asian to solo circumnavigate the globe on a sailboat -- nonstop and unassisted.
Commander Abhilash Tomy of the Indian Navy sailed the oceans and conquered likely death after a storm badly injured his spine and destroyed his boat. Archana Masih/Rediff.com met the decorated sailor who fought all odds to return home alive.
'He has dealt with such tremendous odds that he understands things at a level that not many people do.'
Tomy was battling for life on the dismasted sailboat Thoriya with a severe back injury, the officials said.
Recalling the 2016 surgical strikes, he said Indian troops gave a befitting reply to the "audacity of a proxy war" under the "garb of terrorism".
The International Fleet Review, conceived as a show of the country's naval might and readiness for battle, saw as many as 100 naval ships, including 70 from the Indian Navy, taking part in the second edition of the coveted event.
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