kayaking after a long break

it's really long, because we stopped around the time Marina Barrage was about to be opened. That was in October 2008 if we go by the soft opening of the barrage.

my colleague CK who is a dragon boater said the water is cleaner after Kallang Basin was sealed up to trap freshwater. To me, i observed the following:

- less rubbish, but still some rubbish swept onto shore
- the shoreline along Marina Promenade is covered with grass... no more sandy beaches.
- water is no longer salty (duh)
- water still looks the same (yucky colour and little can be seen through the water)
- no more "sea-hum", only the shells remain.

i think the water quality can still be improved. But because the Marina Reservoir is fed by 3 key rivers and many smaller canals that snake into older developments of Singapore, it's a difficult problem.

something interesting too; in the middle of the basin there are some big orange floats. Around it would be pockets of water bubbling from the bottom, as though there were some filtration or aeration going on. Don't know what these are for, but it's somewhat smelly when we went over them. I only see it in the fish tank in my house, not in such large scale..lol.

men's day

let's KISS - keep it short and simple

1. work

2. kayak - my arms ached. I said the water was moving inwards kallang basin, kay said the water was too still. But water still or not, we found ourselves paddling too hard today. Shag...

3. tech stuff - sls is evil, when i don't go alone.

4. eat - my favourite you-know-what

5. shop - i want my new wallet, bag, berms, shirts, ........

6. sleep - that's what i'm going to do now. Dead tired!

weekend happenings

had a short time in sch on friday, because i went for curry fish head after lecture and tutorials. Steve had his brother's car in campus, so we took bus B to Kent Vale to get the car. Was my first time taking bus B past the Engineering faculty. After 1.5 years of being a student.

we had the curry fish head at whampoa market. Thought the stall was opened by Steve's relative (he's a Sim), but unfortunately not. We got sambal kang kong, additional duck and roasted meat from another stall to complete the whole package. Not bad. We each paid $11.50 after factoring in the sugar cane drinks.

Steve recommended his clan - Uncle SIM


I think i'm WOLS. But...

saturday was really busy to the max. Morning was my exciting kayaking session. Too bad HK was doing in-camp range, but we still enjoyed the 2 hours of sunbathing. Our forward paddling is improving as we practise; especially towards the end we paddled so mechanically, like well oiled machines. This session, i brought a camera out to take ourselves in action. Quite a hassle because i have to bring a belt pouch, then put my U600 into a ziplock bag to keep out the water. The belt pouch was completely wet after 2 hours, luckily there was the ziplock bag.

a girl from a dragon boat saw the camera, and told her friend to look. lolz... so funny meh..

Preparing to set sail in our bandits


This is PA Water Venture Kallang


Tanjong Rhu in front of us, Indoor Stadium on the left and Sheares Bridge on our right


Heehee


Sailing to Sheares Bridge first


mn, remember this place from the movie. haha..


Current below the bridge is normally strong...


The other side of Kallang Basin - Indoor Stadium/Cosy Bay

after the kayak i rushed down to class. Didn't had full attendance for class, and i spent $11 on cab for a 1 hour tutorial. Not quite worth, but anyway the tutorial was light-hearted. Dozed off on the bus home, because i was really dead tired.

the night was spent with my sec school friends. Had fun playing the "fishing" card game. Teacher was very helpful especially when i know nuts about gambling! Then wenqun, his teacher and me went geylang. Not hanky panky ok, went there for some snacks. Had the mee sua. Good man.

I think i cannot show this photo because of teacher in the background.
But never mind la, hor?


Geylang treats. Yum yum...

sunday was started late because of the late supper. Spent 1-2 hours sorting out my finances, which was in a mess. My savings dropped alot because i didn't track my spending timely enough. Have to put back the spending asap....! Then went to do my banking at the various banks, went to Suntec's money changer. Sneaked over to mn's place to slack. What a lazy day...

etc

monday and tuesday were rather normal - went to school, sat through the lectures and tutorials. Except for tuesday, when i woke up at 6.30am to amend my Business Correspondence letter for final draft submission. It has been a long time when i could have such discipline to wake up early and do my homework. Previously, i would tell myself to wake up early, yet failed badly. Tuesday was a long day, stayed in school until 7pm. Then managed to jio my friends to Simlim for a meal.

then came CNY's eve. Had work in the morning, but woke up at 7.30am! With only 15mins after brushing my teeth, washing my face, etc i had to cab down. Expensive by $3+ after the fare hike, but it's better than being late.

then wanted to have bkt with mn, but the kopitiam was closed. My apologies k =) Had Loy Kee instead, then went to chiong supermarkets. Had my dinner twice!! haha... enjoyed the day.

Bu Neng Shuo De Mi Mi

kayak is out for this entire month, because my army friends have a 18 day in-camp training (high key). Good luck to them, i wished i can join in too. It's even better if the ICT is outside Singapore, maybe ROC? lolz..

can i appeal to other friends to go for the 1-star kayak certification? The course is 9-5pm over a weekend, at People's Association Sea Sports Clubs (SSCs). The stuff covered include:

- types and parts of a kayak
- safety guidelines (eg kayak preparation, minimum of 3 kayaks, demarcation lines)
- practical (90% of the course): lifting/carrying, launching, forward/backward paddling, stopping, rotation, sideways movement using classic/J-draw techniques, stern rudder, rescue and/after capsize drills

i think the main psychological fear is in the capsize drills. Trust me, it's easy to capsize and perform recovery. Furthermore, it's done in groups of 3. Just do it properly, the friendly instructors are watching out for safety. And bring along sunblocks, because just 2 hours in the sun will turn anybody dark.

after the 1-star certification, the demarcation area will be in Kallang Basin. After 2-star, the demarcation area will be further at Esplanade, which means paddling all the way down to the merlion! What are you waiting for, just gather a group of 3-4 and go for training!

looking for kayak companions

can a pair of peeps go for the 1-star course? Then i will have another circle of kayak butties... yay!

i'm looking forward to the next kayak session, but don't know when. sigh...

kayak practice

spent two days after new year working. It's back to the sleep-late-wake-up-late problem. In this year perhaps its time to look at this problem? I suddenly became a heavy sleeper. Hmm...

went on a buying spree for toiletries in chinatown yesterday. Bought everything i needed, and the items cost me $37 in total! However before that, i got drenched in the rain. Very sad man, advised somebody to bring hers, yet i didn't bring. lol...

today is kayak day. Met up with the peeps for lunch, then walked to kallang for our practice. Some team mates from the 1-star course are already taking 2-star certification! I'm not well prepared for it though.

loitered around kallang basin; from the sheltered area to Sheares Bridge, to Cosy Bay near Oasis. It was the low tide period, so water was flowing out to the sea. I stopped at the bridge, then found myself drifting out quite rapidly! A little more and i could be saying hello to the Singapore Flyer. lolz.. Paddling against the current movement was damn tiring. Then the rain came after a while. But managed to say cheese to the cameras in the ducktour vehicles. =D

beached up a few times to avoid moving around during heavy rain. The last 30 minutes were really bad - heavy rain while paddling back to sheltered area, the rain felt like stones. Couldn't see anything in front of me for a while.

now my arms are really sore. Legs too, because the bandit i had didn't have foot pedals! I need to remember to warm up next time. And bring my sun tan lotion too. Plus my towel. So forgetful la. Time to rest.

kayak course III (photos)

some photos that my instructor took during the course:

Yipee!


Trainees and instructors

more photos and the mass capsize video available at Zoe's website.

kayak course II

today was a longer day compared to yesterday, because there wasn't any rain!

shelter no more; we went further out from our "playground" (the hand mark on the map) to mid-promenade towards Sheares Bridge. The currents are much stronger, but we managed to get there anyway. Did some amount of paddling, drawing of water and did a TX rescue technique, by capsizing.

after the lunch break we went out too, however towards Oasis/Look-out tower. Man, the current was darn strong! There was the climax - Mary gave an apple to everyone (to eat la), then we did a mass capsize, then attempted to perform rescue with another person, etc until everyone was rescued. Capsized twice cos' my kayak was 30% waterlogged after the 1st rescue, then went back much later than the rest.... now i'm so familiar with capsizing myself =x

during the debrief everyone was awarded the 1-star certificate, and encouraged to go for further certification. Hope i can perfect my basics, then consider taking the 2-star course.

there are 2 regrets from this course:
- should have taken it earlier, it's so fun!
- should have protected myself with a sunblock. Now my skin is... cooked. Red and PAINFUL. That even with a shirt on i feel the pain. Ouch...

I'm badly burnt.

kayak course (1-star)

woke up damn early, around 6.30am. Then chugged on 960 to Bugis, then transferred a station down to Lavender.

fast forward to the actual introduction; the friendly instructor Mary attempted some ice breakers. Many participants are secondary schoolers, followed by a small portion of college students, finally 5 university students from the big 3. Then she went on to brief us on the types, parts of a kayak and paddle plus safety considerations.

didn't know there are so many considerations in handling the kayak - lifting and carrying it, embarking and disembarking. Our first task? swim 50m! Luckily with our lifevests, cos i haven't stepped into a swimming pool since BMT. With the lifevest it wasn't a big problem =x

today was the basic techniques (from the booklet) - forward/reverse paddling, stopping, rotating 360 degrees, moving sideways and capsizing! The capsize drill meant we had to purposely flip the kayak over, then come out from it underwater together with some funny action - knocking on the hull 3 times before coming out, after coming up lifting up the paddle and shouting help, then swim back with the capsized kayak in tow. Sam did a demo for us, however some had a bad scare when he dislocated his shoulder during the demo... lol.

tomorrow will be to test us further on the capsizing, however further out sea. And we have to try the TX rescue technique. It's fun! But my arms and legs are aching.... really painful. And the kayak itself is HARD to manoeuvre; found myself spinning in the water so many times.

It rained so heavily towards the last hour. argh..

Nice number - SBS 8888.