By Jonathan Wong

Chuah Jun Ler has been calling an unusual place home - a boat.

The 13-year-old has been living alone in his father's 26-foot long keelboat moored at the SAF Yacht Club dry docks in Changi, complete with power-boats and yachts for neighbours.

It is not exactly the ideal abode for a teenager. But it would have to do, while he undergoes training at the nearby National Service Resort And Country Club Sea Sports Centre for this week's Asian Youth Games (AYG).

'It's much more convenient to stay here than spend one-and-a-half hours travelling home to Jurong, ' he says cheerfully while lounging on his bunk-bed.

The teenager will be competing in the Bic Techno 293 class of windsurfing, a sport which has been in the doldrums in Singapore for several years.

Windsurfing's heyday in the 1980s and 1990s was fanned by the late Kelly Chan, a former world No.1, who regularly won medals.

Today, the sport here is as lost as a pirate's treasure chest. More so when compared to its more illustrious and successful counterpart, dinghy sailing.

The Republic's sailors have won seven golds at the last three Asian Games while windsurfing's best was Andrew Foo's sixth at the Mistral One-Design class in 2002 in Busan.

SingaporeSailing president Low Teo Ping says the AYG will be the perfect opportunity to rekindle the sport's early popularity, particularly among the youth.

Already, national windsurfer Leonard Ong, 17, is making waves. He came in fourth at the ISAF Grade 1 Kieler Woche event in Germany on Thursday.

No doubt, Ong's overseas exploits will fuel interest among the younger windsurfers such as Jun Ler.

Besides spending his free time scouring the Internet for new windsurfing tactics and techniques to improve himself, he also tests himself on 'Virtual Skipper 5', a sailing simulation computer game.

He even embraces the isolation of a sailor. Walking past 'Bunny', the only sign of life are the clothes left hanging on the rigging lines.

When hunger pangs strike, he pops into his mother's sail shop at the club to raid the fridge and make himself a sandwich (ham is his favourite). Sometimes, he patronises the club's restaurant.

Says Sim Leong Sin, the club's general manager: 'Jun Ler knows most of the staff here and they watch over him. But he can take care of himself.'

It is this independence that has transformed him from a reclusive and timid eight-year-old who once refused to go for a jungle night walk during a school camp to a confident young sailor.

'When he was younger he was very clingy, very afraid to try new things,' says his mother Quee Sian. 'But he's grown up very fast in the last few years.'

And not just in terms of self-reliance. A growth spurt has seen the 1.61 metre-tall, 51kg teenager gain about 7cm and 7kg in the last year.

Much of this can be attributed to the physical demands of sailing, including twice-weekly, two-hour gym sessions.

Singapore coach Jannicke Stalstrom, a former Olympian, says windsurfers need to have strong upper bodies and core muscles to help them pump the sail continuously and move the board when the wind dies.

'I really hate it when there's no wind,' Jun Ler says, as he winces at the memory of once having to pump without rest for 15 minutes.

Stalstrom also gets the kids to do push-ups on their boards out at sea.

'It's important that they spend as much time on the water getting comfortable with the currents and the feel of the wind,' she explains.

Windsurfing is sailing stripped down to its bare elements. The surfer stands atop a plank the length of two ironing boards, and with the wind whipping behind.

'It's the best feeling in the world to be out there and alone, you and the sea,' says Jun Ler.

Yet, there are things beyond a windsurfer's control, like the weather, even as he enjoys the battle against the elements.

Windsurfers crave speed. It is their raison d'etre. The current world record is held by French windsurfer Antoine Albeau at 49.09 knots (90.91 kmh) set last March.

'It's like you're flying,' says Jun Ler. 'It feels fantastic.'

He and fellow AYG windsurfer Audrey Yong, 14, race at speeds over 20 knots off the waters at East Coast Park, the venue for the AYG sailing competition, which begins on Tuesday.

Having started out on the Optimist class when he was nine, the Juying Secondary School student made the switch to windsurfing only in January.

The love affair started after an introductory lesson organised at the Ministry of Education Sea Sports Centre in Changi.

Giggling at the memory, Audrey recalls: 'Then, he was so blur about the sport. He didn't know how to turn the board around. I had to show him everything.'

But Jun Ler took to windsurfing like the proverbial duck to water and, in April, edged out fellow windsurfer Jeddy Tan, 15, on countback during the AYG trials at the Pattaya Cup in Thailand.

In his second overseas race in Sydney earlier this month, he finished fifth at the Australian Bic Techno National Championships.

'The AYG is my biggest competition and I want to improve on that fifth place,' he says.

Away from the sea, he is an avid cyclist. His collection of two-wheelers now stands at three mountain and two racing bicycles.

The cycling interest was sparked by his father - who works in the oil rigging business - five years ago. Back then, he and his dad would spend hours cycling in the evenings across the island - sometimes from their home in Jurong all the way to Changi.

Mum would then fetch the sweaty pair and their bicycles home.

Windsurfing and cycling aside, Jun Ler is eyeing the keys to his dad's pleasure craft and taking 'Bunny' out for a spin. He will be eligible for a Powered Pleasure Craft Driving Licence in two years.

'I can't wait to bring her out by myself,' he chuckles.

It is not enough that he has roamed all over the island on his bicycle.

This boy now wants to make the whole ocean his playground - and waking up in an unusual parking space will not deter him at all. Not one bit.

This article was first published in The Straits Times.