We keep receiving visits and running sessions for schools from further and further afield — Brunei, Singapore, France, China, Bangladesh, Australia. That's a good thing, and we're grateful for it. But the local kids need this too, maybe more. This tradition sits closer to their own identity than to anyone visiting it. Jong racing belongs to a wider Malay maritime world — carried, among others, by the Orang Suku Laut, the sea nomads of this archipelago — and for a local child, learning to sail a jong isn't just picking up a skill. It's picking up a thread that runs back through their own history.



The dream would be to make this part of every Bintan child's education — a real curriculum, not a session that only happens when funding allows. We're a long way from that. For now, we run sessions of twenty kids whenever a sponsor makes one possible.


A DAY WITH THE KIDS

Our most recent session, made possible by The Residence Bintan, ran the afternoon before the Selatan race. Kids from the neighborhood and as far as Kawal gathered on the beach — some had sailed jongs since they were seven or eight, others had never touched one.


We started with the basics: reading wind direction, learning to hold a jong steady into it. Then each pair of kids named their jong — a small ceremony that matters more than it looks — and the racing began.



Assim, who would go on to take second place in the medium-jong race the following day, stopped to give tips to the youngest ones. Zaki, twelve years old and sailing since he was seven, helped translate the vocabulary of jong-building for the others — which part is which, what each knot is for.

By the end, the kids had organized their own races without anyone asking them to. Nobody wanted to stop.



That, more than anything we could have planned, is the whole point. Learning by doing — and not wanting to put the boat down when the lesson's over.


WANT TO SPONSOR A SESSION?

A single half-day session for 20 children costs S$400 — covering materials, lunch, and transportation, so every child can take part without cost to their family. Get in touch if you'd like to make one happen.