THE SUREST WAY to change India in a generation is to send more youth to sea, said Commander Abhilash Tomy KC, NM, India’s first and only solo, non-stop circumnavigator. “Nothing builds character like the sea,” he said at THE WEEK Maritime Conclave 2024.
Tomy spoke about how skills acquired by sailors and techniques deployed in the maritime sector could have applications in areas far removed from the sea. Answering a question from the audience about the relevance of celestial navigation and ancient navigation, Tomy highlighted the practice of GPS disruption employed by governments and non-state actors.
Speaking to THE WEEK privately, he said: “There was this instance of a super-yacht which had deployed a GPS jammer to throw off paparazzi drones. The captain forgot to turn it off when the ship was in port in the Netherlands. This jammer hit GPS functions in the Netherlands, Belgium and some neighbouring countries. This was accidental, of course. But it is often done intentionally, too. So, knowing celestial navigation is a crucial back-up for sectors like defence as it is failure-proof, jammer-proof.”
Space is another area where sailing has something to contribute, he said. Tomy is collaborating with ISRO on the Gaganyaan mission and his inputs were specific to what the astronauts should do in case of an irregular entry on their way back. Usually, the crew module is retrieved from the sea after emergency landings.
“For example, 27 possible locations were identified for an emergency splashdown (of gaganauts),” he said. “I discussed what to expect in these areas during different times of the year. What are the easiest ways to locate a crew module. What should the crew be prepared for. And also, about the technological challenges one could expect at sea. For instance, a solution that requires a still and stable surface would not work at sea. The solution would give perfect results when tested on land, though.”
Usually, ships and other vessels carry EPIRBs―emergency position-indicating radio beacons―to signal positions during maritime distress. The beacon is activated by water when the beacon pops out of its bracket or when it is turned on manually. Planes use an Emergency Locator Transmitter to alert rescuers when an aircraft is in distress. A space crew module with an EPIRB would be the ideal example of marine technology meeting space tech.
With India seeing an increasing demand for land leading to restrictions on the expansions of road networks, inland navigation and coastal shipping could be the way forward to decongest roads, Tomy said. “As ships play the volume game, they are the cheapest form of transportation for the commercial sector,” he said. “In 2021, we saw the Suez blockade by a container vessel. Did the commercial cargo movement move to roads or the air? No! Simply because the cost is prohibitive. Overall, the carbon emissions from shipping are also lower, making it the greener option.”
The retired commander and naval aviator is now based in Abu Dhabi, where he works with Space42. Bayanat―the company that sponsored his entry into the Golden Globe Race 2022 with the eponymous Rustler 36 yacht―is now rebranded as Space42, after it acquired Al Yah Satellite Communications, better known as YahSat. Tomy had finished second after a gruelling, 236-day voyage. He became the first Asian to finish a Golden Globe Race, and the Bayanat―the yacht―is now moored in Abu Dhabi.
Space42 is listed in the UAE and it “offers satellite services in more than 150 countries across Europe, the Middle East, Africa, South America, Asia and Australasia” through YahSat. Space 42 has two verticals―Bayanat, which offers AI-powered smart solutions, and YahSat, which runs the Thuraya satellite constellation. Tomy’s combined experience as a sailor, aviator and navy officer holds him in good stead in his new role as brand ambassador of Bayanat.
He talked to THE WEEK about AI in the maritime sector. “For example, one of the products we offer collates data for coastal security,” he said. “Too many channels feed in security data and processing huge volumes of such data simultaneously is challenging. Data comes in from radars, aerial reconnaissance, AI systems and physical observations. Our AI-enabled platform looks for patterns in this database based on the parameters you set. For example, if it spots an unnatural manoeuvring by a vessel near a sensitive installation it will alert the client. Or, maybe it spots a new transmission on a frequency that it is monitoring. It will parse this data in real-time and raise an alarm.”
The conversation also touched upon ongoing research into captain-less and engineer-less vessels. In June 2022, the Mayflower Autonomous Ship (MAS) completed a 40-day, transatlantic voyage from Plymouth in the UK to Halifax, Canada. It did not have a human captain or crew on board. IBM supplied the technology for MAS. While the voyage was not without glitches, it surely showcased the possibilities of AI in the maritime sector.
In closing, Tomy asked more youth to take up sailing and asked the audience to support the Yachting Association of India in any way possible. “This is a sport where there has been no match-fixing or cheating,” he told THE WEEK. “Sailing is the only sport that can be taken up at different levels―as a competitive sport, or for leisure, or transport. There is always a boat for the kind of person you are. Once you go to sea and come back, life’s problems seem so trivial.”