Exclusive: India's Abhilash Tomy, once stranded at sea, takes 2nd shot at world's toughest sailing event

Chennai

In 2018, his boat was destroyed while sailing solo, in the middle of nowhere… He suffered a terrible fall that left him with multiple spine fractures and functionless legs… As he lay in wait of a rescue, (which took nearly four days to reach), he wasn’t thinking of quitting… He had only firmed up his resolve to go again and take a second shot at the world's toughest, invite-only, solo, non-stop circumnavigation race - The Golden Globe Race (GGR). After an unfortunate accident in 2018, Commander Abhilash Tomy, the former Indian Navy Officer is back in 2022 - to endure and enjoy non-stop sailing 30,000 nautical miles, for a duration of up to 250 days.

WION had an exclusive conversation with the daredevil adventurer from India, where he shared about what keeps him going. 

Tomy's announcement of taking part in the latest edition of the Golden Globe Race was made on Twitter. The post read- "3 and a half(years) later, I am heading back into the same race that almost got me killed. Wish me luck!". Tomy recalls that the decision to compete again was a natural one and required no thought.  

"The decision to get back and sail (GGR) was taken when I was lying injured and battered on my boat, back in 2018. For me, the difficult decision would have been the one to not contest this year," he laughed. This comes from a man, who had to be operated upon after his 2018 accident and had titanium rods inserted into his spine, besides getting five of his vertebrae fused into one. 

Only the best can make it to the GGR and that too on the basis of an invite, but his first shot at the round-the-world race was one filled with immense hardships.  

Referring to his plight back then as an 'interesting time', he says "I was physically injured, my wife was pregnant, my boat was damaged and I had no money".   

However, this time around, thanks to the vast experience he has gathered in the sport, Tomy is better equipped and prepared. In 2018, he started building a boat, (which costs crores) and then began looking for a sponsor, which left him broke and anguished.  

Despite the financial mess, he found himself in, Tomy decided to continue with the race, with the help of multiple donors, who helped him in their little ways. Now, Tomy is being fully sponsored by Bayanat, a company that offers predictive geospatial intelligence and supported by Jellyfish Watersports, a sailing and kayaking company based out of Kerala.  

For his first circumnavigation attempt, Tomy had to prepare hard and sail over 27,000 nautical miles on the same boat, for his maiden GGR attempt, it was down to a year of preparation and now he's confident of managing this attempt with almost five months of preparation. "For the first GGR attempt, I built a 32-foot boat with two masts, it was the replica of the original boat that won the GGR and it was based on a 1923 design. The current boat is a 36-footer with a single masthead and has a much newer design. As I have no sailing hours on this boat, I'm planning on getting at least 3,000 miles." 

Known for its brutal rules and regulations, the GGR is a sailing race where one has to only rely on sail boats, equipment and technology that dates back to the year 1968 (the year when the original race was conducted). This means that sailors will have to purely rely on their sextants, seamanship and celestial navigation (positioning based on sun and moon) to find their way. The only GPS equipment they will be carrying on-board, is the one that transmits their location to the race headquarters. While they do carry the essential technology to alert the rescuers in case of accident/mishap, using that option will mean getting disqualified. 

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If this doesn’t make the voyage challenging enough, Tomy explains how it's like to be out there - "Let’s say you've not slept in 28 hours, but want to catch some sleep.. But, your clothes are drenched and its five degrees out there and windy… the boat is moving all over the place, your bed is wet, saltwater is dripping into your eyes, there's salt in your armpits and hair and you haven't changed clothes for nearly ten days… A shower is something that happens once in 30days… Imagine cooking or using the washroom under such conditions… Amid uncertain weather, you'd also have to spend nearly four hours every day to figure out your position using traditional methods.. All of this has to go on for nearly 300 days". 

On being queried why he wants to undertake such extreme challenges, stress and loneliness, Tomy laughingly says, he finds it harder to sit in an office chair and go through accounts and signing papers. "It's (sailing is), difficult for you, not me. I like this solitude," said the former naval aviator from India. For his family back in Goa, all they want is for him to prepare well and be competitive.  

"My wife is happy about it, my younger boy is aged three and too young to understand. But the elder son, who is aged 12, calls it the 'Golden Death Race'. They are all in Goa, but I will be shuttling between France, Netherlands and the UK. I hope to get back to India sometime in the coming months to meet family, before I embark on the race," Tomy said. 

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For those, who think that this fascination for sailing was something that Tomy picked up from his time in the Indian Navy, it actually didn’t work that way. Being at sea has been a childhood fascination for him. The desire only grew stronger, thanks to his father, who served as an officer in the Indian Navy. "I recall that the first Indian Army expedition of circumnavigating the globe took place during my childhood, that was something which captivated me. I was also someone who read books on sailing expeditions and stories of being stranded at sea, etc. Thanks to my father, I've even attended few events at sailing clubs, as a young lad." 

Reminiscing his having to discontinue the 2018 race after sailing for 82 days (1/3rd the journey), Tomy says half-jokingly that he was lucky to have encountered a storm and lost the race and the boat, because, winning/completing the race and bringing his boat back to India would have cost him an additional Rs 25lakh, that too at a time when he was too broke. "You've got to remember that I spent only Rs 350 for even getting married," he signed off. 

The 2022 Golden Globe Race follows this route: Depart from Les Sables-d’Olonne, France on September 4th, 2022 and sail solo(at the mercy of the wind and sea current), non-stop around the world, via the five Great Capes and return to Les Sables-d’Olonne.