Have you been on a sailboat before? For me, it is an experience that resulted in a love for sailing and a dream to cross seas and oceans on a yacht of my own.

I was given the opportunity to renew my love affair with sailing recently, when I won a competition organised by Firefly, one of the sponsors of the Monsoon Cup 2009.  It gave me the chance to be on one of the 12 boats competing in the final World Match Racing Tour event of the year, albeit as a spectator.  I am not familiar with match racing but it is still a sailing regatta and I relished the chance to see world-class sailors in action.

If it’s gonna be a rainy day / There’s nothing we can do to make it change / We can pray for sunny weather / But that won’t stop the rain

James Morrison’s Please Don’t Stop The Rain

It is the monsoon season in the East Coast and I arrived in Kuala Terengganu that was cold, windy and wet.  It felt good to be back in KT, now a favourite holiday destination of mine. If I had enough money, I’d seriously consider buying a beach-fronting property somewhere near Pulau Duyong or further up in Setiu, but that is another story.

I managed to sneak into the press conference of the first day and was introduced to Datuk Peter Gilmour, who is a key person in the organisation of the Monsoon Cup as well as the skipper of the Yanmar Racing Team.

My ‘hotseat’ moment came on the second day, when I got on board Team Origin’s boat, led by Ben Ainslie, a British triple Olympic gold medallist.  The five-men crew raced against Torvar Mirsky and his Mirsky Racing Team.

I had wind in my hair and felt again the rush of adrenaline as we sailed upwind, the main sail tight in the middle.  Team Origin worked really well together that the skipper only shouted once and it was directed at a media boat that was in the way.  They won against Mirsky, of course.  Ainslie and Team Origin went on to win the rest of their races in the qualifying round and was the top team in the quarter-final.  They however lost to Adam Minoprio and ETNZ / Black Match Racing Team in the finals but managed to sneak into third place in the overall WMRT ranking for 2009 behind Minoprio and Mirsky respectively.

The third day of races saw me lining up to get on to another boat and this time it was on Sebastien Col’s of French Match Racing Team / ALL4ONE.

They were racing against Phil Robertson, a Kiwi youngster skippering Team New Zealand WAKA Racing.  I must say I felt like a lucky charm because Col won against Robertson. As we sailed back to the marina, I managed to talk with Col for a bit. He told me he had practically lived on a boat until he was 9. Memang betullah dia orang laut. I told him about my sailing idol – Dame Ellen MacArthur – and he said he knows her. I wish I was brave enough to ask for if he could help me get in touch with her. I wasn’t that brave.

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Being at a sailing event brought back memories of my secondary school days.  It also made me realised that while I can go on about wanting to be a crew on a boat sailing competitively, I should have sought out the opportunities available much earlier and that maybe I am more suited to cruise sailing on my own or with a few friends and not racing against another boat for a prize.  I don’t think I am able to dedicate my whole life to the sport, like Ben Ainslie or Sebastien Col do. They’re both a year younger than me but they’ve been sailing competitively all this time.

I think I’ll stick with writing.  Unless someone buys me a boat, I might do another, different kind of RTW with it. Hmmm….