Abhilash Tomy
This is a collection of articles archived for the excellence of their content. |
Contents |
YEAR-WISE DEVELOPMENTS
Till 2021
Abhilash Tomy is an Indian naval officer and an accomplished sailor. He was born on November 5, 1979, in Kerala, India. He grew up in the coastal town of Kollam and developed a love for the sea from a young age. Abhilash Tomy joined the Indian Navy in 2000 and became a naval pilot.
In addition to his duties as a naval pilot, Abhilash Tomy was passionate about sailing and participated in several sailing competitions. He became the first Indian to circumnavigate the globe solo in 2013, completing the journey in 151 days. He achieved this feat aboard his sailboat, INSV Mhadei, which he had built himself.
In 2018, Abhilash Tomy participated in the Golden Globe Race, a solo non-stop around-the-world sailing race. He was the only Indian and one of only five Asian sailors to participate in the race. During the race, his sailboat, Thuriya, was hit by a severe storm in the South Indian Ocean and was badly damaged. Abhilash Tomy suffered severe back injuries and was stranded in the ocean for three days. He was rescued by the French vessel Osiris and was taken to a hospital in Ile Amsterdam, a French island in the Indian Ocean. He made a full recovery after several months of treatment and rehabilitation.
Abhilash Tomy has received several awards and honors for his achievements in sailing and his service in the Indian Navy. In 2013, he was awarded the Tenzing Norgay National Adventure Award, the highest adventure sports award in India. He was also awarded the Kirti Chakra, the second-highest peacetime gallantry award in India, for his bravery and endurance during the 2018 Golden Globe Race.
Abhilash Tomy continues to serve in the Indian Navy and is an inspiration to many young sailors and adventurers in India and around the world.
2023: Asia’s best, world no.2
How he did it
Newton Sequeira, April 30, 2023: The Times of India
Youhave no idea how happy I am to be here with my boat,” said Abhilash Tomy in his first interaction with people ashore as he became the first Asian and Indian to complete the Golden Globe Race. “I am happy to have completed the circle. I did not want the stigma of losing a boat, and I really wanted to get the Bayanat back, and I can tell you that the Bayanat got me back. ”
With limited drinking water on board, Tomy had to stick to tough rationing. “I was drinking one cup of water in two to three days. Drinking one litre of water a day is a lu xury. I was cooking rice in seawater,” he said.
The sailor was his usual witty self, joking and narrating his wild experiences. But he also knew the enormity of his feat. “Thi s is the first and the only time that anybody from Asia has a podium finish in a round-the-world race in any format. So, it is a big moment for me and for everybody from Asia,” he said. In honour of his arrival, Les Sables d’Olonne flew the Indian flag at the entrance of the channel. The military attache at the Indian embassy in France Brigadier Zubin Bhatnagar was at hand to formally welcome the adventurer. Tomy and the embassy delegation then sang the national anthem on stage.
At one corner on the stage was a damaged composite fibre bow, e vidence of his collision with Dutch cargo ship Rotra Vente just three weeks before the race began on September 4, 2022.
Seeing Tomy deftly skip on the deck of Bayanat, one finds it difficult to accept that just five years ago, the naval officer had to learn to walk once again. This time, stepping on land with his back and boat intact is nothing short of the mother of all comebacks in India’s maritime history.
Founder and GGR race chairman Don McIntyre admitted that he thought Tomy’s campaign was a “lostcause”, and at the same time, proof of what the human will can achieve. “He is a fighter. He is afunny guy and. . . I honestly don’t know how you got to the start line with everything that happened. The boat has done alot of work,” he sai d. While Tomy exorcised the ghosts of 2018, his family back home in Goa let out a collective sigh of relief as they saw him step back on land. “It is absolutely exhilarating,” s aid wife Urmimala.
Urmimala and the couple’s two sons, Vedaant and Abhraneil, have been living on the edge over the past eight months. They are now looking forward to some quality time with him. South African sailor Kirsten Neuschäfer took first place, becoming the first woman to win the race, known asthe “voyage of madmen”.
