Travel » Singapore City

Singapore: city of sails

One of the strengths of the Lion City’s well-appointed clubs and marinas is that the lie so close to the city – get­ting out on the water is plain sailing. Once there, you can enjoy great cruising in the Riau Islands and up both coasts of Malaysia. The rac­ing season runs from No­vember to March, during which time boats of all classes take advantage of the steady 25 knot winds. There’s a series of competitions culminating in the Singapore Straits Regatta.

The Singapore Yachting Association, keen to broaden the appeal of the sport, works closely with schools, clubs and societies to introduce sailing to the young people of the city; while the new National Sailing Centre and the yacht clubs offer profes­sional sail training courses. This concerted effort is pay­ing off: two Singaporean sailors won their class at the last Asian Games. Aside from promoting dinghy sail­ing, the aim is to encour­age local dinghy sailors to move up to the larger keelboats – still predominantly owned by expats.

With the newly refur­bished Republic of Singa­pore Yacht Club close to completion, and with the government right behind it, the sport is flourishing. We can certainly expect to see many more successful Singaporean crews in the future.