Daring ‘Dillroo’ do India proud on the High Seas

At first glance Lieutenant Commanders Dilna K and Roopa Alagirisamy, two women who together achieved the first sailing feat, would pass for any other sailors.

But few know that they scripted history by becoming the first Indian pair to travel the world on wind power in the double event.

Only 10 Indians have achieved this feat. While Dilna hails from Kerala, Roopa comes from neighbouring Tamil Nadu.

The duo has been lovingly called ‘Dillroo,’ and Navy Chief Admiral Dinesh K Tripathi termed their feat an inspiration for every Indian.

What is even more impressive is the fact that the duo does not hail from either defence or navy background.

 They had desk jobs before embarking on this most challenging journey.

Dilna started as a logistical officer in the Navy way back in 2014. She was unhappy with the monotony of her job and decided to sail the globe in 2019.

First Draft spoke to Dilna about her experience and what sort of preparations went into making this epic journey a success.

Excerpts from the interview.

Q. Were you confident of completing the trip with Roopa, since it was the first time that both of you had undertaken such a daring task?

A. We had been preparing for it for the last three years.  Both Roopa and myself had got commissioned just a year apart and struck a very good bond as time went on, In fact we were both adventurous and yet had desk jobs—something we wanted to kick off.  After about three years in service, we came to know about the Sagar Parikrama. The Navy encourages women sailors to embark on this trip.

When we learnt about this, we wanted to give a try to the world expedition.

Around four years ago, we were encouraged by lots of our colleagues to go on the trip.

We wanted to make this unique.  Both of us wanted to sail on wind power--- which is one of the toughest things to navigate on the high seas.

Around a couple of years ago, we started practising it full time. We were focused on our jobs. It was a very tough task, and we consider ourselves lucky to complete this gruelling race.

Q Can you tell us a bit about the trip--- how long was it and what were the memorable sights?

A It was an eight-month long trip which included a west-to-east journey. Our journey began on October 2, 2024, and right from the onset we had to negotiate choppy waves and chaotic winds. Another interesting aspect was that we visited the three Capes---- Cape of Good Hope, Cape Leeuwin and Cape Horn — all known for their perilous weather and treacherous waters. We also endured three cyclones.

Away from the challenges, which nature presented to us, were moments of beauty which we will cherish forever---these included glowing sunsets, shoals of dolphins and soaring albatrosses, and the breathtaking view of a pristine Milky Way.

It was a memorable touchdown when we arrived in Fremantle, Australia, where we were honoured guests at the Western Australian Parliament. That was without doubt one of the high points of our voyage. 

Each and every port we docked was different. We will treasure these memories for the rest of our lives. We were lucky enough to see different types of humanity and consider ourselves lucky that we had the Indian Navy to back us to the hilt whenever the chips were down.

The most important aspect was the vagaries of the sea—one moment it would be placid, the next moment treacherous. You really had to be on your guard all the time.

Q. Whose help did you take the most? Whose advice proved to be helpful to you?

A. We were lucky that we managed to get the best advice and loads of encouragement from Commander (retd.) Abhilash Tommy.

As we all know he was one of the few sailors who have sailed round the world, logging 24,000 nautical miles—and that too alone.

In fact, his accident and the dramatic rescue have captured the imagination of most sailors of the world. Tomy sir has been the single most inspiration for us. He was always there whenever we asked him for his advice on how to deal with the tricky winds and treacherous waves. After all ours is not a mechanized boat—we depend entirely on the winds and gauging the wind direction correctly makes the difference between success and failure. It was here that Tommy taught us how to not only survive tough conditions but also make full use of the winds and unruly waves to our advantage.

Q. What factor made you really happy—something which made you feel proud of yourself? 

A. The fact that Defence Minister Rajnath Singh was present to welcome us back was something which made us happy and we are really proud of it.

 Apart from coming to welcome us, he took a lot of active interest in our expedition and was always keeping himself updated on which part of the globe we were in.

Q. Any other interesting experiences you had during the journey?

A I miss my father—he has done so much for me. Unfortunately, he passed away in 2021. He is the one person who inspired me the most. I could experience his presence on several occasions-especially when the going was tough.

Q. Any particular coincidence which stood out for both of you?

A. There were a couple of very interesting dates. For instance, May 29, the day we completed our trip, is the day when Sir Edmund Hillary and Sherpa Tenzing conquered Everest. Both myself and Roopa had always remembered this day, as we are great fans of Hillary and Tenzing.  It was very interesting that we managed to round off our trip on the same day.

Interestingly, our mission, the Navika Sagar Parikrama II, commenced the day after Lt Cdr Roopa’s mother’s birthday.  It concluded a day before Lt Cdr Dilna’s mother’s birthday. I think these coincidences have more to do with one’s destiny than anything else.