A seasoned sailor and filmmaker, Dhanya Pilo, a Kharghar resident, was part of the female crew of Maiden, which clinched the first place in the Ocean Global Race in April of 2024. Maiden made history as the only all-female crew to win the McIntyre Ocean Globe Race.

Dhanya has spent over 25 years navigating the waters, both literally and creatively. Growing up in Mumbai, she found herself drawn to the niche sailing community, a sport still uncommon in India.

Beyond competitive sailing, Dhanya sees life at sea as a lens to understand our changing ecosystems and test human resilience in the face of environmental shifts and also teaches us new lessons about ourselves.

Ahead of Women’s Day, she shares her journey, the challenges of being a woman sailor, her perspective on sailing and how it helped her learn new lessons.

I grew up around coastal areas, living in Mumbai. I would see fishing boats and paintings of sail boats. And I would see small boats near Gateway of India. I was curious about how it works and how do people operate sails. I went and checked it out and became a part of it.

When I started sailing, I was one of the few women sailing. I have been sailing for more than 25 years now.

I was part of a British women’s team and it was super interesting because they brought us from nine different countries. We made history being the first all-woman team to win a race around the world.

My advice to women is to just start and it will change your life. It also allows you to put everything you have learnt in life to use in sailing. It is amazing, you can practice all your skills simultaneously. And women are good at multitasking so it is very easy for women to sail.

I think winning the race gave us confidence, even though we did not have the best boats. I think we should motivate more women to come forward so that no one is told that they cannot enter into a port.