Brig AP Singh, SM*, VSM (Retd), an alumnus of the St Columbas School, New Delhi, was commissioned into the Corps of Engineers in 1972. While training at National Defence Academy, Pune, he took up sailing - an activity which occupied a major part of his early service period. He became the National Champion in the OK Dinghy Class – a single-hander, and represented India at numerous national and international championships. He indulged in blue water sailing from 1977 onwards when he took part in the first Indian sailing expedition to foreign shores in the Seabird Albatross from Mumbai to Bandar Abbas (Iran). He ultimately achieved the sailor’s dream – to sail around the world, and was a crew member of the team that circumnavigated on Trishna from 1985 to 1987 - the first Indians to achieve this feat. He has taken part in other blue-water expeditions too. Brigadier A P Singh was the National Coach for 25 years for the Optimist Class – a boat for the sub-junior category and qualified as an official for the world body as an International Race Officer, the first from India, for 10 years from 2001 and conducted championships in the country and abroad. He juggled his professional responsibilities satisfactorily alongside the sports involvement, serving as the Chief Engineer (Navy) with the Eastern Naval Command and Coast Guard Region (East) and then serving as the Head of Department, Faculty of Electrical and Mechanical Engineering at the College of Military Engineering, Pune, from where he took premature retirement in 2007. Enamoured with photography, and with extensive travelling, Brigadier AP Singh has written extensively. Many of his articles/papers on our ancient heritage and knowledge systems have been published in print and online media. His first book 'Kashmir: The Land of Rishis-A Journey Through Time', with a Foreword by General (Dr) VK Singh, Union Minister and Former COAS, was published in 2023. He is also the Editor of a reputed strategic affairs journal – AGNI – now in its third decade of publication.
