INS Sudarshini Naval Expedition to ASEAN Countries
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In the video, VIPs board the ship, and IN officers among them exchange salutes with the Officer of the Deck. None salute the India flag flown from the mizzen mast. Is this in conformance with IN protocol?
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Skipper's Blog - Post from Sudarshini – 18 Sep 2012
Thursday, 20 September 2012 at 01:44
Covered over 400 nm in the last three days, a substantial speed of advance gained for a Square rigger particularly in the equatorial region during the fag end of SW monsoon. We crossed Colombo, Srilanka at about 100 nm on our port beam. I've been there a few times. It's a beautiful city with burgeoning population trying to cope best to the demands of cosmopolitan lifestyle. As Marco Polo once said on Srilanka, "undoubtedly the finest island of its size in the world".
This morning, we rounded the famous 'Dondra Head' south of Srilanka, the weather has not been kind to us. It is an understatement. Squally weather, shifting winds gusting up to 35 knots as the cumulonimbus cloud passes, noisy winds, giant sails flapping around violently and visibility came down to 3-5 cables during rain spells – All happening in a matter of few minutes. Nothing one can do but to furl all sails. I called for "Hands to sail setting station".
On a tall ship, this crisp command means one thing only. ie., "All hands on deck". It doesn't matter whether crew are off watch and sleeping, or having breakfast, in the heads (it means toilet in nautical language), or watching TV. This order is equivalent of "Action Station" onboard our grey hulled warships. It usually means the wind direction or speed has changed and all hands are required immediately, to alter/furl the sails.
My men and cadets rushed to the upper deck, found exhorting each other with all their power to pull down all sails quickly. Exo was heard shouting on intercom to haul in the sheets and tighten the dangling halyard purchases. I kept an eye on the two men working aloft to clear the reef line that got twisted and the top sail was not furling the way we liked it to be. Quartermaster reported difficulty in the course being steered, as the speed came down drastically due to furled up sails. Dondra Head being a busy 'highway' at sea, a large number of merchant men, some of them larger than an aircraft carrier was overtaking us casually on both sides. It was an apparent disorder on deck of a typical sail ship which is difficult to express in words. Finally, all sails furled, ropes belayed to the likes of my Exo. Men and cadets completely wet, proceeded to their bunks with a sense of accomplishment in their eyes. I was visibly proud of them and announced on ship's main broadcast "Sabaash ship's company and cadets, Keep up the spirit of Sudarshini".
As I write this blog, the time is around 1800 hours. We are still tossing up and down and making little headway for the past 12 hours. Winds and currents could not be predicted accurately here. Confused waters all around as the Indian Ocean, Arabian Sea and Bay of Bengal meet up here.
Life at sea continues"¦
Thursday, 20 September 2012 at 01:44
Covered over 400 nm in the last three days, a substantial speed of advance gained for a Square rigger particularly in the equatorial region during the fag end of SW monsoon. We crossed Colombo, Srilanka at about 100 nm on our port beam. I've been there a few times. It's a beautiful city with burgeoning population trying to cope best to the demands of cosmopolitan lifestyle. As Marco Polo once said on Srilanka, "undoubtedly the finest island of its size in the world".
This morning, we rounded the famous 'Dondra Head' south of Srilanka, the weather has not been kind to us. It is an understatement. Squally weather, shifting winds gusting up to 35 knots as the cumulonimbus cloud passes, noisy winds, giant sails flapping around violently and visibility came down to 3-5 cables during rain spells – All happening in a matter of few minutes. Nothing one can do but to furl all sails. I called for "Hands to sail setting station".
On a tall ship, this crisp command means one thing only. ie., "All hands on deck". It doesn't matter whether crew are off watch and sleeping, or having breakfast, in the heads (it means toilet in nautical language), or watching TV. This order is equivalent of "Action Station" onboard our grey hulled warships. It usually means the wind direction or speed has changed and all hands are required immediately, to alter/furl the sails.
My men and cadets rushed to the upper deck, found exhorting each other with all their power to pull down all sails quickly. Exo was heard shouting on intercom to haul in the sheets and tighten the dangling halyard purchases. I kept an eye on the two men working aloft to clear the reef line that got twisted and the top sail was not furling the way we liked it to be. Quartermaster reported difficulty in the course being steered, as the speed came down drastically due to furled up sails. Dondra Head being a busy 'highway' at sea, a large number of merchant men, some of them larger than an aircraft carrier was overtaking us casually on both sides. It was an apparent disorder on deck of a typical sail ship which is difficult to express in words. Finally, all sails furled, ropes belayed to the likes of my Exo. Men and cadets completely wet, proceeded to their bunks with a sense of accomplishment in their eyes. I was visibly proud of them and announced on ship's main broadcast "Sabaash ship's company and cadets, Keep up the spirit of Sudarshini".
As I write this blog, the time is around 1800 hours. We are still tossing up and down and making little headway for the past 12 hours. Winds and currents could not be predicted accurately here. Confused waters all around as the Indian Ocean, Arabian Sea and Bay of Bengal meet up here.
Life at sea continues"¦
cloud_9
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Skipper's Blog : A Splendid Exchange
Friday, September 21, 2012 at 4:14am ·
Its 0600 hours. Another 180 miles to reach our first port call at Chennai. It's a bright and sunny day on the East coast of South Tamil Nadu. Sun sparkles on the waves giving it a golden shade. Visibility is excellent, the sea appears to be flatter than usual, light breezy steady south westerly winds, blue sky, since morning. Sudarshini is cruising along with all sails unfurled, close hauled position with 15 degree heel to starboard side. Getting a healthy speed of 7 knots. An ideal setting for a blissful day at sea, I must confess.
Lt Cdr Nikhil came to me with sailors' promotion list and asked my approval for their promotion. 'It's my pleasure', I said. At 0900 hours, had an occasion to promote couple of my sailors, at sea. It's a rare opportunity to get promoted to the next rank at sea. The promoted sailors were visibly happy, as I watched them going back to lower decks.
A Splendid Exchange : How Trade Shaped the World by William J. Bernstein
Just started reading 'A Splendid Exchange : How Trade shaped the world' by William J Bernstein. A fascinating book that spells out how man explored uncharted waters in the past 5000 years or so, to trade goods. Certainly a difficult work to link, not so well recorded maritime history and economy. Mr William has done justice to it. Recommended reading. Thanks to my colleagues Ramanathan and Rajdeep who were thoughtful and visited me on a day prior cast off from Kochi and handed over a book each, for company of the lonely Captain.
My cadets are busy learning the ropes onboard – literally"¦some of their blogs and photographs that are coming to my perusal are really interesting. I'll continue to upload them for you to see. Have a great weekend"¦
Friday, September 21, 2012 at 4:14am ·
Its 0600 hours. Another 180 miles to reach our first port call at Chennai. It's a bright and sunny day on the East coast of South Tamil Nadu. Sun sparkles on the waves giving it a golden shade. Visibility is excellent, the sea appears to be flatter than usual, light breezy steady south westerly winds, blue sky, since morning. Sudarshini is cruising along with all sails unfurled, close hauled position with 15 degree heel to starboard side. Getting a healthy speed of 7 knots. An ideal setting for a blissful day at sea, I must confess.
Lt Cdr Nikhil came to me with sailors' promotion list and asked my approval for their promotion. 'It's my pleasure', I said. At 0900 hours, had an occasion to promote couple of my sailors, at sea. It's a rare opportunity to get promoted to the next rank at sea. The promoted sailors were visibly happy, as I watched them going back to lower decks.
A Splendid Exchange : How Trade Shaped the World by William J. Bernstein
Just started reading 'A Splendid Exchange : How Trade shaped the world' by William J Bernstein. A fascinating book that spells out how man explored uncharted waters in the past 5000 years or so, to trade goods. Certainly a difficult work to link, not so well recorded maritime history and economy. Mr William has done justice to it. Recommended reading. Thanks to my colleagues Ramanathan and Rajdeep who were thoughtful and visited me on a day prior cast off from Kochi and handed over a book each, for company of the lonely Captain.
My cadets are busy learning the ropes onboard – literally"¦some of their blogs and photographs that are coming to my perusal are really interesting. I'll continue to upload them for you to see. Have a great weekend"¦
Last edited:
cloud_9
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Crew's Blog #4: 'Thambi land"
It was a well needed break in Chennai for all of us after a long sailing period. For us, the stay was very interesting as most of us had our maiden stay at Chennai. Even the hot and humid weather could not stop us from visiting places like 'Mahabalipuram', 'Lord Shiva's Shore Temple' and 'The five RATHAS', which took all of us into ancient times of Indian history.
We also visited ' Madras Crocodile Bank Trust Centre for Herpetology' where, we saw a huge number of crocodiles, Gharials, Alligators and Pythons of massive sizes lying in the highest state of their laziness. We visited INS Rajali, the largest air station of Indian Navy.
We also got the opportunity to visit "Academy of Maritime Education and Training" where we interacted with the staff and cadets of merchant navy, Seamanship workshops and State-of-art Norwegian Bridge Simulator. Overall, our Captain ensured that we are under learning curve all the time at Chennai.
The "Royal Madras Yacht Club", malls, local markets were few other places we visited. It was a rather enjoyable short vacation in Thambi-land. During our stay at Chennai, Sudarshini was the cynosure of all eyes: during the day, masts attracted people to attempt a climb, and at night the beautifully lit masts left everybody spellbound. She was a one of a kind grand experience for people in Chennai.
We were given a warm send-off at Chennai. A short cultural program organized by Tamil Nadu State Tourism Dept. there was a music symphony by Nadaswaram and drums and two famous folk dances of Tamil Nadu.
The Chief Guest interacted with the crew and cadets of Sudarshini and commented on the significance & unique opportunity of this voyage. Our Captain interacted with the media about the forthcoming tasks in hand. At 1125 hrs, the ship left the jetty to the martial tunes of the Naval Band. We were also escorted by sailing boats of 'Royal Madras Yacht Club' and 'Tamil Nadu Sailing Association' with young children as helmsmen. As we sailed into the Bay of Bengal, everyone onboard felt the excitement of the coming days and a slight pinch as we were leaving India for the next 6 months.
Gazing at the skylines of Chennai, a strong feeling of duty and responsibility coupled with the desire to learn and explore the ASEAN countries. It drives and encourages me to achieve beyond, even in the face of danger.
Cadet Avdhesh Dubey
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Skipper's Blog #5: Who'll stop the rain?
Posted on September 29, 2012 by Commander N Shyam SundarBack to blogging after few days of rest and leisure time in Chennai. This morning, we sailed out of one of the oldest port of India, flying a newly stitched ASEAN India flag majestically fluttering on foremast. My cadets manned the yard arm in the traditional manner. These days, cadets seems to have grown in confidence in climbing the masts and the ship's Bosun told me that the 'Super 16' has clocked a time of less than 5 minutes to take up their position. Once again, a rousing Send-Off ceremony for Sudarshini, thanks to Commodore AK Mahadevan, Naval Officer-In Charge, Tamil Nadu & Pondicherry and his team.
Rain Gods did not fail to follow this beautiful tall ship and they blessed us just before start of the ceremony. The crew is used to rains now; as the clouds started building up the crew straight away turned out from their mess decks wearing wet weather gear without any orders. During the function, one of the Doordarshan TV crew jokingly told me, 'Sir, thanks to Sudarshini for bringing some rains from Kochi to water deficient Chennai'.
As we crossed breakwater, we saw threatening grey clouds welcoming us to the Bay of Bengal. Since then, it's the nature's 'Cat & Mouse Game' for the past eight hours wherein, on one side, intermittent drizzles combined with some clouds get bigger and heavier all around us and on the other- the sun shines between the clouds to see our tall ship. Adding to the confusing weather is the gyrating shifting winds which are typical of the bay. The weather is crazy and unpredictable today.
Chennai to Padang, Indonesia is over 1480 nm, transiting through the complete length of Bay of Bengal. It is one of the longest legs' of this ASEAN Expedition. My navigator Lieutenant Patil walked up to me and said 'Sir, the latest satellite picture and Weather prediction software are presenting a gloomy (read cloudy) picture'. I immediately called Exo and passed on few instructions- 'Recheck the securing for sea arrangements onboard, close all weather deck openings, cover all electrical equipment and carryout communication checks with shore authorities.'
Time now is 2000 hours. The weather continues to threaten us. Sudarshini is rolling 10 degrees either side, experiencing light winds from port quarter, heading 130 doing 5knots and waiting for the furious Bengal (Tiger) to roar"¦
Ankit Purohit
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Thats Wonderful Pic
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