Joel Pang (left) with his crew mate Darren Choy. (Photo 2 courtesy of SingaporeSailing)
What are the misconceptions of sailing you’ve encountered?
Joel: Whenever I tell someone I am from sailing, I am usually greeted by some sense of awe, which is almost always followed by a physical gestures of their hands pumping their arms forwards and back in a movement that nowhere closely resembles any movement that I would do on the boat but instead of a windsurfer pumping his sail.
Otherwise, I will have the comments such as ‘Oh, quite easy right? Just sit there and pull in the sails only, right?’ But majority of the time I am just greeted with blank faces who try their best to mask their obliviousness to the sport by smiling and nodding their heads while repeating ‘oh sail … ing … Singapore’s doing very well in that sport, right!’
But I understand, sailing is not yet a spectator sport in Singapore and sailing has yet to make its appeal to the mass public. Which is why probably most people have little clue about the nature of the sport altogether.
What do you now know about sailing that you wished you knew then?
Joel: If I could have known then what I now know, I think I would have enjoyed the sport a lot more. It’s such a dynamic sport that is both tactically and technically exhausting.
It’s like how if you asked a sailor to describe sailing, you’d usually get the reply ‘It’s like playing chess while running on water’. While this does hold some truth, I think that is really too simplistic way of describing sailing. I really cannot describe sailing really in just a few words alone, you have to try it yourself to really understand it.
I think, understanding the different aspects of the sport has helped me appreciate the sport even more. The intricate details, the signs and shifts in the conditions and the precision of each maneuver all matters in sailing. In addition, to sail against others, makes it all the more challenging.
Which schools did you represent in sailing? What was a memorable inter-school race for you?
Joel: Well I only ever competed for my school in 2006, for the Singapore Sports School. It was also my first competition sailing the byte. I must say upfront, it was one of the most terrible races that I have ever sailed, but also one of the most memorable ones.
Having less than a year’s worth of training, and being barely able to sail straight on an upwind beat, the direction of sailing, I was tossed right into the deep end of the sea to compete in the inter-schools to make up the numbers for the team.
I can still remember being at the start line trying to figure out what was going on. I must be honest upfront that I did terribly for this regatta in terms of ranking. The most memorable moment, or rather embarrassing moment, would be during one of the races. I was already one of the last few to cross the line, and all the other sailors from the Sports School were gathered around the line cheering for me as though I came in first. It was both awkward and funny at the same time.
And there was another one when I was trying to sail upwind despite my severe lack of skill. Nonetheless, I was still trying my best to catch up with the boats in front. And while I was focusing hard to try to catch the group in front of me, by catching the gusts and surfing the waves, I suddenly heard the sound of a powerboat engine come up from behind me. Thinking it was the jury watching, I tried to play it safe and sailed properly. Only to be greeted immediately by my general manager in a powerboat laughing at me. That’s when I realized that the time limit of the race was up and he was asking me to return back to the start line for the next mark.
You listed thinking as a hobby. I’m intrigued. What do you think about? What keeps you up awake at night?
Joel: Coffee keeps me awake usually at night. Hahaha. Well yea, thinking. I guess I am not the only one that does that on a regular basis. We all make decisions and have thought processes every now and then. For me. I always like to reflect back on the things that had happened or occurred. Things that go through my mind are really on things that can be quite random. It can be in sailing, like reflecting back on a race, how could I have been better, what should I have done better.
Other times I think about life in general, I think about school, I think about situations that was both pleasant and unpleasant and what could have been or should have been. I guess I reflect a lot on things, and that is how I make sense of the world around me.
There is a quote that I have on my laptop by Albert Einstein: ‘Problems cannot be solved by the same level of thinking that created them’. So I always believe that solutions to situations can be solved if we were to try and always think in a different manner. I feel as people, we do not reflect as much, or rather we do not put a lot of thought to things around us. Every action will create a reaction, whether it would just be a reaction or an opposite reaction from what you expect. So our decisions are critical, every more important. Just like sailing really. Each maneuver, each decision, has its cost. It’s the cost versus the gains.
For me, I just like to think in my free time. I think we all do, but it is whether we put enough thought or consideration into them.
Joel Pang Wen Jie Biography
Class: 470 men (crew)
Date of Birth: July 21, 1990
Age: 23
Height: 179cm
Weight: 73kg
School: Nanyang Technological University
Hobbies: running, gaming, reading and thinking
Major Sporting Achievements:
2012 Singapore National 470 Championship – Silver
2011 Universiade Games – 6th (470)
2008 Asian Sailing Championship – Silver (470)
2008 Singapore National 470 Championship – Gold
The Red Crew wish Joel Pang all the best at the 2013 SEA Games! Do drop Joel a note of support in the comments section if you can. We’re sure he’ll appreciate it. Upload photos showing your support of Joel on Instagram using #ourteamsg, or on the Team Singapore campaign’s website: www.ourteamsg.com
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