:: SMU Sailing :: We make things happen

Vivace

2008-08-16T08:12:00.002+08:00

Come join us this coming vivace.

Let's Keep Praying.

2008-07-05T00:12:00.002+08:00

In your own religion. In your own beliefs. For a single outcome we yearn.

Sincerest apologies.

2008-05-22T23:04:00.002+08:00

Team SMU @ Changi Airport enjoying the delay.

From me, who is supposed to be doing the TOGR blog entries to you, the avid readers of this wonderful blog. I am sorry I didn't update during the regatta itself. A few complications when we were up there. It however, is no excuse. So let me start today with a overall summary of our achievements. After this i will add a daily entry which was prepared for each day with the next few days. One hopes its a case of better late than never. Do forgive me and enjoy the entries and the holidays.

Youth div: Platu 122-1st

: Platu 110-2nd

: Platu 102-6th

IRC Racing Class: 3rd (HIJINKS)

Thaicap Class: 1st (Amanda)

Raimonland Day 1 Races Photos

2008-03-11T02:37:00.002+08:00

What a start! 15 boats jostling to be first on the line!

Mark rounding

Raimonland Day 1 Races Photos

2008-03-11T02:17:00.002+08:00

Neck to neck with the Weasel

Going Upwind.

The Ferret got a new paintwork and is now called Southshore

Just before a race started

P/s: Blogspot and Picasa are rather screwy when it comes to uploading photos...so i will only be uploading a select few.

Day 0 Training Photos

2008-03-11T01:55:00.006+08:00

Life jackets in both small size and Large size.

Hiking out for maximum effect.

Juniors heading up to TOGR in May can expect such clear waters. That's the Platu's rudder when the boat heels.

Raimondland Day 2 Race 5,6,7

2008-03-10T11:32:00.001+08:00

To sum up Day 2’s races, we were outclassed.

The winds were light for the first race, gradually picking up through the subsequent races. Despite our good starts, we were nonetheless outclassed by the sheer experience, local knowledge of our competitors. Once again, we have a no mistake race, and even improved on the timing required for certain sequences (for eg, raising the pole took no longer than 2 boat lengths). But, as experience (or rather, the lack of it) would have it, the other boats had their no-mistake races too, and coupled with their superior wind readings, the cloud readings, the current readings, the tide reading…..you get the idea.

I was invited to race on Lee Marine, a Platu owned by Kevin Scott (aka The Ferret) with some Dutch and Aussie guys. These guys sailed from young, sailed off Ocean Marina for God knows how long, and were overall 5th for Day 1’s race. They usually sail with four persons, and I asked, “I don’t understand how you can sail with just four persons, there’s just so many things to do.”

“I don’t understand how you can sail with SIX persons!” they replied.

They seemed to be expert cloud readers, always judging the direction and strength of the wind to come, based on the cloud formation. Before the Platus start, the tactician (who happened to be the mains trimmer) observed boats from the other classes that started earlier; “ok, that boat is being headed from near mid course, and judging by the clouds forming there, the winds will be bad for us. And don’t forget the current is coming in from that side, so, we better stick to this side of the race course.” Maybe that’s something we can learn from.

The amount of information flow amongst the 4 of us was non-stop. Lee Marine was a fine example of how the helmsmen job is to steer the boat. The Mains/Tactician was mostly calling the shots on the boat. “Let’s tack here, to get out of their shitty winds. Let’s head out to the right side of the course, the winds are better. Let’s not tack anymore, we have tacked too much!” Everything on the boat was democratic, yet not. A paradox, but somehow the boat drives very fast and high. There’s just something about these seasoned sailors who can read the wind shifts so well, that they always catch the gust and just sail past our SMU boats.

Perhaps we have to grow more facial and nose hair to be as sensitive to the wind changes as them.

Guys, it’s time to take a visit to Yum Nam Hair Care.
(Photos of the races will be uploaded soon)

Team SMU Champion in Singapore Laser SB3 Fleet Match Racing Regatta 2008

2008-03-09T23:02:00.015+08:00

For those who don't know what match racing is about, it is basically equal boats sailing one on one with each other and whoever finishes the race in front of the other wins the match. Format is slightly different from fleet racing that we usually do. It starts off usually with one or a double round robin with many races in it, and the top four ranked boats at the end will be entered into the semifinals, and the winners will face each other in the final. in the knockout stage, it will usually be in a best of 3 or 5 races format. One thing to note in match racing is that there is a pre-start elemient to it. Meaning before the start gun goes, the 2 boats will engage with each other to try and gain an advantage to start ahead of the other team on the start line. This is usually the most exciting part of the race and requires very good communication among the whole crew.

This time around, six teams were invited to take part in the 1st ever match racing regatta organised by the Singapore SB3 fleet. Our school was one of the six. The other teams included, Vladimir Borstnar's team our old J24 namesis, a german team skippered by Hannes, an olympic level sailor, Team NUS skippered by SEA Games Medalist, Alvin Hong, a team from Changi Sailing Club skippered by James Cole (winner of our WCSR multihull division), and the last slot was taken by John Heng with our very own Vivian Neo (Just graduated) in his team (lets call them the Singapore Press Holdings team, coz john and the other guy are working for SPH, i think). The boats used are SB3 (like duh...) and are sailed 3 up. Our team: Me - Helm, Maxi - Main, Justin Wong - everything else.

The event was held over 2 days. Sat and Sun. Unfortuantely for me, my stats mid term fell on saturday and i had to get my best friend Xu Yuan Zhen to stand in for me. Maxi took over the helm and on day 1, topped the round robin series with 5 wins against the other 5 boats, putting us in 1st place.

Day one round robin series ended in this order:
SMU
Germs
Borstnar Brownies
CSC
NUS
SPH

In this regatta, the format is slightly different, and it's like this:
1st vs 2nd
3rd vs 4th
5th vs 6th
Best of 3 races will be sailed.

So, we were up against the the germs today to fight for 1st place....

Race 1:
Started at the starboard end, entered the pre-start area bang on time. the germs were late and we tried to keep them from entering (if we manage to do that for 2 min the get a penalty). we failed, and after that the sneaky germs slowed their boat as we were hunting them, and we went overshot to the wrong side of them. they eventually managed to start infront of us, and tried to cover us tack for tack in a tacking duel. midway up the 1st beat, rain engulfed us and the wind picked up significantly. we managed to split tack from them eventually and head to the favoured side. when we crossed paths again, we were ahead, and lead them all the way to the finish to make it 1-0.

Race 2:
Wind strength dropped and we started at the port end and entered the prestart area about 2 seconds late. met the germs in the middle of the start line. we eventually forced them to round the big committee boat with one minute to go, and we chose to head for the pin end (which was the favoured of the starting line) for the start. the germs started at the starboard end and we started in a strong position at the port end. we lead throughout the course and made it 2-0 to wrap up the victory.

There was free beer after that as usual sponsored by brewerks. we filled the huge perpetual trophy we won with beer and passed it around. oh yes overall results:

1st: SMU
2nd: Germs
3rd: Borstnar Brownies
4th: CSC
5th: NUS
6th: SPH

Last but not least, special mention has to be given to both Priscillia and James who volunteered their time to help out in running the regatta. And Lizzie Maxted for helping us take photos. Thanks guys!! Ok Back to my BGS and MA project...

Cheers
Captain Jack Sparrow

Day 1

2008-03-09T21:42:00.001+08:00

Apologies for the late posting people. I was on the Comm Boat the whole day yesterday, and we didnt have time to post Day 1's race then. Today, I was crewing on another Platu, so I can only post now.

Anyhow, here's what's supposed to be yesterday's post!

Day 1 Race 1,2,3,4

Today’s race consisted of four sausages, and in short, we didn’t do well for the races. Our starts were good, usually in the top five of the fleet, but somehow, we always lost out in the middle of the course. Boats overtook us on different tacks and we played a strategy wrongly to the far side of the course, thinking the winds there were better, but forgetting that the current changed and slowed our entry into the top mark.

We made a no-mistake race, but lost out on tactics to the more superior Thai Navy teams, Thai National Teams, and other seasoned sailors. It seemed that local knowledge was very important to maintaining our good starts, and often the crucial, determining factor in being in the front pack of the fleet.

Our mood wasn’t the best after having a bad race day, not even the tasty dinner with free beer lined up did much to lighten the mood.

After dinner, and washing up, we had a two hour debrief to discuss how best to approach tomorrow’s race. Later, we decided to head to Walking Street for some supper.
One more day of racing. The last day of racing. We can improve!

Photos: Day 0, Part 1

2008-03-07T23:27:00.001+08:00

Our new, sexy Platu 109

The Pseudo Bow

Platu 109

One pull and it starts!

RaimonLand Platu Open: Day 0

2008-03-07T21:50:00.012+08:00

Greetings from the Ocean Marina Yacht Club in Pattaya, Thailand! The Raimonland Platu Open Championships are about to open tomorrow, and the crack team from SMU was making good headway in today's training. We weren't the only boat out training today, so you can really feel the anticipation of a fleet race of 15 boats tomorrow! Imagine the scene at the start!

For the uninitiated, the Raimonland team from SMU consists of:

Alvin -Helms

Fiona - Mains

Louis - Jib Trim

Lips - Box

Junjia - Mast

Fang - Bow

Moi, Jason - your blog editor, shore liason, transportation negotiator, and friendly reserve (i had to create more positions for myself to fill while the main team sails.

We were assigned Platu 109, a brand new, sparkling clean boat, so almost-new that our dear Lips said that he “dares to sleep in the box.” The boat was in good condition, looked liked it was cleaned on upslip recently, and came with racing Techron sails! We were all excited, and after some simple tunings and getting-used-tos, we set off at noon to brave the South China Sea.
Today’s training was a commando-styled one. Enter, execute, and extract: We entered the race course, executed what we wanted to train on, and extracted ourselves from the course when we completed our objectives.

According to the locals here, the winds today were moderate, but to us, Singaporeans, they were more of the good strong winds you see in RM. We made good headway in training today. Essentially, our objective was to get acquainted with the boat’s reactivity, and iron out any last minute crew synchronizations. Some key issues we faced today were:

1) Do proper tacks without losing speed, and getting the heel right. We lost speed during out tacks today, but after some adjustments on crew work, we got it all it settled, and our tacks were rather good. Sweeet.

2) Hoisting timing – We shuttled between the Bear and Seattle Hoist, and generally, the problem was about the timing of the hoist. After some communication, and some trial-and-error, we got the timing right.

3) Get the spin to fly. Somehow, it seemed that despite the different parameters (pole height,guy and sheet, sailing angle) being set correctly, the spin could not fly fully. Later, we discovered that adjusting the pole just higher by an inch or so, set the spin to fill well.
Overall, we had a good training, settling some issues, working out movements on the boat, and evaluating the currents, winds off Ocean Marina.

Check out the pics in the following entry for more info!

Race Day 1 - Wet and Wild

2008-01-07T17:53:00.000+08:00

Had 2 races today, winds were good, the team was raring to go, but ALAS. today was not our day.

our little platu decided to drink in lots of sea water during race one. we were actually doing quite well, shings and youjin trimming like porn stars up and down the waves. the boat hummed with delight everytime it surfed down a monstrous big badangdang of a wave. but i guess the little innocent platu could not take such intense intercourse as its toilet bowl cover ripped asunder, and sea water came gushing into the engine hold. which in it self it not too bad if not for the fact that the engine hold itself ripped apart and water started gushing into the cabin! from the corner of my ear i heard susu scream "i tell you ah.. the cabin is flooded!". i thought that maybe there was some water in it, but when i poked my head around the corner... it was like a scene from my nightmares (that one where i dreamt the j24 i was on was sinking). the entire cabin was filled with water! up to chest height! i never saw so many floating dry bags in my life.

but... it was still ok. or so i thought. at least we were floating! the girls kindly "volunteered" to go below and pump out all the water. it was like a scene from a cartoon where... i'm not sure what cartoon it was. anyway. so we hung on, rounded the bottom mark in 2nd place and headed for the final leg. as the boat slammed into merciless wave after wave upwind, the guys on the rail started saying "hm, is the bow supposed to go so low". right there and then, a wave swept across the bow and we heard a scream from below decks, "argh!! there's more water coming in from the front hatch!! it's coming in faster than i can bail!"... we didn't want to be known as the team that sank a platu in langkawi, so we had to make the hardest decision any sailing team had to make: we decided to retire.

which came out to be a good decision cos we then went full steam ahead to bail out all the water... just IN time for the start of the second race.

today's racing was eventful, to say the least. we're going to make some modifications to the engine hole cover, and hopefully this won't happen again. things like this always happens.. this is what sailboat racing is all about after all. it's how we bounce back tomorrow that is important.

wish us luck. tomorrow's a new day.

Royal Langkawi International Regatta

2008-01-06T23:24:00.000+08:00

Day 1
10.43pm

Greetings from Langkawi!

After a good training day at sea, we had a satisfying steamboat dinner, and are now in our room tucking each other into bed ☺

Ok now, the truth. Ben is having his 5th beer, Shinglei is laughing at her own lewd jokes, Youjin is playing his PSP, Susu is smiling sweetly at her msn window on the laptop, Tim is adding fuel to Shinglei’s lewd jokes, and Sheryl is making sure everyone’s happy ☺

An update of events that happened today –
Excitement started early in the day. At the airport, Sheryl almost didn’t make it on the flight to Langkawi! Who would have thought they wouldn’t let you check in without presenting the credit card you bought your ticket with? Nevertheless, after making a few calls, the matter was settled and all 6 of us got on the flight with bright smiles and high spirits.

Arriving at Royal Langkawi Yacht Club, we were pleasantly surprised at the beautiful landscapes. The mountain cliffs by the Marina were like Bukit Batok Nature Reserve, but bigger, and more beautiful!

Upon registration, the other teams were streaming in, and atmosphere was filled with anticipation. We met the Australian Team (defending champions) and the Malaysian Yachting Association Team. Both of which are staying at the same motel as us.

After a quick lunch, we were off to make our platu race-worthy. Since we needed a place to store the winch handles, we fixed pouches we bought from the mama stall on both sides of the cockpit. (So resourceful right..) We also did more work on the boat before going out on our first practice sail.

The winds today were pretty gusty, and we’re still trying to get a feel of the wind conditions. But overall, practice went pretty smoothly today, and the team’s sprit is high.

Stay tuned for more updates on race day!

early christmas shopping

2007-11-22T18:58:00.000+08:00

tired of wearing your black army shorts to sail?

sick of getting cut up because your pants material is to thin?

exasperated at having no place to put that roll of tape, spanner, knife or beer when out at sea?

fret no more!

SMU Sailing has gotten hold of some good quality, well-designed and tough-as-nails sailing pants! Designed by wearnhaw and modelled after the stuff them America's Cup sailors use, these pants will gurantee you many years and nautical miles of trouble free, convenient and safe sailing.

And the best part is that they come much cheaper than the other brands, 'cos we know that you need to spend your money on other things (why, like printing notes and stationary of course!)

The prototypes are already here in Singapore. Drop us a mail if you are interested in getting a pair for the upcoming sailing season (and many more to come)

I'll post up some pictures of the shorts soon. Suggestions for who you want to see model the pant - topless or not? ;)

An idea for a new team uniform? ;)

2007-11-07T23:32:00.000+08:00

http://www.chncup.com/n_news/shtml/2007-11/2007111165832.shtml
promotional posters from the recently concluded China Cup.

(something to chase away those week 12 blues)

ALLO!

2007-10-11T01:52:00.000+08:00

Dear Sailors,

Greetings from France from Dawn and I! How's everyone doing? I saw pictures of the PT sessions. Looks like you guys are having a great time! Wish I was home playing floorball too...

Anyway, Dawn said you guys should incorporate another activity into our PT sessions! I found the activity on youtube but I'm not sure how to post it here. But here's the link:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oYi3gXPZEms&mode=related&search=

Check it out and let us know what you all think! It's called British Bulldog or Bullrush!

A bientot,
Dawn and Youjin

totally random

2007-10-02T09:44:00.000+08:00

there's a freaking nice photo of me while sailing....

i mean just look at those nice legs =)

well that could be one of the only few
moments that i look good.

super furry animals

2007-09-10T16:53:00.000+08:00

while sitting in class trying to concentrate on betas and epsilons, i chanced upon this funny picture.

hope you get as much out of it as i did. (all rights to this photo remains the reserve of the photographer.. whoever he/she is)

(and we thought our pink shirts stood out!)

CCA Day 07

2007-08-24T04:13:00.000+08:00

Time 0416H
Date 24th Aug 07
Venue Macdonalds
People: 8 suckers who stayed back till late preparing for CCA Day (aka Vivace)

All the best for CCA Day Sailors!!!
Stay tune for the nice nice spoil market booth

The Team - SELANGOR GAPURNA INTERNATIONAL YOUTH MATCH RACING CHAMPIONSHIPS

2007-07-29T08:01:00.000+08:00

The Selection was done. There is the team for the Youth Race in Malaysia and we wish them well. It her what they have to say about the Regatta.

Renfred Tay

What are you feelings towards the Youth Championship?
I have mixed feelings abt going for this. although I've match raced before, I was never the helm. The helm is always under a lot of pressure during match racing, hope I'd be able to withstand it, and not worry abt crew work by the time we get there. Crew work has to be perfect for match racing otherwise there its not match racing.

What would this Championship mean to you?
Doing well for this will give me more confidence as a helmsman, and hopefully help me further my sailing aspirations

Why far have you prepared yourself?
Been training a lot, however it is difficult for the full team to be able to train together all the time due to work commitments. Match racing requires a lot of coordination among the whole team. So we'll just training as much as possible together and hopefully we'll see progress as time unfolds.

What are your wishes toward this event?
I wish to win! Hahaha

Who will you miss when to go there?
I will miss my mum and dad. And sailing in the last day of western circuit regatta.

Wong Dan Chi

I can't help but marvel at the opportunities that SMUsailing has given me since I joined just one summer ago. Match racing is something r.e.a.l.l.y new to me and it involves a fair bit of mugging to do *haha* Do so hope to prepare as much as I can, as we can, to properly enjoy match racing and have a great learning experience to share with the sailing family! :) much love!

Timothy Tio

It is my utmost honour to be representing SMU at the Selangor Gapurna International Youth Match Racing Championships 2007. To be chosen for this overseas regatta fills me with great pride and I will be looking to do well for each and every race. I see this Championship as a great opportunity to put my skills learned thus far to the test. With abundant experience from the RSYC Regatta, Western Circuit Regatta and Singapore Straits Regatta, I believe I will be able to put the lessons learnt to good use during the Championship. Coupled with the fact that I am going up to Selangor with very capable team mates, the entire team is brimming with confidence. I look forward to a very successful regatta and ultimately hope to bring back the top prize for SMU!

Dawn Phung

Match racing has always been something of a mystery to me (since I never understood it fully...until now, hopefully) and this competition offered me a chance to learn from the best (hello, wearn haw; hello, renfred). My aim for this championship is to learn how to match race, improve my sailing, and... winning would of course be a bonus. I'm also a little apprehensive since our team hasn't had much time to train together, but still, I have high hopes of doing well and working well as a team. And I will miss all of you and I will miss being around for the last day of Western! Good luck to allll of us. :)

John Lui

Updating soon....

Hiking hard.. a pictorial spread

2007-07-20T10:30:00.000+08:00

remember what wearnhaw told us last weekend? well here's some (sexy) pictures of sailors hiking hard. Oh yeah baby. hurhur.

J24 worlds in Mexico

very expensive sailboat with very professional (read: wellpaid) sailors

"i think i can't feel my legs anymore"

whatever works

hey baby, how are you doing?

and this is what happens if you don't hike hard enough :)

HAVE A GREAT FRIDAY everyone!

The Heat is on.. It's racing time

2007-07-19T11:29:00.000+08:00

the heat is on... RSYC count down.... 8 more days to the race!

Things we gotta do:

1. Check our boat properly for equipment problems.

2. Train Hard

3. Train Harder

4. Give it your best

5. Win....

back by popular demand, Rapmeister DJ Dr.Zee

2007-07-07T04:02:00.000+08:00

i don't know what he was smoking when he wrote this, but this is a work of art.

ladies and gentlemen, without further ado, i give you "the story of IRC race 2".

Race 2: Race to the hood

The horn went and as like all you chill out fellas know, we were rockin' to the beat. There were cries on the boat as we were wondered whether those were gunshots or to signal the start of the next race. We sure did not want to be caught off guard.

"What does a raised blue and white flag mean? Isn't it only one race?"

Who said it was immaterial but what we knew was that crew rabbitz was back in the game.

We rushed to the scene close to the start line, this time we stuck to the uncrowded port side as we were determine not to cross the line last again.

30 seconds to the start. Time was a tickin’ and the boat was cruisin’. Unfortunately we spotted a line of boats cruisin’ down the start line on starboard tack while we were on the port tack hence we had to choice but to give to those niggas' coming down the East side. We had no idea we would be out manouved in this manner. What resulted was a series of chaos as boats cruised by on our left and right as we tacked and tacked to avoid collision.

Within a minute we are all left for dead, once again last and motionless as all the winds and momentum was taken from our sails. Battered and bruised but not walkin’ with a limp, we promised to exact revenge for the brotherhood and so we pumped up the mains and headed down the starboard in chase of two(two boats in front that is yoz).

Position-wise we were done for, the two ahead had bigger sails and we were covered once again we were given the dirrrty windz. We had planned to tack below the two and perhaps take advantage of the clearer route on the port. However someone must have been watching, for just was we were to do so, a gap opened up between the two boats which we were able to exploit. Like the love for fast cars, we beared down to gain speed and went in-between the two where were able to gain a tacit advantage due to the winds blowing through.

Brother Tim predicted the one behind the two would tack away eventually and this would be our opportunity to tack alongside, gain clear winds and perhaps point a little higher to overtake the tacking boat. We lacked the guns but through this massive insight, everything went as planned and we found ourselves cruisin’ down the plain in chase of the chicks far ahead (note: I was fairly blind so I do not really know if those bikini girls were chicks).

When we got to the layline, we wanted to play it cool. There were shouts of “playing it safe” but you and I know we can never win playing safe. We overshot the layline by 5 boat lengths and in the hood no mistakes can be tolerated. I mean A.L.V.I.N knows his shitz but one mistake like that can cost us the whole mutha f.ing race. The backtracking did it damage and we lost a couple of places which was crucial in this race.

The way back to the hood was filled with tactical insights from A.L.V.I.N. He told us there was a wind chokehold and hence the zigzag motion of pointing when its light and and bearing when it heavy downwind. If you didn't get datz you need to go back to school sucker. The jibes were pretty rough like the hangover you get after a night out in da club. But it was still cool as we were able to recover quick.

I would like to say that the way back up was like a disco inferno but the truth is the way up was tame but by no means lame. During this period we consolidated our arms as we approached the layline. This time round A.L.V.I.N decided to use the over the shoulder method which requires you to look over the shoulder on your right before deciding to tack it to the layline. It was a huge gamble but we were ready risk it and get rich or die trying.

I was eaves’ on a conversation between Shi and Fio and it was pretty cool. Shi was pretty thirsty and wanted a drop from the box. Their talk went a little something like this.

Shi: “Can I get a…”

Flo: “What? What?”

Shi: “Can I get a…”

Flo: “What? What?”

Shi: “Can I get a bottle of water?”

Rounding the mark, everything was in order and we managed to pull up the spin and get movin’ in two boat lengths. It was the last leg and immortality laid ahead.

We all thought it would be over just like dat
Suddenly the winds stopped turning boats into cats

Platu was light and cruising down fast
1,2,3 were the boats we pass

We had ALVIN as the helms, there was no worry
Loo Wee at the trims; experience our fury.

A jibe to the left, a jibe to the right
The crews they hollered but they were just getting smaller
It was too late as they tired their thing
The finish was in sight and so the championship ring.

So just in case you hommies didn’t hear it right
I will say it again so remember to hold it tight
The derigging bros are comin’ to get ya
We will rock your boats and we’ll surely pawn ya.

So terrorise us at the R.S.Y.C
cause all you little fags are gonna be D.E.A.D
Crew rabbitz in the house when we secure the 4
Come next we’ll be first while the compe’s on the floor.

word.

IRC Race Report: Shengli's story

2007-07-03T05:17:00.001+08:00

Race 1

The ominous looking storm clouds never threatened, and by the start of race 1, the wind died down to a steady breeze with the characteristic shifty wind patterns off the Tuas coast. Race officer Gordon Maxted and Jerry the RM Marina Manager took advantage of the increasingly assertive SW monsoon winds to lay a short (approx 1nm) windward leeward course along the length of the straits. The tide was ebbing, and from the start of the race day to the end saw the current steadily increase in strength from the 2nd link out to towards Merombong.

Shengli, with Winfrid on helm, Zhenghan on trim, Junjia on box, Tse Tiann on mast and Ben on bow went for a conservative start, eschewing the favored starboard end for clear wind further down the line. Good prestart positioning up current allowed Shengli to stay close to the line in the fickle winds and merciless tide, giving us a decent start. We were slightly slow to the line, so perhaps timing needs to be improved. Ben doved back from the bow position with a good 10 seconds to go, shouting “full-on trim, go go go” – that was how much buffer we had approaching the final countdown (but of course, it might simply be that his weight on the pointy end was slowing the boat down too much). Still, a decent final approach on what is probably the most crowded start line the helms & team has started in. With more practice, the timing will be cut down.

Soon after the start, perhaps the inexperience of sailing with bigger boats showed and we slowed significantly by being surrounded by Sumatra, Foxy Lady and Wings. More concentration is the order of the day, especially in the first 100 seconds after the start (as many a coach has mentioned before) – the temptation to pinch too high to avoid a leebow boat or foot too low in the shadow of an approaching boat to windward must be avoided.. just sail fast and tack away if you need to or can. This is mostly applicable to IRC racing, one design racing doesn’t quite have these problems.

Overall, upwind performance was quite ok. Played the shifts well to claw back to midfleet, and the team were aware of the increasing ebbing tide and took advantage of this by sailing out to the right (deeper water) and gaining that extra bit of speed over ground. A quick glance told us that SMUve was behind us! This gave the team a boost as we were psyched to try to beat SMUve on line honors and try to take the win on IRC.

We extended our lead into the upwind mark, and rounded without much incident – except for this one lesson: no matter how fast one hoists & pulls in the clew, to get that satisfying “pop” requires teamwork and coordination between the box and trimmer! And this was a lesson we learnt very fast. Winfrid and Zhenghan communicated well during the downwind legs, pointing up in the lulls to get speed & soaking low in the gusts to get VMG. However, we hit a few holes going close to shore on the downwind leg… the victim of the infamous Tuas roulette wheel of wind, close to the blocky industrial buildings and shoreline. SMUve did a good job steaming downwind, and every second saw the Big Red Spin of SMUve inch closer. Good job to them, for at the bottom rounding they managed to gain some ground, catching Roo & Rainbow Dream (who were between us), but still rounding behind us.
We had the plan to go right and protect the right because we anticipated the right shift, so were happy to see SMUve go left. However, it seemed that SMUve had managed to resolve their speed issues and were in full flight, worthy of their superior rating. Still, we were doing fine by bouncing them to the left once or twice and still managed to maintain our (slowly decreasing lead). At this time, a series of unfortunate incidents happened… First, we were too busy caught chasing a gust all the way to the left of SMUve, thus allowing them to head right. They seemed to like the left though, so pretty soon we were on a port-starboard approach, us back on port heading back out to our favorite right and SMUve heading left. In what seemed to be a close crossing to close, we did a crash tack to starboard to prevent a collision… which saw us being right ahead of SMUve! Looks like it wasn’t an imminent collision, and that the cross was actually on. This prompted SMUve to tack out of the cover where they promptly gained in a shift. Well, this was the defining moment because from then on SMUve pulled ahead to take the lead till the finish. No worries though because this is a good learning about judging crossings and also about tactics.

The rest of the upwind and the final downwind saw us consolidate our lead over Roo and Rainbow Dream. The last downwind was considerably better for us as we managed to track down most of the gusts and overtake Roo & Rainbow Dream. In what was the final gamble, we decided to head out into the channel because we observed that the current wasn’t directly on the nose, but rather had a slight left to right (from the channel to the shore) vector. After a few unrewarding minutes, we quickly realized our mistake as the current had by then shifted to a full on the nose direction and we immediately gybed back. Still, it seemed that we didn’t suffer too much because the boats close to shore had limp spinnakers while ours was full the entire leg. So I guess it seemed that it’s a fine line between going inshore to avoid adverse currents, and going too far inshore and getting suckered by the wind holes.

We finally crossed in 8th place, behind SMUve by 1 position… but still it was a good race in that we were now feeling more confident for the second race.

Race 2

And what a race this was! The starting plan was still the same, but perhaps emboldened by our decent start in the first race, we became a bit greedy and tried to start closer to the favored. The timing was spot on… or so we (and half the fleet) thought! The ebbing tide had finally come into full swing and as the minutes counted down the entire fleet were being swept over fast! It didn’t help that out of nowhere came… FOXY LADY on our leeward hip. Cries of “Up! Up! Up!” from the Foxy crew caused us to panic…and resulted in us heading into irons and doing an accidental tack, onto port with the huge Wings coming at us on starboard. They were clear astern of us before our tack, and were making a maneuver to come to the windward stern of us because of the uppity Fox. They didn’t think that the Fox would cause us to tack and so they had to bear hard to avoid us and Foxy Lady. Not a hot start as the tack caused us to OCS and stall on the line. We put our heads down and quickly dipped and started promptly. It wasn’t the best start, but we were determined to climb out of this hole and take advantage of the stronger winds and long-ish course to catch up.

This time around, we managed to maneuver into clear air and more concentration saw us reap the rewards of better boat speed. Mark roundings were tighter this time too. Overall, we did better this race, and the results showed it. 6th place out of 11th, an improvement of 2 spots. Still, we can do better, and we will do better the next time.

Overall, a good day out on the water. The IRC Races showed us how fun and tightly knit the sailing community is, and this has served to whet our appetites for success at the coming RSYC regatta.

IRC Race Report: The view from SMUve

2007-07-03T05:16:00.001+08:00

Racing sundays

Race Format: 2 upwind and downwind sasauges

Sail Boat: Platu Smoove

Race Team: Fiona (Box), Louis(Trimmer), Zhi Xin(Mains), Alvin(Skipper/Helm), Shiwei(Mast), Tim(Bow)

RACE 1
Wind conditions: Light-Medium

We started off race one with high morale. It was exciting as we had never came together as a team to sail before. It was especially worrying as our mains, zhixin had never did that position before. The rest looked on nervously as Alvin explained the role to him considering the possibilities of wearing life jackets.

The practise run was horrible, held 10 minutes before the race proper. The tacks did not go well, ropes were caught, we could not raise the spin properly. Morale was dipping.

HORN! 5 mins to the start. Transit point was already taken and our strategy was to start off from the starboard mark as the wind and current favoured that particular side. We took off down the start on a beam ridge with the plan of tacking and coming back within 1.30 secs.

10,9,8,7,6,5,4,3,2,1! The race has started! Unfortunately we were 6 boat lengths behind the start. A combination of fat boats, mistiming, poor boat speed(no thanks to the useless mains), being passive and keeping far off the line ensured the pretty crappy start.

2 minutes later, YEAH! We crossed the line. Reality strikes when we realise we are the last boat to pass the starting line.

We tack out to the starboard area of the course where we believe we will get more winds. Tim pointed out that most boats stayed inland to reduce the current drift which is pushing use back. We decide to take that gamble of going right as the larger boats would cover our sail and the winds appear to be stronger on our tack.

Just not pointing high enough. Larger boats are covering us. We have no WIND!

"We are on the layline we are tacking now!" Alvin exclaimed 30 boat lengths from the upwind mark. Unfortunately that was WRONG!

6 boat lengths to the mark. "Errr, I think we cannot make it." Louis exclaimed ogre-like.

"TACKING NOW!"

"We are tacking again, raise the pole after the tack"

2 boat lengths from the mark, "ShIt! I cannot see the mark."

"Eh why cannot fly ah?" Louis says, talking to himself even though he is surrounded by 5 other people on a small boat.

Three mins later, it is revealed that the spin is not fully raised as Shiwei is way too light. Further examination of the next windup mark confirms this as she looks like she is struggling with a giant bird and she pumps away with her tiny fists like outstretch hands to the heavens.

Hooray, down the run we managed to get by 3 boats. Our superior tactics of pointing and bearing and taking a haute angle obviously worked. No such luck up wind though. We rounded the mark with 2 right in front. Following which, we had no choice but to tack away due to the leewind effect(I might be wrong here).

UPWIND: Tim nonchalently states, "we are going to collide with Roo."

"TACK NOW! UPZ! UPZ! UPZ!" For a moment I honestly thought that alvin became a boom box. This was a very awkward moment. Roo was 30 cm away from us and sailing on a starboard tack. We could not do anything as we were pointing at the maximum. Thus we decided to just stay the course and hope for them to tack away. In that time span, both boats were very silent and I saw Louis sending daggers to the other boat. I think his ogre instincts were acting up. Rabbit was obvious to everything and grinned away. I think she treats the box like her home thus the happiness.

"Won't breach one la!" zhixin foolishly states, he obviously has not been on the platu while Lip Hang was the mains. "DUUUUUMP!" the crew screamed in desperation. "Okay okay, I got it, I got it, oops!" The idiot was struggling with fingers and feets being unable to coordinate his action, someone really ought to sign him up for a ballet class with a pink tutu. Throughout the upwind sail, there were more instances of this foolhardy everytime the gush blew and zhixin fumbled with his fingers and hands.

We cross the finish line with 3 boats behind us. It was a smoove satisfying sail (pun intended).

RACE 2
Wind conditions: Light

You should have been there. It was a great sail.

See you next week

written by Zhixin

Raffles Marina IRC Race (July)

2007-07-02T03:41:00.000+08:00

hot off the press:

light winds, flat waters. 2 short windward-leewards (approx 0.8 nautical miles per leg). 2 races. all the big boys were out today with 11 boats on the line, including foxy lady, sumartra, panic!, wings, loaded, aquavit, roo, rainbow dream etc. tough racing, biggest & most competitive fleet racing so that both teams have encountered so far, and we did well today. good job guys!

R1:
Shengli 8th /11 boats
SMUve 7th/11 boats

R2:
Shengli 6th/11 boats
SMUve 4th/11 boats (well done!)

On Shengli were the bandits: Winfrid (helm), Zhenghan (trim), Junjia (sexy box), Tse Tiann (mast), Ben (old man bow)

And on SMUve were the pirates: Alvin (helm), Zhixin (mains trim), Louis (jib trim), Fiona (box), Shiwei (mast), Tim (bow)

Race reports coming soon!

public announcement service: get in on the action!

2007-06-29T01:58:00.000+08:00

hey guys,

if you want to contribute to this blog, email me and i'll send you the invite

online racing simulator for all you bored interns

2007-06-27T03:21:00.001+08:00

hey guys, check out this online racing simulator (www.tacticat.com). it'll provide you with endless hours of fun - it did for me!

"there is no second"

2007-06-26T15:13:00.000+08:00

america's cup is on right now!

catch the action every night on Ch 22 at 9.30pm. unfortunately, they are only showing highlights of the previous days races, but still, there's nothing like seeing that perfect gybeset or the famed kiwi drop live on TV. if only they'd show less competitive eating and more sailing on ESPN.

you can also tune into the action live on Americas Cup radio every night at 9pm (that's when the race starts at Valencia). the link is http://mfile.akamai.com/33786/live/reflector:24937.asx?bkup=40410. you can also follow the live text tracker on http://www.americascup.com/. reminds you of the time when you had to follow your favourite soccer team's matches on BBC radio eh?

after yesterday's lay day, the 'swiss' on Alinghi are back in action against the 'emirates' team new zealand (blame globalisation). a glaring mistake by the swiss let the new zealanders tie the series up at 1-1. everyone reckons the swiss has a rocket ship and are significantly faster than the kiwis, but race 2 has showed us that boat speed cannot make up for bad (or complacent) sailing, at least at the very top levels.

will the SUI-100 rocketship reassert itself tonight? or will kiwi guile prevail again? check it out tonight!

[Round 1] SMUve vs. Shengli: First blood

2007-06-24T00:57:00.000+08:00

It was a nice sunny day today, with a forgiving sea state and a nice constant breeze throughout the day. PRO Wildon in charge on his Dynaglass and his unique 2 oar countdown system, we managed to hold 4 races of the inaugural SMUve vs. Shengli series.

The pirates sailed onboard SMUve today, with Renfred, Louis, Zhixin, Charmain, Jerry, Fiona, Tim Tio, and Jac sailed well today and emerged convicing winners with winning margins of up to 4 minutes after time correction. The deadly hatch raise worked well most of the time today to allow the pirates to extend their advantage at every mark rounding. Keeping close to the favored side, away from the adverse currents and catching each little puff that came their way saw SMUve sail 4 neat races today.

On Shengli, the brave bandits comprising of Alvin, Winfrid, Zhenghan, Lip Hang, Tse Tiann, Yn Ay, Sexy Jun Jia (welcome back!) and Ben sailed well but fell short of victory today. In the end, the pirates on SMUve swept the series 4-0. A big margin perhaps, but the team is determined to do better the next time. Always keep in mind the most important fundamentals of sailboat racing - you've gotta have good boatspeed & handling before anything else matters. Of course, this includes knowing what to do on the boat, and it was great to see people being more assertive on the boat today.

So then, first blood to SMUve. Who will emerge next weekend? Stay tuned. :)

Lip Hang's learning at RSYC Malaysia

2007-06-15T10:16:00.000+08:00

Decided to pen this short passage to share my learning experience at Selangor Youth Championship with the entire sail team.

Well for those who were there with me, thanks for putting up with my frustration and sulking day in day out. For those cheering us on in Singapore, appreciated =)

Anyway, I learnt many important lessons during these 4 days at RSYC Port Klang. One can never be too prepared for a regatta, as much as I thought I was prepared for it, I was proven wrong each time we were out racing in the waters. (you can ask renfred, he can vouch for that) And of course, I would like to urge everyone in the club to share the same mindset when we prepare and brace ourselves for the next regatta. (coincidentally RSYC regatta too)

1. Play hard, train even harder. Cause when it comes to racing, there is no more opportunities for you to learn new things. If you find yourself learning new stuff while racing, hmm.... I reckon you won't get good results from the race.

2. Wear your Small shoe and Big shoe. This is something real interesting that Andrew shared with us at the regatta.

What's your small shoe? That is your primary role on the boat, that 'thing' that you are so good at and no one will need to help you with it. The shoe is so freaking small that there's not even enough space for your little pinky. (not exactly funny..)
Eg. if you are the trimmer, you must be so clear that no one will need to help you with sheeting the jib sheet, look for the winch handle, tidy your jib sheets, and best yet, the bowsman won't have to help you skirt the jib!

What's the big shoe then? Its when you can find time to help others with their roles on the boat when you are done with yours.

Well of course, this can only come with much training, so that the team can work together and everything moves on the boat like clock work. (with great precision and efficiency)

Anyways, hope you didn't doze off while reading my two cents worth of contribution.

Lets train hard and cream some A$$ at RSYC Singapore!

the early bird catches the bullet

2007-06-13T17:48:00.000+08:00

was trawling the usual sailing websites today and i came across this little interesting nugget. it's about the Brietling Med Cup that's going on right now. It's raced on TP52s (you might remember FreeFire from this year's SSR - that's a TP52). Anyways, these boats are big money racing - a kind of a nautical arms race of boat builder wizards playing with carbon fibre hulls and rich owners splurging on exotic sails.

I got this writeup from valenciasailing.blogspot.com, commenting on the woes of one of the supposedly fastest boats of the fleet:

"One of the supposedly favorite boats, Mutua Madrileña, finished in the middle of the pack because of their inability to get into a position in the prestart that would have allowed them to carry out their tactics for the rest of the race. Although they were at the pin end, half of the fleet was there as well and when they wanted to tack they were unable since they were squeezed by four other yachts.

A fleet race with 23 boats can result extremely tricky at this level of competition. Despite the fact the Mutua Madrileña is a fast boat, they rounded the top mark 12th and the best they could achieve was to climb an additional 4 positions. According to Nacho Postigo, navigator of the team, boat speed can't do miracles. At best you can climb a handful of places but will not allow you to start 10th and win the race. " (valenciasailing.blogspot.com accessed 13 June 2007)

somehow, this struck me as very familiar. in selangor (also possibly for the J24 fleets for the coming regattas) having a good boat doesn't mean that you can do magic with boatspeed & tactics. it ultimately comes down to no mistakes and decent starts.. something to think about eh? :)

going for your personal best

2007-06-13T03:38:00.000+08:00

in sport, you win some and you lose some. the key is to always go into every contest knowing that you have done your best. this philosophy is a fundamental one to every sportsman and sportswoman, and this is something which we continue to work hard at at our land trainings - every tuesday and thursday for a few good months now.

today for PT, we had our 2nd ever SMU-Esplanade timed run. the rationale for doing these timed runs is to allow us to push ourselves to our limits so as to continually achieve our personal best. the aim of this run is not inter-personal competition - it is not a race with the other person, rather, it is a race with yourself. we will do these timed runs every few months so that you can track your own progress and to serve as motivation to continue to work on your own individual fitness.

and the results were amazing. everyone who had participated in the 1st timed run posted marked improvements! well done guys.. and till the next time, keep on going! :)

the results are posted on our forum at http://smusails.jconserv.net/viewtopic.php?t=5

Day 3 - Race 3

2007-06-11T23:55:00.000+08:00

The final race and every boat seem to want to do their best. The Malaysia 1 and Philippines were again first to the line leaving the other 4 boats fighting out for 3rd - 6th position. The last 4 boats rounded the windward mark within 1 feet from each other and all hoist the spin at about the same time covering each other.

We rounded the leeward mark just behind the Thais with the other 2 at our tail. It was then between us and the Thais battling for 3rd possible again but this time they were the better team and crossed the finishing line about 1 boat lenght before we did.

This race we scored 4th

Day 3 - Race 2

2007-06-11T23:38:00.000+08:00

We were 3rd across the line decide to start near the committee boat with the Thai Team. The Philippines and Malaysian Team were fighting their own battle at the other end of the line.

We caught up with the Philippines team and were fighting tack for tack just like match races. Towards the windward mark, we had a collation with the Philippines (we were on port tack) and had to do a 720 degree penalty letting the 2 other boats (Thai and Malaysia team 3) to cross us just before the windward mark.

Laying in 5th, we knew we had to pull something extra for at least a good finish and we did. We managed to find better winds on the right side of the course and caught up with the Malaysian boat which crossed us while doing our penalty. Then it was tack for tack with the Thai boat which we managed to beat and took back our possible. This is a real hard working race man.

This race we scored 3rd.

Day 3 - Race 1

2007-06-11T23:22:00.000+08:00

Wind is gusting about 6 - 8 knots. We didn't have a good start being knock off the line early and was the last to cross the line. The rest of the race, we had to play a catch up game. Having torn our "We Love SMU" Spinnaker, we decided to keep it for our home races and use their given green spin.

We managed to catch one boat but was a little too late to catch another. The good thing is that we didn't make many mistakes. =P

This race we scored 5th

2007-06-10T17:48:00.000+08:00

A Special Request from Someone to DAWN...

Day 2 - Race 3

2007-06-09T19:12:00.001+08:00

All boats were very matched at the start of the today's 3rd race (we are Boat no. 3) . We were doing very well up to the pont when the wind changed 40 degrees against us and screwed our position. We than had to tack and was last to round the windward mark.

To make matters worst, we had difficulty raising the spin and had to take it down to sail to the Gybe mark (its a triangle/sausage race). At this point, we knew that this 2 errors caused us the race and had to settle for last. Above is how it looks when you are at the last position. We hope for a better tomorrow and will continue to try our best against the best in Asian.

This raced we scored 6th. =(

Day 2 - Race 2

2007-06-09T18:47:00.000+08:00

The next race started immediately when the last boat finished the last race. Again, we had a good start keeping clear from the boat coming in from the committee boat end just behind the Thais. Again, our boat speed was in the groove and pulled away together with the Philippines team. Again we were first across the first windward mark but once again losing out at the raising of the Spin. We tried covering but they seem to strong to catch.

Tack for tack, gybe for gybe, we tried but the all National SEA Games Sailors from the Philippines seem to always be a first step ahead of us and even threw a dummy gybe at us. Close behind we 2 Malaysian boats closing and trying to cover us.

Going the last leg to the finishing line, we had only a gybe to do to secure our 2nd place. We were to the leeward of the chasing pack, gunning for the line. We spotted a big black gust to our leeward and decided to put in a gybe to intercept that gust to try to catch up with the Phillipines team. That gust was a little stronger than anticipated and we nearly broached when gybing. As they say, when it rains, it pours. Just minutes later, we broached for real. Pinned to the water, spinnaker flapping, mainsail limp, trying to get the rudder in the water to bear off to a dead downwind, it was just heartbreaking to see the 2 boats behind us surge forward. After what seemed like an eternity, we managed to get our noses clean and bear our bow down to the finish. The first boat crossed, as did the second boat. We popped our spin and were in a sprint to the finish with the 3rd boat to the line. But it was too little too late and we crossed the line in 4th. Lesson learnt: broaches can happen anytime and prevention is always better than cure.

This race we scored 4th place. =(

Day 2 - Race 1

2007-06-09T18:03:00.001+08:00

The halyard was fixed, the team spirit was high and ready to go. Wind was light and all of us had to be towed out again. By 1pm, the Race Officer, John Feguson was ready and sounded the horn for the start of the race. We were the 2nd boat across the start line behind the Malaysian team. Managed to cross their bow and crossed the windward mark first but lost again as they had a better spoin hoist at the mark. us pulled ahead and extended the lead from the rests of the pack.

Heng Li, the skipper of the Malaysian team and crew were gunning to be selected for the December SEA Games. We matched them equally and wasn't able to catch up with them. Lost out by 6 secs to the finishing line.

This race we scored 2nd place....yahoo!!!!

Day 1 - Overall

2007-06-08T20:37:00.000+08:00

Good showing by the Philippines Team with significant distance from second boat in all 3 races. Singapore SMU ran over their spinnaker in the first race, and retired to sort out the tangle. Their jib halyard parted during the second race, giving them a distinct disadvantage in the third race where they did their best at flying jib and spinnaker alternately off the same halyard. The Thailand International team are well in contention, having a private battle with Malaysia 2 helmed by Ng Heng Li, who is just one point ahead after 3 races.

All to go for tomorrow, and if this wind persists we should see some great, close racing.

Philippines - 3pts

Malaysia - 7 pts

Thailand - 8 pts

Day 1 - Race 3

2007-06-08T18:28:00.001+08:00

As we were trying to fix the broken halyard, the horn sounded for the 3 race. It is a triangle, sausage race with an upwind finish this time. This works against us big time because of our halyard problems. The guys decided to still try their best to complete the race.

Lots of drama in this race fighting to raise spin and jib. Using the spin halyard, the jib wasn't able to raise all the way up resulting to poor upbeat sailing. We were not able to catch up with the fleet but the guys still sail with pride wearing their "We love SMU" Tee to the finishing line.

The team were pretty quiet for the rest of the sail back to the marina. We managed to have a good debrief and all hope for a better race tomorrow. The series may be gone for us but we are still hungry and hopeful for individual races.

We are last and scored 6.

Day 1 - Race 2

2007-06-08T17:10:00.000+08:00

This race we decided to play safe and remembering the words of Wildon: "NO MISTAKE!!! Let's have a no mistake race". We had a great start and was the second boat to cross the line. Towards the windward mark, the jib halyard broke! At this point we knew we were shit as we can only have either the spin or jib up each time. Nevertheless, we did our best but our morale dropped each time we see our race position slipped as we round the mark.

This race we scored 4th.

Day 1 - Race 1

2007-06-08T16:27:00.000+08:00

The day didn't start well for the team. Somehow, what can go wrong had gone badly wrong for us. First up, we forgot to bring the sailing instructions but managed to get a spare copy from the office. Then as we were about to get a tow out to the race area, we forgot to bring the compass which we in the store. The fleet finally were towed out of the marina together.

We had our first hoist of our "We love SMU" spin and boy was it beautiful. Not before long, the Race official sounded the horn for race 1 signaling for windwards/leewards course. Off went the starting signal and 2 boats were OCS. Boat 155 and 154. Yes, our team is one of the OCS boat sailing on boat 3 (sail no. 154). We only realized we were OCS after about 15 - 20 boat lenght away. We turn back and at the point we were last place.

We worked hard and caught up to forth. However, just when we were gaining on boat number 3, we had our spinnaker caught under the keel during a take down and had to retire from the race. The crew will need to cover the holes made on our new spin. *Sad*

This race, we scored RTD. =(

TEAM from Philippines

2007-06-08T11:14:00.000+08:00

The Philippines Team is made out of experience dinghy sailors from young. Their youngest team member is 17 years old and oldest and one of the experience senior is 25 years old. They were super fast at yesterday's training race coming in first, more than 5 mins ahead of the 2nd boat. Yes, they seem to be the team to beat of now.

The Manager, Medy was saying (joking) to her team that if they don't do well in the series, they will all have to return home on their own. Also if they do well at today's race, she will bring them out shopping at Berjaya Time Square. Haha.

Team Manager/Coach - Medy Fidel

Skipper - Rafael Buitre

Mains - Patrick Mata

Trimmer - Troy Tayong (17 years old)

Keyboard/Box - Mark Francisco

Bow - Bentot delos Santos

Day 1 - Training Race

2007-06-07T23:14:00.000+08:00

In the morning, all six teams were busy tuning and preparation their boats for the Training Race. Seem like we were overly prepared bringing more gears then some of the countries and help out what ever we could spare.

We were suppose to be out by 12 noon but was delayed due to the arrival of the new main sails with the sponsored logo. All teams did their own training before the race officer arrive at 3.30 throwing in 2 practice starts and then a training race (windward and leeward). SMU Team were OCS on that race but managed to catch up to third but got carried away over a match race with one of the Malaysian team where the other teams caught up. Finally was fifth in the end.

The team learned a lots about currents and wind shift here. Much communcation was done at the debrief to iron out their mistakes made today. The team morale is still high knowing they are can do better. Making great friends from the Malaysian and Thais team helped release the pressure of the guys.

Meet our friends from the Thai Team

2007-06-07T17:46:00.000+08:00

The first image that comes to your mind when we say Thai Team will probably be the dark tanned looking thais we see at coro cup but i'm afraid not for here. They do not plainly associate themselves with the thai team instead, they call themselves the International Team. But to make it sound more politically correct, its "Thai Team-International". We took time off during lunch to find out more about them.

Teiki, Skipper
A 22 years old French born a sailor, living on the boat since his first cry. He works on the boat, bringing sea lovers out on his boat for a few weeks to do all sorts of sea sports. At the same time, he will take time out to surf. He dislikes it when crews don't show up on time. There was one incident he loves to share about, during a mark rounding in Langkawi regatta, his bowman disappeared into the hatch to do big business. He is multi-lingual: French, Spanish, Bahasa Indonesia, English and a fair bit of Thai.

Valentine
Like Teiki, she is a French as well. Her life is surrounded with partying (really happening girl!) and now she has found a new interest, sailing. Her first keelboat experience was during the Langkawi regatta that we participated last Feburary. An adventurous girl who loves to try everything except one thing: her hate for chocolates is just like our hate for no wind. An amazing thing that she does.. flipping the beer coasters 17 times consecutively.

Mia
She comes from Perth and also grew up on the boat, to be exact a 30 ft boat at the age of 9months. She has been racing on keelboat at the age of 16 (now she is 21). Apart from sailing, she enjoys kiteboarding and wakeboarding. Photography is her interest when she is not out at sea. We asked her what she dislikes. She non-hesistantly said, boats that budge on the start line. Now is that a hint for Team SMU? Hrm...

Chas
I must say, he looks more mature than his age. He is only 20years old. I guess it is largely to due to his dislike for sunscreen and he has never applied them despite the countless times he goes out into the sun. He started keelboat sailing at the age of 14 and the largest boat he has sailed on is a 80ft Swan for the Manila to Boracay race. Although he is a British, he grew up in Asia. He also sails on Jelik, the 72ft boat we saw at Langkawi regatta.

Shay-na
When we asked her what is her nationality, she shrug her shoulders and say i don't know. She has been staying in so many countries that she doesn't know where is her physical home but for sure we know she can speak darn fluent thai. Shay-na started sailing keelboat when she is 13 but when she is not sailing, she let her artistic nature take control. She loves to draw and take photographs. Her imagination runs wild.. she wants to be a coconut drifting in the sea, free of all worries.

1st Night with visiting teams

2007-06-06T22:10:00.000+08:00

Check out the rooms we got from the organisers. We are staying at CRYSTAL CROWN HOTEL, Harbour View Port Klang about 15 - 20 mins taxi ride away. It cost us RM$15 per cab.

After checking in and taking a well deserved shower, we headed back to the Club to meet up with all the other visiting teams over a pool side dinner. We mingled well with the Thailand and Philippines teams. We spoke about a possible inter-country youth collaboration sailing exchange. After talking for a while, we all watched the America's Cup match race together at the BAR. Yes...BAR........sorry no beer were served (I think..hee hee).

Thought we include some pictures of the Royal Selangor Yacht Club, a very old and prestigious Yacht Club in Malaysia. This Club really have a big history behind it who started the Raja Muda Int. Regatta. Let us tell you that they really know how to take care of their guests here and things are cheap. They serve "Nasi Gorang" for just RP$5.00 (large portion too).

The sunset here is really beautiful too as Jason can tell you. Got lots of pictures of it.

Tomorrow will be our first training race with all the participating teams. Calling in early tonight and hope to do well tomorrow. =)

Light Winds, Strong Currents

2007-06-06T16:29:00.000+08:00

Just returned to shore from training before the practice race tomorrow. It was our very first training together as a team. We managed to iron out our specific roles and teamwork which will help us a great deal for the next 4 days. The external challenge to us here is the conditions at the racing area. It is our first time experiencing light winds coupled with very strong currents (4 knots). The currents are so strong that that our boat speed was 4 knots but on our GPS it shows 0.3 knots meaning there is 3.7 knots of current against us. In the end, we resorted to motoring back to the club. Right now, we are coming up with strategies to counter this.

On the lighter note, the make up of our team has changed from 5 singaporean boys to 4 singaporean boys and 1 japanese boy - guess who is that? Renfred Kaneshiro..

We have arrived at Royal Selangor Yacht Club - Malaysia

2007-06-06T09:19:00.000+08:00

The Team was excited and gathered together in SMU to check on our gears and logistics before making our way to the Golden Mile Complex where our bus awaits us. Lesson learned is never try flagging a Taxi from 10.30pm - 11.30pm. They will never stop for you. *Sigh*

We managed to reach on time to catch our bus and left on time at 11.30pm on Tuesday. The coach was super comfortable and felt money worth paying for. As Lip Hang said, "why pay $30 over dollar when you can pay $72 for this comfort."

At 2am, we stopped at "YONG PANG" for about 30 minute for a toilet break and a some small makan. Renfred and Andrew couldn't resist the Ramly Burger which cost only RP$4 each.

We finally reached Barjaya Time Square, KL at 5.15am on Wednesday and transferred our belongings to a mini van which was waiting for us. Loaded up and off we went. Arrived RSYC at 6.30am only to find that all the doors were locked. Haha......yes, we managed to find our way in(don't tell you how) and within minutes, all of us were snoring.

The Marina boatmen are now launching all the Platus. We should be starting our checks and training soon. Stay tune for more updates to come.

Geee....feeling HUNGRY....need to look for BREAKFAST!!! LIP HANG & JASON....start cooking!!!

Summer TRAININGS & Dawn's schedule

2007-06-05T13:45:00.000+08:00

hello darlings,

i feel absolutely absorbed in the sad world of auditing and tax at the moment (ask me anything about IT audit now!) but it's all ending soon, hooray, and then summer can start finally!! okay, i know i'm two months behind everyone, but anyway, back to sailing.

firstly, all the best to the team going to selangor! next, this weekend is the wacky race at SAYFC sembawang (http://www.safyc.org.sg/fabulous40/) so all those of you who haven't signed up, TELL US NOW! there won't be keelboat training this weekend by the way, so what else are you going to do on the weekend, right? :p

training this summer will be great, and we've the RSYC regatta starting on the 28th of July, that's exactly 53 days away! so train hard everyone, i'm gonna be away from the 10th to 24th of june on an OCIP trip, but i know you guys will be working hard and i'll come back to 4 fantassstic teams! :)

love
dawn

SELANGOR Int' One Design Youth C'ship - Preparation

2007-06-05T09:43:00.000+08:00

The Team were at Raffles Marina yesterday hoping to have their last training session. But with disappointment because of the rain and no wind, the team had to settle for a great lunch together(packet food), packing and preparing of stores for the trip. Lip Hang even had a special Theory lesson from Ben on sail trimming.

We also had our hands on the NEW VIRGIN PLATU SAILS. Check out our new sails with logo in the picture. =)

Message from Phil Blake - Dubai

2007-06-04T23:13:00.001+08:00

Dear Friends,

Pls pardon the mass email, it is the most efficient way to get my new contacts to everybody!

Email: pblake@igymarinas.com
Mobile: +971-50-6538-442

I am safe and sound in my new position in Dubai, UAE, and adjusting surprisingly well to the extremely fast pace of the country! (including trying to avoid getting run over by Hummers doing 160 km/h along the main road! They've just introduced a new law, whereby if you are caught doing more than 50 km/h over the speed limit, they will confiscate your car! Speed limit: 120km/h along main road)

The new marina is due to be complete by July 1st, and berths are in very strong demand in Dubai, so the marina is expected to fill pretty quickly. It is attached to Dubai Festival City, the largest private development in the world, equal in size to Monaco. Shopping malls, canals, IKEA, and 5 star hotels galore - well, in about 2-3 years!

Just wished to say a quick hello, and pass on my new contacts. Hope you are all well, and if you are ever in Dubai, get in touch!

Cheers!
Phil Blake
Marina Manager, DFC Marina

Island Global Yachting

PO Box 211592
Dubai
United Arab Emirates

Tel: +971 4 363 1500
Fax: +971 4 368 8218
Email: pblake@igymarinas.com

Message from Dan Chi

2007-06-04T23:09:00.000+08:00

heylo!

good luck to those going for the port klang regatta ok!!! :) hehe am sure it'll be another fun and super awesome sailing experience! miss sailing like mad!
hee renfred, hope your koh samui regatta went well n u've had a blast! andrew take care of yourself ok, hope your cough is totally ok already.

how has everyone been? hope everyone is doing well! hee last week to study dawn! i'm downloading the 14 harvard business reviews that we have to read for one of our modules, tot i could drop an email to spam n say hi. o i included a photomontage with some stuff i did! over the weekend, we went to whistler, this place about 3 hours drive from ubc. haha we did atv (sorta like dirt bike riding but on a dirtbike/gokart-mutant machine), skiing (hehe damn fun! but i kept falling down! haha and leg cramp. only the intermediate slope was available because snow on the beginner slope has already melted :|) and some did bungee jumping (i din).

anw i think i might be back on jul 14 - so i'll drop by but not participate in sail camp. might be heading to east canada instead of taiwan (since i'm only like stopping over at taipei for a while instead of travelling around).

love/miss you all sailors!
dan

SELANGOR International One Design Youth Championship

2007-06-04T22:20:00.000+08:00

Meet the Team representing the Nation and SMU at the International Selangor One Design Youth Championship. Heard there are 9 boats coming from 4 to 5 countries. Hope it not the same Australian Team who CREAMED everyone on the Langkawi International Regatta held in Feb 2007.

Stay on this blog to get daily updates on the team's progress during the Regatta. =)

BEN MUI - SKIPPER

"From sailing lasers to the J24 to now the Platu, I have learnt so much both in terms of racing and in terms of teamwork. I am especially excited about this regatta because it will feature evenly matched racing among youths from so many different countries and backgrounds. And of course, we have a score to settle with our old rivals from around the region! :)"

ALVIN ONG - BOW

"To come to think of it, I didn't expect to get myself involved in another regatta so soon after coming back from the blast of an experience that was Thailand! But nevertheless, I'm already beginning to miss all the close starts, quick hoists, fast drops, intense concentration and teamwork that makes racing so much of a challenge and excitement. Really glad to be given the opportunity to relive these moments so soon with this new and dedicated team; I really hope that the deferment for my last minute NS call-up goes through successfully! All I can do is keep my fingers crossed right now and hope for the best!"

JASON ZHOU - BOX & MAST (Everything else including serving drinks...haha)

"It cannot be denied that I am all excited and prepped up for yet another regatta after Coro Cup. The experience at the Top of the Gulf left me panging for more, and I want to ride on the lessons I've learnt there and trainings I've put through in Singapore, and put them to good use in Selangor."

RENFRED TAY - TRIMMER

"Been travelling too much and missing Singapore. Now I can say I am a converted Keelboat sailor from my dinghy time. Keelboat sailing is fun and drives on teamwork. Can't wait to get out in the water again.

Planning to bring my PS2 games over as there is nothing much to do there in the evenings. Hee hee"

POH LIP HANG - MAINS .....and being crazy on the boat

"One word sums it all, “excitement”. And I can’t wait to go for the regatta! The sun, the sea, the sky and most importantly the company (er.. and the beer). To all of the sail team, we will do you guys proud and SMU proud!"

"Till then God Bless while we are away!"

"Woo Hoo.. I’m loving every moment of sailing…"

TOP of the GULF Regatta 2007 - The People

2007-06-04T09:56:00.000+08:00

The team who went Thailand.

(Top row, left to right)
Jason ZHOU Songyi
MUI Jie Min Benjamin
PUA Youjin
PHUNG Mun Hui Dawn
KOH Su Jun
Charmain Tan Si Hui
Neo Shu Ting Vivian
Lui Tuck Wai, John
Chong Zhi Xin
ONG Chee Keong, Alvin
Pek Ling Hong, Louis

(Middle Row, Left to Right)
Renfred TAY Woon Chuan
Ng Zheng Han
WONG Dan Chi
Somruetai TANTAKITTI
Karene SEAH Kai Ling
NG Jun Jia
Jacqueline TANG Xuan Xiu
Andrew Aaron TAM Tuck Weng

Last row - Sitting
Winfrid WONG Wing On

Not in picture (Camera crew)
Poh Lip Hang
TAY Wan Ling Sheryl

Calendar of Events

2006-12-30T19:18:00.000+08:00

January 17-20: 13th Singapore Straits Regatta

February 5-9: Royal Langkawi International Regatta
February 19-23 [week8]: Basic Sailing Course (Level 1)
February 19-23 [week8]: Proposed SAIL Trip

May 1-11: Coronation Cup

July 14,15: RSYC Regatta

August 11,12, 18, 19, 25, 26: Western Circuit

July 21,22 & September 15, 16, 22, 23: Proposed SMU Regatta

Partayy @ Andrew's (29 Dec 07)

2006-12-30T18:17:00.000+08:00

THANKS andrew & adeline! It was awesome! :) All the makings of a great party!

There was great food...yummy chicken curry, turkey with choice of gravy and cranberry sauce, chicken wings, free flow of drinks. Wildon will sure attest to that. He-who-is-now-working cherishes every weekend more than ever and opened 5 bottles of wine. O and to top it all off, we have the juicilious tiramisu from Dawn and warm fragrant fruit cake from TTTT (Tian Tian Tse Tiann). Is that a feast or what? :P

Then there was great entertainment! We watched this sailing flick (remember the WHOMPER? haha). That was nice and fun. The highlight of the night has to be..Charades! Battle of the sexes, 12 dudes against 12 damsels. I'd give it to the dudes to come up with the full title of "Borat: xxxxxx" (the damsels couldnt get that one. but who can?) and even to guess "Constantine" within 7 secs, but the damsels win HANDS down babEy. 17-11!

Ok, this is simply the highlight so I have to blog it a bit more.
The Hall of Fame for unforgettable moments:

1. Wildon nominated for "Lightness"

Ironic, that Wildon of all had to act out lightness *hehe* He did a pretty good job though, acting like a chicken laying eggs for "ness" (sounds like nest. got it?).

2. Dawn-Denise nominated for "Deja Vu"

Simply awesome. Try this for charades and you'll know how hard it is to do this. Did I mention Denise guessed it? :)

3. Dickson nominated for "Moulin Rouge"

Poor Shen was brushing at his cheeks with all his strength (and pointing to Hot Mama which I don't quite understand why) but no guys could guess "Rouge". Then he tried to twirl around like a not-too-graceful ballerina. O well. Shen2 ye3 shi4 ren2.

4. Mui mui nominated for "The Mating Game"

He was erm acting out the second word for quite some time eh? ;) Let's not forget how he acted out the 3rd word lookin o-so-happy playing hopscotch :

5. DA BEST MOMENT - Dudes doing the forfeit ;)
Mui mui must have felt he escaped a travesty to avoid the n***** dance and to volunteer to be the pole for our pole dance forfeit. Until he became the only pole and all other guys had their solo dancing around him. Josh puts it best, "poles have no rights". On a brighter note (and forgeting about Ben altogether), these guys can dance man. hehe

Cliche as it is, but hey, most of all, it's the great company ;) I hope the freshies especially had heaps of fun, are not too frightened by us *hehe* Real good to have fun together as a bunch! Hope you guys feel EVEN more welcome to the sailing family now :) Great to have the hot girlfriends of sailors around too! :)

Alright, that's all for now. check out the pics! =)

- danchi

our very own sailing blog!

2006-12-30T17:59:00.000+08:00

Dear SMU Sailors,

I am very happy to announce the launch of our new SMU Sailing Club blog. The site administrator is Danchi but YOU guys are the posters; please contact Danchi for the password to the blog. Use this blog as a space to upload any videos/pictures/sailing news/information/events you'd like the rest of the sailors to see! Come back often to check on the announcements page for training info - basically, make this place our little port-of-call in the world wide web.

Happy New Year everyone, and may 2007 bring you fair winds and following seas always.

Cheers,
Ben