LOKAYAN 15 - Tarangini Voyage Introduction

INS Tarangini, the Sail Training Ship of Indian Navy, would be departing on an eight month voyage to participate in the annual Tall Ship Races and other events at Europe, organised under the aegis of Sail Training International. During these eight months, the ship will travel approximately 17,000 miles under sails

“Tall ship” is a term often used generically to describe large, classic sailing vessels. The first tall ship event was organised in 1956, where the foundation of Sail Training International was mooted.The crew of the ship will undertake this arduous voyage through the Red Sea, the Mediterranean Sea and the North Sea. The ship has an illustrious history when it comes to long voyages and was the first Indian Naval Ship to circumnavigate the Globe in 2003-04. Since then, she has sailed to ‘The Great Lakes’ in Canada for races and has also participated in the European Tall Ship Races. Tarangini won The Royal Thames Yacht Club Challenge Trophy in 2005 at Europe and stood third in Youth Sailing Division in 2007 at USA

Apart from these races, the ship sails extensively across the Indian Ocean region for the purpose of providing sail training experience to the Officer Cadets of the Navy. The Indian Navy believes that training onboard these ships is the best method of instilling among the trainees the indefinable ‘sea-sense’ and respect for elements of nature, which are inseparable from safe and successful seafaring. Sail training also serves to impart the time-tested values of courage, camaraderie, endurance and esprit-de-corps among the budding naval officers

This year’s Tall Ship Races will be conducted primarily off the coast of United Kingdom, Norway, Denmark, Germany and the Netherlands. This year Tarangini will participate in the Tall Ship Race from Kristiansand (Norway) to Aalborg (Denmark). She will also participate in associated sail events such as Sail Rostock, Sail Bremerhaven in Germany and Sail Amsterdam in Netherland. About 300 sail ships of various sizes from all over the world are expected to participate in this year’s events.

The ship’s voyage to 17 ports in 14 countries will showcase India to the world and demonstrate the Indian Navy’s global reach. The theme for the voyage, codenamed LOKAYAN -15, has thus been chosen as “Tacking for a Broader Reach”