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Destination Goa for 4 men in a boat [ Tuesday, October 25, 2005 01:36:35 amTIMES NEWS NETWORK ] MUMBAI: Their home for the next 72 hours is on the Arabian Sea, between Maharashtra and Kerala, on a boat measuring just 21.5 ft by six ft. The four occupants have to survive in this cramped confine, with no toilet, no cabin, no kitchen. There is no cover for their floating home and, in the afternoons, they have to bear the onslaught of the sun. They have enough food and water to last for three days, when they reach Goa. The four sailors are hardened adventure buffs from the College of Military Engineering at Kirkee near Pune, taking part in the Indian Army's sailing expedition from Mumbai to Kochi via Goa. In all, they will cover a distance of 2,200 km. There are two sailing boats participating in the expedition, and in each there are four members. The first group of eight which left Mumbai on Monday afternoon will reach Goa on Thursday, assuming there is no weather-related delays. At Goa, another team will take over and sail on to Kochi. The process will be reversed during the return leg. In all, 21 people will participate in the expedition. Incidentally, it is the first major sailing expedition of the Indian army organised after a gap of 18 years. Said a team member: "It is a very challenging experience. It is really a case of survival of the fittest." They have to be careful while eating because the turbulent water induces nausea. "Past experiences have shown that, if one person starts vomiting, it has a cascading psychological effect on other team members," a team member added. The boats are wind-powered. General officer commanding-in chief, southern command, Lieutenant General B S Thakar, who flagged off the expedition told newsmen that to sail such a boat calls for the "highest standards of leadership, seamanship, endurance and perseverance." He said that the boats are equipped with navigational aids which will help the crew to communicate with the ground stations at Mumbai, Goa and Kochi. Asked why there was a gap of 18 years between the last big sailing expedition and this, Thakar said: "All these years the army was involved with other activities. As a result sports went into the background. Now, with peacetime activities on the rise, we will once again concentrate on extra curricular activities like sailing." "The aim of the Indian army is to win a gold medal in the next Olympics and we are now seriously working towards this goal," he added.
