29er with just the jib - Does it sail?

Thanks for all your kind recommendations. Common sense prevailed at the end. I really wanted to be on the water that day because my older daughter was in an Opti regatta and I wanted to enjoy watching the sailing up close. It did work out with me arranging a Pico from the club and boy was it a good thing. Out of nowhere came a fresh 15knot wind (almost extreme for Singapore) which would have made life hard for me on the 9'er with just the main etc. Pico was good fun in the big wind big wave conditions. I never thought I would get one to plane!

Yes. I live & sail in Singapore. There are pros & cons. Being such a small place I can reach the yacht club and be on the water in less than an hour. Its pretty convenient especially if you consider the fact that there is no winter to speak of. Year round sailing.

On the downside, you can list lack of strong winds except the monsoon season as well as limited space to sail unless you're on a keelboat and bring your passport along. Singapore is stuck in between Malaysia and Indonesia with very little water around it which is very crowded with the arriving or departing cargo ships.

The youth sailing programs are pretty strong. Sailing is one of 8 or 9 sports Singapore has chosen to focus for long term Olympic success. That is to say, recognizing the small population base, they have made a decision not to compete at Olympic level in any sports other than these 8 or 9. Lots of funding then is channeled to the chosen sports generating keen interest and success. Young Singapore sailors have been doing great in few classes for the last couple years so it'll be interesting to see if they can build on this momentum and achieve medal level success at Quingdao next year.

Adult dinghy/multihull sailing post youth classes is not very strong which is sad. Some club level handicap racing and scheduled regattas for Laser, Byte & Optis which are the main classes promoted. Some keelboat activity exists but not a very vibrant scene either.

All in all its nice with lots of interested and friendly people. Let me know if anyone from the forum ends up in this neck of the woods and wishes to go for a spin. Cheers

i can make mine ( well it's the kid's boat really ) plane