Indian navy officer to sail solo around world in yacht

NEW DELHI, March 7 (Chinese media) -- An Indian navy officer is planning to become the first Indian to sail solo around the world in an Indian-made sailing yacht, reported local daily The Hindu on Saturday.

Commander Dilip Donde of the Indian Navy will set sail from Mumbai on India's Dependence Day, on Aug. 15, and spend nine months on the high seas, said the report.

Donde, who has been serving in the Indian Navy for 20 years and training for the mission for three years, will travel some 35,000 kilometers while having on board only food supplies and medicines, said the report.

Donde will make four stops in his eastward journey: Fremantle, western Australia, Christchurch, New Zealand, Stanley, the British occupied Malvinas Islands off Argentina, and Cape Town, South Africa, said the report.

His yacht, the Mhadei, is a 23-ton, 17-meter-long vessel which cost 40 million rupees (800,000 U.S. dollars). The first such boat built in India, the yacht is equipped with state-of-the-arm navigation systems, a Swedish engine, a South African mast and New Zealand sails, while the hull is made in India, according to the report.

The Western Command of the Indian Navy Thursday formally received the yacht in Mumbai's Naval Dockyard, said the report.