A sailing experience

The water looked so calm, so tranquil. Yet, the water surface of East Coast hid the strong currents-even stronger than what I had experienced in Sembawang for my sailing training.










Upon hearing the signal for us to launch our sail boats every sailor took their positions in front of their boats, before towing them into the water. Near the shore the wind was relatively light. But before long, I was out in the open sea. I was filled wiht adrenaline and excitement. this would be my first time participating in a regatta. The coach asigned to my brother and I had briefed us on the race course and the rules, and now, the Silver Fleet made a beeline for the starting line- an imaginary line between the 'comm' boat and a buoy.










As I cruised along the starting line, I glanced everynow and then at the mast of the comm boat. There were two flags fluttering gently in the wind. Three more minutes till the race began! Time moved painstakingly slow. Three minutes felt like half an hour but before long, a horn blared loudly at we were off! I remember that on one of the races, I did not know where the next mark was! Then, I saw an orange mark. Mistaking it for one of the marks in the race course, a few other sailors and I headed for it. At that moment, we spotted the rest of the Silver Fleet sailing towards another orange mark. Realising our mistake, we immediately began sailing in that direction as fast as we could, to try and make up for lost time. Our hopes were in vain. Several sailors cursed and muttered hokkien expletives under their breath. Knowing it would be pointless to cry over spilt milk I quickly sailed after the leaders, trying in the least to overtake some sailors. After that incident, I learnt not to follow the crowd. Instead I should rely on my burgee( a smaller, lighter version of a wind vane) to find the next mark.






Recovering the boat and unrigging it was always a challenge. First, you had to untie the mainsheet from the sail. Then you had to keep the sail after you had to cleaned it. Then you had the clean the boat. lastly, you had to overturn the boat to prevent the boat from flooding overnight should it rain.






By the time I had done all these things, I was exhausted. However, I had enjoyed this experience, hopefully, I will get the chance to participate in such a regatta again!

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