The First Indian Army Expedition sailing around the world in a small 37 feet approximately fibre glass yacht named TRISHNA sailed off from Bombay on 28th September, 1985. The Expedition has gained historical significance being the first of its kind in Indian sailing history.

The team comprised ten officers of the Corps of Engineers of the Indian Army. They covered a distance of approximately 50,000 kms in 1Y2 years. There was a total crew of six officers on the boat. Out of these six, four officers sailed around the  world ; whereas the others changed at intermediate ports enroute.

The team having been  flagged  off  by the then Chief of the Army Staff, Late Gen. A.S. Vaidya, PVSM, MVC, AVSM, ADC on 28th September,1985 from Bombay touched Male (Maldives), Port Louis (Mauritius), St. Helena, Ascension Island, Natal & Belem (Brazil), Paramaribe (Surinam), Georgetown (Guyana), Port of Spain (Trinidad), Barbados, Kingston (Jamaica), and crossed through the Panama canal on 26th February, 1986. Setting sail again from Panama on 05 April 86 they touched Galapagos Islands, Marquesas Island, Bora Bora, Tahiti, Rarotonga Fiji, Auckland, Sydney, Bali, Jakarta, Singapore, Colombo and returned back to Bombay.

Trishna, which means an urge to attain and accomplish a deep rooted desire, is 36 feet 6 inches in length, 10 feet 9 inches in width, has a draught of 6 feet 1 inch, with a gross weight of tons. It has been built by Nautor of Finland and designed by Sparkman and Stephen. It has a sloop rig, a long keel and a skeg making it very sea worthy in rough weather. Trishna is fitted with the basic cruising equipment like a depth sounder, wind instruments, speed log radio direction finder, VHF and HF radios, a six man life raft and other safety equipment. Her-50 gallon water capacity has been increased to 130 gallons.

The team went through very rough weather in the Indian Ocean and sailed through two severe storms around the tip of Madagascar and while rounding the Cape of Good Hope. Also the flat calms of the equatorial doldrums enroute to Mauritius made them drift 300 miles off course. From Tahiti onwards the weather turned rougher and rougher in the winter of the Souther  Hemisphere. They  ran  into storms between Fiji and Auckland, which ripped their main and their jib sails. The reserve main sail was  also  ripped  apart  the  journey   across the Tasman Sea from Auckland to Sydney was the worst so far, when they encountered winds over 120 kmph and waves over 40 feet high. Close encounters with whales off the South Africa Coast and between Fiji and Auckland, sharks and dolphins,  seals,  and  numerous other sea and land life, and at Galapagos Islands, where Darwin wrote the theory of evolution, was very interesting. The members of the expedition are:

1. Col TPS Chowdhry Team Manager 2. Maj K.S. Rao, SM-Skipper 3. Maj A. Battacharaya 4. Maj S.N. Mathur 5. Maj A.P. Singh SM 6. Maj A.K. Singh SM 7. Capt R. Bassi  8. Capt S. Shekher 9. Capt  C. Bharti  10. Lt. N. Ahuja.

The Department of Posts is happy to issue a special stamp on TRISHNA, the First Indian Army Expedition of sailing around the World.

Source : Information Folder issued by Indian Posts & Telegraph Department, Government of India