The regatta through the eyes of a new sailor

[SMU Sailing]

My approach to sailing is the same approach I take when buying a fast food meal. If I can handle the value meal, I can handle the upsize.

However, sailing on the Sunsail 39 Bussakorn, as opposed to my usual Farr Platu 25, has turned out to be an entirely new experience for us first year students. Sailing with the asymmetrical spin and enduring races that stretch for more than 20 nautical miles a first from some of us who started sailing only a year ago.

Many thanks to the good people at Sunsail who kindly sponsored us the wonderful boat as well as the organizers who put together such a wonderful regatta.

The winds in Koh Samui have been challenging. We are unused to the very drastic wind shifts. For example, during today's race, the wind shifted 180 degrees in the last leg of the race. We had to abruptly down the spin and sail upwind to the finish instead. This has really kept me on my toes.

So in conclusion, besides learning that size really does matter, the younger sailors and I on board have learnt that there are so many things to learn when it comes to sailing. We certainly look forward to many more regattas ahead.

[Capt Marty]

Good on you and the SMU crew for getting through all that with a little help from our friends at Sunsail. See you at the Western Circuit in August? CM