India-Aussie bonding in solitude of high seas

The relationship between Indians and Australians may be a bit strained Down Under but on the high seas a friendship between an Indian Navy officer and an Australian teenaged sailor is going strong. Dilip Donde,the first Indian attempting a solo around-the-world sail has struck up a warm camaraderie with Jessica Watson,a young Australian student who …

The relationship between Indians and Australians may be a bit strained Down Under but on the high seas a friendship between an Indian Navy officer and an Australian teenaged sailor is going strong. Dilip Donde,the first Indian attempting a solo around-the-world sail has struck up a warm camaraderie with Jessica Watson,a young Australian student who is attempting to be the youngest sailor ever to circumnavigate the world,non-stop and alone.

Navy officer Commander Dilip Donde is now halfway around the world after having rounded Cape Horn and the nearest person to him is Australian school girl Jessica Watson,who at 16 is attempting to be the youngest person to sail solo across the world.

The two got in touch after reading about each other while blogging on the internet and since then have been exchanging notes on the weather,encouraging each other for the long journey ahead and warning each other for dangers.

While Jessica started off being a few hundred miles ahead of Dilip,earlier this week,the Indian Navy officer on his larger boat Mhadei,surged ahead to cross the southern tip of South America to make his way to Africa. Donde left Mumbai on August 19,2009 while Jessica left Sydney on October 19,2009.

On New Years eve,the two even managed to talk to each other over the phone. Finding it a bit odd to receive a phone call close to midnight,I picked up the phone and what a pleasant surprise! Jessica calling to wish me a happy New Year! Amongst all the New Year wishes I have received in all these years and at various places,I think I will cherish this one from this gutsy girl 350 Nm away and the nearest human being to me,as the most special, Donde writes in his blog http://sagarparikrama.blogspot.com/ where he posts regular updates on his journey.

While Jessica has become somewhat of an international figure with thousands of people following her on the internet,Dondes journey remained low key till she blogged about him on her popular website.

Lately Ive been keeping in touch with another solo sailor Dilip Donde who is from India and part way through his own circumnavigation. Its been great to talk to him and compare conditions as hes not far to the west of us and also heading for Cape Horn, she wrote on December 27,2009.

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Since then,Donde has got an international fan following with hundreds of fans from Australia and other parts of the world commenting on his blog.

Since Jessica mentioned my blog on hers,there seems to be a sudden increase in comments and questions. While it may be difficult to answer all from a bouncy boat,here are answers to a few common ones My boat Mhadei was named after the old name of the river she was built on, Donde writes. Donde has now completed over 14,000 nautical miles of voyage and arrived at Port Stanley in the Falkland Islands on Friday. His next port of call will be Cape Town in South Africa.