A bid to keep to my 2010 new year's resolutions...

Today, i sailed to an island with a clean, beautiful beach... Had my lunch and coke... n set sail again for the open seas.

It was a great day to sail. The NorthEast monsoon was providing ample wind to get us to our destination and the sky was neither too cloudy nor too scorchingly open. It was a bright, breezy day, perfect for sailing.

Of course it's not a yacht but it was big enough for 3 people, the people of the Sea Mina crew, a group that dates back all the way to....errrrmmm.... last July! Hahaha... anyway, it's the same group i click with at work too, Charles and FB so it makes not much of a difference. Same interest and wavelength... so clique-ing is natural.

We finally had time to sail for fun after so many months. The last we sailed was during the competition last year in the Laser Bahia. (Coincidentally, our workplace placed orders for Laser Bahias this year! So we were already acquainted to it!)

Anyway, the 'island' we beached up was actually Changi Beach. It was quite deserted as it was a weekday... not many people go to the beach on weekdays. The journey from our workplace to Changi Beach was about 2 hours? Or less... it was definitely much faster compared to Kayaking... duuuuhhhh... The three of us were able to chit-chat, have discussions and basically just slack.

Coupled with the nasi lemak from Changi and the hong cha long yan plus coke, blissful. Charles quipped, "where clse in Singapore can you sail out whilst at work and have lunch like this??" and then i replied, "Charles, we are on off today! But where else in Singapore would you come back to work while on off and sail to have lunch like this?!". YES, we were on off... means, NOT WORKING. But we specially went back to work so we could borrow the boat to sail. And needless to say too, we had FUN! This is one of the many perks working in the outdoor industry. Hehehe...

The thing i love about sailing is all the things needed to make the sailboat move and you to have a good journey. The preparation that goes before it; i.e. the ropeworks, the repairs (if in our case we brought back a 'dead' sailboat to life), the tie-down on who to bring drinks, icebox and money... The awareness and sensitivity if the weather, wind and tide. Observing the surrounding and spotting wind pockets. Feeling the air for changes in wind patterns. The science behind sail-setting. Weighing the boat around at the different sail positions (sitting behind or infront, left or right..), the excitement when the wind is harnessed good... and also when things turn out wrong!! And most importantly, the crew matters... get a crew that does not clique and thats it!


"One ship sails east and another sails west
With the self-same winds that blow.
Tis the set of the sail and not the gale
Which determines the way they go.
As the winds of the sea are the ways of fate
As we voyage along through life,
Tis the act of the soul that determines the goal,
And not the calm or the strife."

- Ella Wheeler Wilcox



However, a day will never be picture perfect without a drama-moment to complete it. Like the previous time we beached up on Changi, sand got stuck in the centreboard!! Those few particles of sand can jam up the centreboard pretty hard. We took about an hour trying to scrape it out first with the baton from the sail... (until I lost it in the swash!) and next with my dive knife (which is out of shape now).. During that one hour, we tried so many different methods. And since we are beached up and the tide is low with on-shore winds blowing hard on us, we could not bring the boat in deeper into the waters to capsize it and scrape out the sand. SO we had to capsize it at shore... the feeling of elation when the centreboard was free was indescribable! Back then, a mere one piece of sand on each side of the centreboard jammed it up. This time, it was MANY sand!

But the baeutiful  thing in the end is the Outward Bound values each of us naturally hold even before we joined the industry and in this example "Tenacity in Pursuit" and "Undefeatable Spirit". When shit happened, you see all three playing our part to solve the issue and it doesn't matter how long it takes to get the problem settled, no one caves in to the pressure and gives up. Everyone just does it. It is this part about having a good crew that makes a difference. I felt that this part of the expedition was the team-building activity given by Him. He must have been thinking, "No challenge ey for thee? I shalt give you one to shake thee up!" Hahaha... sorry! Just jokin'.

Sailing is definitely an art i would love my children or anyone to adopt. It really is a back-to-basic thing which goes back to an era where powered sailing is not invented yet. When flight is not yet developed. It is the epitome of physics in transportation.


"The pessimist complains about the wind; the optimist expects it to change; the realist adjusts the sails."

- William Arthur Ward


The best thing about sailing, i feel that it is a great team-building activity and a great debriefing tool in the outdoors. Everyone has a role to play on board the boat. Everyone needs to know how to make the boat sail efficiently and everyone needs to have the same wavelength. It makes a difference between just sailing and fun sailing.

May Allah guide us all..bless us with happiness and health n protect us from the dangers of this world, physically or mentally. Help us become successful people in the world and after...