Adapting to Shifting Winds

I took the last two-and-a-half weeks off for a long-overdue break, spending the first half with friends and family, and the other half getting back into sailing.

I first picked it up more than a decade ago; after watching my sister pick up the unique sport as part of her school's co-curricular activities, I soon found myself participating in races over the weekend. Eventually, I found it hard to juggle being buried in schoolwork on weekdays and being out at sea on weekends, and abandoned the ship to focus on national examinations.

I wasn't so sure then what enticed me to spend hours upon days on a solitary boat, but now I'm sure part of it was the thirst for perfection.

You see, in sailing, one always looks to optimize the sail shape and point of sail to harness wind power in the most efficient way possible. To move faster, you'd have to tighten or loosen sheets depending on the direction and strength of the breeze. To reach your destination in the shortest time, you'd have to ensure that your boat faces the wind as much as possible - but not overdo to the point where your sail flaps in the wind. In short, precision and efficiency are key to performance.

As I literally re-learnt the ropes over the past few days (albeit for a newer dinghy class), I realized that this long-beloved sport of mine matched perfectly with what I enjoy doing — making the best out of any situation and adapting to shifting winds.

Regardless of whether I was making frames faster through multithreading code, perfecting a quest through iterative design, multiplying the efforts of my team through streamlined processes, or simply finding the payment method that gives me the highest cashback rate for Bak Kut Teh — constant optimization has always been, and will continue to be, an integral part of who I am.

These weeks have been nothing but a refreshing break, and I'm truly content that I was able to rediscover the joy of feeling the rushing wind in my face.

Life is strange: You can never see what lies beyond the horizon — but once you truly find your passion, you'll find that everything else will be smooth sailing.