Ahoy! Amazing Mariners and Sea Minded Global Citizens shedding a tear for our fragmented world. The night of 27 April turning to this new day signals to me a triple celebration of Hope from the Sea!
Last night, Kirsten Neuschafer, a 40 year old life long adventurer and Ocean Sailor became the first women and first South African to win the gruelling Golden Globe Race (2022) some 54 years after Sir Robin Knox Johnstone did it first time on an Indian built “Suhaili” in 1968! Kirsten sailed into Les Sables-d'Olonne after 236 days of solo circumnavigation around the three great Capes!
Indian Navy veteran, Commander Abhilash Tomy, who just over four years earlier was dee masted and lay injured in the middle of South Indian Ocean amidst Golden Globe Race 2018 aboard the “Thuriya” is 100 nautical miles from a podium finish at Golden Globe Race 2022 and will be the first Indian to complete this challenging race. The living Indian Maritime Legend with a titanium back has exorcised many demons and sailed with his grit and prayers of a billion plus Indians and more amidst popular pursuits like IPL and politics!
Thirdly, the pride of Indian Navy INS Teg was in Port Sudan yesterday, participating in non-combatant evacuation operations of people caught in the civil conflict over there. This happened 11 years after the ship was commissioned on 27 April 2012. The preferred security partner in the Indo-Pacific, the Indian Navy continues the global saga of peace and good order for an emerging world order.
Against this backdrop, I'm excited to update that later today (12:30 pm IST), I will be speaking at the Annual Conference 2023 of Oriental Institute - School of Regional and International Studies of the Far Eastern Federal University, Vladivostok. This conference on the theme of “End of an Era in World Politics” is being conducted in collaboration with IWAS Institute for World Affairs & Security from India.
I will be speaking on “Navigating Fragmentation : Security and Cooperation in Indo-Pacific.”
Do join in if free at the link https://meet.google.com/vcg-toft-gcc
Do follow @IWASinstitue and @dvfufefu & stay connected at www.johnsonodakkal.com