It takes a village!

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Aquarius Shipyard is India's leading sail boat builder. The team here, led by Ratnakar Dandekar has the distinction of building both the sail boats that helped 8 Indian Naval offices circumnavigate the world. First, Capt Dilip Donde who is the first Indian to sail solo around the world. He then mentored Cdr Tomy who sailed solo and no-stop around the world. Both of them sailed on INSV Mhadei. More recently, Dilip trained the Navika Sagar Parikrama team, which sailed on INSV Tarini. Around the same time, the Aquarius team built SV Thuriya, which Tomy sailed for the Golden Globe Race 2018-19

Antara has august predecessors and we're proud of her lineage. Working on Antara, we spend quality time with a few good men.

Yash, on the right
Security and hard hat men
The man-child in the security cabin,at the gate, Yash. He looks like a newly hatched adult not quite sure if he has indeed grown up. His 'make up' scowl; to scare the world into believing he's an adult, is endearing. I managed to coax a tiny smile out of him for a photograph. Him and his mate ensure we have our hats on before we start work.

Project Manager
The new kid on the block, Siddhesh. He's worked on Thuriya and
Siddhesh, in black
Tarini but this is the first project he is leading. Still a bit nervous about the responsibility, he takes copious notes in his blue diary and faithfully follows Ratnakar's instructions. Most times wearing his helmet back-to-front, he seems to be in all places at once. I'm actually envious of the experience he is gathering up and sometimes wish I had had the same opportunity at that time in my life!

If it's a red t-shirt,
it must be Sachin
Man for all seasons
Sachin, who started out as a car mechanic and chanced upon Aquarius one fine day. He asked for a Rs.100 raise to his Rs.1,200 salary then. Ratnakar refused, saying he could only pay him above minimum wages. Sachin has been at Aquarius ever since. He loves to get his hands dirty and jumps in to any job with aplomb. He can fix a screw, drive a crane, set up an engine or a mast full of ropes and if he doesn't know how to do something yet, he will, soon.

Rocky
The Handyman
Rocky, does all the little jobs given to him with equal dedication. He's the one who ensures that the holes drilled are smooth and unlikely to chafe the wires or ropes; the sealant is applied to every screw; the boat is vacuum cleaned at the end of the day and if he has some time on hand, the pontoon alongside Antara is swept clean too.  He has been with Aquarius, from even before they decided to focus on building boats.
Bipul
Paint Expert
Our 40 metres of anchor cable arrived dripping with oil. Bipul, from Guwahati, helped with the primer and the paint, ensuring that the right amount of harderner and thinner was used. He's an undergad from Assam who learnt the basics of painting watching his hostel being painted! The rest he learnt on the job at Aquarius.

And the rest of the Team
There's also Amit, the electric expert, Dnyaneshwar, the draughtsman, Sunil, the sourcing expert, Jayanto the head carpenter and Khoparde, Ratnakar's right-hand man. 

 All of them key to ensuring things segue seamlessly together for Antara.


Antara offers you the opportunity to sail, safe in Covid times - on a large sailboat, along the coast, in the deep blue yonder! You decide and we'll design a sail just for you. 

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Comments

  1. Unknown24 March 2019 at 22:15

    Pretty much similar support team for Plastic Samudra. Great team!

    ReplyDelete

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