PATTAYA - IT WAS a busy day for Singapore's 25-strong sailing team in Pattaya yesterday.
Mahjong, online gaming, shopping, getting temporary tattoos by the beach and a scrumptious Japanese lunch. Chatter and laughter filled up most of their hours.

The mood among the tightly bonded team was relaxed and upbeat.

No one could have guessed that this was a group of athletes in the midst of competition at the 24th South-east Asia Games.

'Once we finish our races for the day, we switch off and don't think about sailing,' said 470 men's crew Chung Pei Ming, 25, the most senior member of the team.

'Then, the next day, after the morning physical training session, we switch on again and think about the day's strategy.

'In racing, you need a clear mind. Thinking too much will just complicate things.'

Even the knowledge that SingaporeSailing president and chef de mission Low Teo Ping had upped the gold-medal target from four to between five and eight failed to twitch any nerves.

'Oh, okay,' said Chung, barely batting an eyelid, when told of the news on the tuk-tuk ride back to the hotel from the mall.

Nerves of steel, indeed, from a team with an average age of just 18, including 18 Games newcomers.

After three days of racing, Singapore are in medal contention in all but one of the 13 classes.
They top the standings in four classes. Justin Liu and Sherman Cheng are leading the 420 men's fleet, as are Dawn Liu and Elizabeth Tan (470 women), Lo Junhao (Super Mod) and Rachel Lee (Optimist girls).

Second in their respective classes are Low Wenchun and Jonathan Chew (Hobie 16), Siobhan Tam (Laser Radial), Jovina Choo and Sara Tan (420 women), Russell Kan (Optimist boys), Roy Tay and Chung (470 men) and Koh Seng Leong (Laser Standard).

Windsurfer Joshua Choo (Mistral Youth) and the four-man Farr Platu 25 keelboat team of Justin Tan, Justin Wong, Alvin Chong and Wilbur Chan lie third.

Leonard Ong, 15, is the only Singapore sailor outside of the top three.

Said Leonard, who is lying fourth in the Mistral lightweight class in his Games debut: 'I'm not nervous because there's not much pressure to get a medal.

'I'm doing my best and learning as much as I can from this experience.'

Yesterday, the only rest day in the six-day sailing competition at the Ocean Marina Yacht Club, all switches were off.

At the usual daily 7.45am physical training, more time was spent playing games.

Such was the light-heartedness among the group that the team's burly strength and conditioning coach, Quintin Roman, got rugby-tackled by his charges and thrown into the swimming pool.

Racing will resume today, with the Optimist Team event as the first of the sailing medals to be decided.

One can be sure all switches will be on by then.

Read more stories on the 24th SEA Games here.