Commander (retd) Abhilash Tomy—the first Indian to complete a solo, non-stop circumnavigation—spoke to THE WEEK from Dubai and confirmed that he was entering the Golden Globe Race 2022. He also tweeted the news: “I will be taking part in the Golden Globe Race 2022 on the Bayanat.”
The announcement came at the Expo 2020 Dubai. The GGR Village will open in Les Sables-d’Olonne, France, on August 21 and the race will start from there on September 4.
Bayanat, a G42 company specializing in AI-powered geospatial intelligence, confirmed its sponsorship. “Abhilash will sail in a UAE-registered sailboat aptly named ‘Bayanat’ which will race under the number 71, the year in which the UAE was formed,” their statement said.
“Never ones to shy away from a challenge ourselves, we jumped at the opportunity to support Abhilash in his attempt to successfully circumnavigate the globe,” said Bayanat’s CEO Hasan Al Hosani. “The determination and the courage that’s required to do this is something that resonated with us. Bayanat’s support of Abhilash’s participation in GGR 2022 demonstrates our continued commitment towards research and development, and in supporting extraordinary human achievement.”
The company said that during the race Abhilash would aid in ongoing scientific work, “including the collection of water samples which can be analysed for up to date insight on the presence of microplastics in the world’s oceans”.
In addition, a small section of the yacht will be painted with a special coating which will serve as a reflectance target for satellites, “representing a one-of-a-kind opportunity to collect calibrated data during the race”. This is in keeping with Bayanat’s business, which “provides comprehensive world-class geospatial AI solutions to a growing number of sectors such as defence, environment, energy and resources, smart cities and transportation.”
In the series of tweets that followed, Abhilash, a highly decorated former Indian Navy officer, outlined the ordeal that he faced in the 2018 edition of the GGR: “On 18 Sep 2018, I was racing in the south Indian Ocean when we were caught in an unusual storm which claimed two of the three boats in its way. Mine was one of them.
… My boat (the India-flagged Thuriya) was dismasted and destroyed, and I suffered a huge fall which left me with multiple spine fractures. And with pretty functionless legs.”
The remoteness? Couldn’t have been worse. The Antarctic was the nearest continent. We were exactly between Australia and South Africa, and south of India. The international SAR organisation kicked in, with four nations joining the rescue effort.”
Gregor McGuckin, Irishman and my nearest competitor jury rigged a temporary mast and made a heroic effort to reach me. Australian P8 and Indian P8i were despatched to fly overhead.”
INS Satpura set sail from India and HMAS Ballarat was despatched by the Australian Navy. French fisheries patrol vessel “Osiris” was the first to reach. It took them three and a half days.”
I was shifted to Ile Amsterdam, an island in the French sub-Antarctic Territories, where I was given primary medical care. On the 6th day after the accident I even went for a walk with crutches because I had no idea about the fractures.”
Satpura arrived on day 7 and I was transferred to the ship on a helicopter. We arrived at India on the 16th day. An MRI revealed the fractures in the spine. Two days later I was operated upon. Titanium rods were inserted in my spine and 5 vertebrae were fused into one. My legs were so badly off that I had to learn to walk again.”
But I did learn to walk, and then got into a cockpit and got back to flying, and sailing! Three-and-a-half years later, I am heading back into the same race that almost got me killed.”
Wish me luck!”