The Navy Day

In 2018, when I entered the Indian Ocean in the 32-foot replica I anounced that I was finally in the backyard of the Indian Navy.

There, along the eastward track lay a point at the intersectino of a line drawn between Perth and Cape Town, and another dropped south from Kanyakumari, where a scattering of four French Austral Lands lie: Kerguelen, Crozet, Amsterdam and St Paul. It was at this intersection that I, a few weeks after making the cheerful announcement, found myself shipwrecked causing the same Navy to launch an aircraft and a ship to a position close to Ile Amsterdam. They covered the distance from India to 40 South the way one walks across one's own backyard proving that I had not been wrong.

Two years ago, on this very date, the 04th of December, I crossed that spot again during the Golden Globe Race 2022. And something happened that I did not expect.

I felt a lightness I had not known in five years, when my jaws unclenched, neck and shoulders losened, and breath evened out. Somewhere inside me, a second person had taken residence, a person formed of the subconscious memory of things gone wrong and a scar pinned to the length of my back. The moment my boat crossed that invisible point, that person simply left.

I wanted tos end a message out to the world that I had just rounded Cape Comorin. Instead, I sent a simpler note: Happy Navy Day!

May the Lord of the Oceans be Auspicious Unto US!