Tan Jen-E, 17, will sail for Singapore at the 2013 SEA Games. (Photo 1 courtesy of SingaporeSailing)
Tan Jen-E, 17, will sail for Singapore at the 2013 South-East Asian (SEA) Games.
Jen-E, currently a student at Raffles Institution, will team up with schoolmate Jonathan Yeo in the 420 category.
We caught up with Jen-E before he left for Myanmar to find out about his sailing adventures.
Les Tan: When did you start sailing?
Jen-E: I started sailing since I was 7 but didn’t enjoyed it initially. It took me quite a while to get used to the wind and waves.
How did you get started with sailing?
Jen-E: I started sailing because of my brother. He’s two years older than me and I wanted to give sailing a shot as he was having a lot fun and I wanted to join him.
What is it about sailing that you enjoy? Has that changed over the years?
Jen-E: The fact that sailing requires a combination of physique, mental strength, technique, tactics and most cases, teamwork. This multi-dimensional nature of sailing makes it extremely difficult to master. This also makes victories even sweeter.
Initially I just enjoyed being out in the open sea and feeling all independent. As I improved the enjoyment shifted to sailing as fast as I could. I began sailing more competitively and now enjoyment comes from the experiences of competing and racing. Although, the ‘need for speed’ will always be there!
What are your memorable moments in sailing?
Jen-E: The most memorable moments – both good and bad – in sailing for me come from the experience of travelling, visiting and sailing in different countries. We even managed to catch two Tour de France stages while on a training trip in Europe!
In Kiel, Germany, my partner and I had completed our races for the day and were heading back to shore. We unknowingly cut through the race course of an on-going race. For some reason, we didn’t see a boat coming at us in the opposite direction and crashed almost directly into them. I was swung around the other boat’s mast and was thrown into the water. When I pulled myself up onto my boat, I looked up and saw that the wire holding our mast up had snapped and our mast had fallen into our boat. To make matters worse, both boats were stuck together – something was entangled – and we got external help from another coach to separate our boats. This meant that the boat that was still racing had to retire from their race. And if that wasn’t bad enough, they were actually leading that race.
I would’ve been furious if I were one of the guys we crashed into but to my surprise, they handled the situation very differently. I couldn’t stop apologising and he just smiled and told me, “Well, —- happens.” We had time for a long chat as we were trying to redress the situation and get their scoring reconsidered. In the end, he did not get his first-place finish.
I still feel stupid after thinking about the whole incident and wish I had done something to avoid all the trouble.
What are the misconceptions people have about sailing?
Jen-E: One of the misconceptions I’ve had about sailing is that luck plays a big factor in winning. Of course, luck does play a factor sometimes, but most of the time it is all about hard work and determination. You make your own luck!
Which schools did you represent in sailing? What was a memorable inter-school race for you?
Jen-E: I first started inter-school sailing at Secondary One when I joined Raffles Institution. I was the only sailor in my primary school and sailing was not offered as a CCA (co-curricular activity).
Every inter-school championships has been memorable for me. I will never forget missing out on a podium spot twice and missing out on the top spot thrice. However, the most memorable part of the inter-school sailing championships will always be the camaraderie between schools and friends as the sailing community is a tight-knit bunch.
Tan Jen-E Bio
Category: 420 men Crew
Date of Birth: May 3, 1996
Age: 17
Height: 167cm
Weight: 62kg
School: Raffles Institution
Hobbies: Football, longboarding, mountain biking, tennis
Major Sporting Achievements:
2013 420 World Championship – 27th
2013 ISAF Youth World Sailing Championship – 19th (420 boy)
2011 World Laser 4.7 Youth World Championship – 15th (U16) 55th (U18)
The Red Crew wish Tan Jen-E all the best at the 2013 SEA Games! Do drop Jen-E a note of support in the comments section if you can. We’re sure he’ll appreciate it. Upload photos showing your support of Jen-E on Instagram using #ourteamsg, or on the Team Singapore campaign’s website: www.ourteamsg.com
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