The story so far: Abhilash Tomy, former Commander in the Indian Navy who became the first Indian to go around the world on a sailboat solo and unassisted back in 2013, has now attained another record of completing a solo circumnavigation under even more gruelling circumstances when he made podium finish at the Golden Globe Race (GGR), 2022, on April 29. He finished second after South African Kirsten Neuschäfer.
What is GGR?
The Golden Globe Race is a non-stop, solo, unassisted yacht race around-the-world which was held for the first time in 1968-69. Just one of the nine participants — 30-year-old British sailor Robin Knox-Johnston — made it to the finishing point sailing a boat named Suhaili which was built in India. The second edition of the race was held 50 years later, in 2018, when Tomy threw his hat in the ring. One of the conditions was that the contestants would use boats designed to prescribed premodern specifications and would not be allowed to use any modern navigational gear. They would have to rely entirely on sextants and paper charts. To be more specific, anything that wasn’t available in 1968 would not be allowed. Satellite phones would be available for extremely restricted use, up to four short messages a day, and use of the GPS chart plotter carried in a sealed box (for emergency) would lead to disqualification from the race. And the sailing would be along a stipulated route, rounding the three great capes, the Cape of Good Hope in South Africa, Cape Leeuwin in Australia and Cape Horn in Chile.
