Continuing on the series of things you should know if you want to take part in a sailing race (the title is getting too long for the subject box!)

We've talked about about race courses, so how do you get around them? I'm going to assume you guys sort of know that you can sail in certain directions in sort-of straight lines. So this post covers how ( Read more... )

Moving on to a new 10-things list today (boy, I'm really skipping around, aren't I?) because this particular sailing thing is on my schedule today. This list is 10 Things You Should Know If You Want To Take Part In A Sailing Race and will cover things about sailing competitions ( Read more... )

This post brought to you courtesy of my waking up itching to run this morning. Technically our fitness training schedule's supposed to be on a taper meaning cutting back as we get closer to the big competition. So I wasn't supposed to do an hour-long run. But to hell with it. It made me feel better ( Read more... )

We've reached my 'home' class - I currently sail 470s and have been sailing them since 2006. They are the current Olympic equipment for men and women double-handed dinghies, which is why the trip I'm currently on is what we call the Olympic circuit. It probably goes without saying that these boats are raced at a very high level internationally.

( More 470 facts. )

Back to the sailing essentials list ...

There are several names for this - life jacket is our colloquial term among Singaporean sailors (or even lazier, 'life jack' at times). I think the technical name for it is a Personal Flotation Device (PFD). I've heard it called a life vest as well. Bottom line is, if you're a sailor, you have to own one.

( It's a matter of safety, but we've also turned it into a matter of style. )

I was going to talk about my day, but it just so happened that doing another 100 things post will explain what I did today much better. So I'll just go with that ( Read more... )

This is one piece of gear you're going to want whether you're sailing in cold places or warm. That may sound odd, until you realise that their purpose isn't to protect from cold but from rope burns.

( Why so? )

This is one thing about sailing that is on my mind a lot these couple of months because I'm sailing in Europe. And something that I guess people back home wouldn't think about much considering we come from a country that is perpetually 30 degrees warm. But when you end up in Europe where it's often 15 degrees on land (with the water several degrees ( Read more... )

There's a reason it's called sailing. And how it works is a physics lesson. (Actually, a lot of the technicalities behind how sailing works is a lot of physics. Back when I had to study physics, those were the easier topics for me: vectors, physics of fluids, pivots, because I could use sailing examples to understand them.)

( Cutting the physics so as not to bore those who fall asleep during science lesson )