Hot off the press: SingaporeSailing's latest publication, Start Sailing

Last year, Singapore Sailing Federation launched its line of Optimist books, beginning the series with the  ‘OptiJunior' and 'OptiSailor’ handbooks with the final two books in the series, 'OptiRacer' and 'OptiStar'  due to be released in the coming months. Also coming out in 2010 are a series of introductory windsurfing guides: Windsurfer Explorer, Glider, Racer and Flyer. However, it is not just the Optimist and Windsurfing classes that are receiving attention, for all those youngsters to seniors who wish to take up the sport in Singapore in any class, a new title is due for release this week: Start Sailing.

SingaporeSailing's line of Optimist books

Adapted from Great Britain’s Royal Yachting Association (RYA)’s original publication, Start Sailing is a guide for Singaporeans of all ages who are interested in knowing more about and picking up the sport. It is primarily targeted at older teenagers and adults, highlighting that sailing really is a sport for all ages.

Unlike the Optimist and Windsurfing series which is specific to the class, Start Sailing’s approach to introducing sailing is more general. It covers boats from single-handers like the Laser to Catamarans and keelboats.

SingaporeSailing's upcoming Windsurfing guides

‘This is the complete guide for beginners,’ said Huzaini Ibrahim, one of the book’s editors. ‘It’s very informative and you can pick up just about everything.’

Much of the original content of the book was written by RYA. Under license from RYA, it was re-designed and re-worded for the Singapore context, including adapting all the text and photos to the local conditions, local classes and venues to give a complete guide to picking up the sport in Singapore.

‘The biggest changes involved pictures and sailing terms – little things that nevertheless make a big difference,’ said Siobhan Tam, who was involved in the early stages of editing. ‘The RYA pictures, for example, showed sailors in cold weather gear; however you wouldn’t see that here. Some of the terms they use are also not commonly known here.’

It is probably not surprising to hear that as Singlish has evolved and adapted from English, the language and terms our sailors use have been influenced by sources other than the British ones as well!

‘Take the term ‘lying-to’,’ explained Tam. ‘If you told a local sailor that, they’d just stare at you blankly until you clarified that it is actually ‘heave-to’.’

Contents in the Start Sailing book have been modified for the local readers

Indeed the lingo of sailing can get quite varied across continents. Ensuring that the terms used in the book would match what local coaches use was thus important, especially as the idea was for Start Sailing to supplement lessons conducted by clubs in Singapore.

‘As this book covers a wide range of classes and ages, it will be most useful to the sailing clubs around Singapore, especially if they conduct adult classes,’ said Huzaini. ‘An official book that can be used during beginner courses will be most useful. Previously, coaches may have had to use photocopied notes as manuals. This book makes a more credible source and provides a more professional approach to teaching sailing.’

Indeed, Start Sailing takes a beginner from the very basics of preparing oneself to sail to the necessary skills and steps taken in sailing manoeuvres and more. It contains plenty of tips about sailing safety, local weather knowledge, and boat handling techniques: content that you would expect to find in a typical learn-to-sail course.

The standardisation of the steps in learning to sail gives more structure to a basic sailing course, and Huzaini believes that this can only improve the standard of sailing courses all across the island.

'We also plan to use this book to train more instructors in Signapore. For the sport to expand around the island, we need a new generation of young, keen water-sports instructors, maybe those now coming out of sports courses such as the Polytechnics' sports and wellness diplomas.'

‘Our long-term plan also includes creating a coaches’ manual to supplement and guide coaches in using this book as part of their sailing instruction.’

All of this comes as a concerted effort to raise participation in sailing. The publication of high quality course material supplements other ongoing efforts to improve course syllabi, upgrade coaching standards and numbers, provide better facilities, and attract more people to the sport.