The participants in the Asian Youth Games (AYG) sailing event may be no older than 16, but they are already shaping up to be great sailors – as well as great people. Indeed they are living up to the three AYG pillars of “Friendship”, “Excellence”, and “Respect”.

China’s Wei Bipeng, who has a perfect scorecard with six wins in six races, has been winning the hearts of spectators not only with his spectacular performance on water. The 13-year-old windsurfer’s friendly smiles and modest acceptance of everyone’s cheers upon his victory already display a graciousness that belies his youth.

He is not the only one to receive such a rousing chorus from the audience. Shasha Krishna Murti of Indonesia finished second in race 6 for the Bic Techno boys and was greeted by applause, the loudest from Singapore coach Chua Tan-Ching. Shasha went into the racing on day 3 in last position; no doubt his dogged determination to better himself won him many fans.

Said Coach Chua: “The important thing is that the sailors are having fun.” He is certainly no less enthusiastic about the performance of his own sailors, cheering and giving them high-fives every time they cross the finish line, no matter what their position.

The fighting spirit among the dinghy sailors is also strong, as China’s Lu Tianhong proved in race 4. While leading the race, he mistimed a manoeuvre and capsized, dropping to last place. While a lesser sailor might have given up there and then, Lu struggled to get back upright, indicating to the jury that he would make it to the end of the race. His determination not to give up impressed many spectators who were following the event via live blog. “Good job, China, don’t give up!” said one fan, who left her name as “Sunshine”, while “sailingfanatic” saluted him: “China! Way to go!”

It is heartening to see so much fellow-feeling between the different nations on the water and even more so to see it on land. There is a break in the racing at the midway point of the regatta, a chance for the sailors to relax and recuperate from their tough three days of competition. Serena Wong, sailing team manager, cited possible plans for Singapore’s sailors: “The sailors want to bring their other country friends out to see Singapore.”

Said Wei Bipeng of this idea: “I’d like to go. We have to see what our team manager plans, though.”

The respective team managers may have alternative plans for their athletes already, but this does not make our Singaporean sailors’ gesture any less admirable.

Chief Executive Officer of Singapore Sailing Federation Andrew Sanders commended the sailors for showing good spirit on and off the race course.

“Sailing is about building character,” said Sanders, who believes that these young athletes will be our leaders of tomorrow. “Whether you come first or are further back in the fleet, it’s always about learning. The environment is always throwing you challenges, same as in life, and you need to tackle them, show resilience and come back. These are skills you wouldn’t normally learn in school.”

Racing resumes tomorrow, as usual, it will be covered via live blog, here at www.ayg2009.sg