Yesterday's 1 star canoeing/kayaking course was damn fun.

Thought I was going to be late, but ended up being the first one at kallang MRT. Waited around, Jon tan came, then Da Wei. We waited till ilke 8:40am, then decided to go over to SDBA first. Jonny called right when we were about to leave - bugger was going to be late. So we picked up Dean and Jessica and went over first.

Waited there even longer for Jonny to arrive, then we took out the t1s. Then Patrick, our instructor came, and we had to check some particulars for our certs, and we waited for Ivan who had the key to the locker for the livejacks and paddles.

It started to drizzle, then pour right when we were about to go down. So cold! We brought the t1s down one by one, then got in. Helped some of the girls and guys get in, then it was my turn.

Wow, I was in a canoe! Patrick had briefed us earlier on holding of the paddle and paddling so adventurous me decided to take a few strokes out. To my horror, I capsized in the first 10 seconds of my life in the t1, going down with a loud "aaargh!". Patrick was like "oh boy that was fast" >_<.

I towed the capsized canoe back to the jetty... felt like I was doing life-saving to a boat, and tried to clamber on the tyre and mnaged to get one leg on the platform then claw myself up, much to the amusement of a nearby womens dragon boat team.

Patrick was like "Well, you've about finished the capsize drill and towing already". Heh. Went down down again and paddled out a little to Mellisa, where we used each other for support.

Was really scared of capsizing again after that, due to the bleeding lashes on my legs caused by the cap, but managed to get over to the beach. After a while, I managed to get the feel of the boat, and was going really fast! Did some pacing with the rest of the guys and ended up coming out first, even beating those who had kayaked before for obs or whatnot. Muahahahaha.

Got so excited about winning the second pacing with thomas that when I turned back to laugh at him, I lost balance and cap'd. Much to his amusement of course. Ugh... a couple more lashes to the side.

I guess two years of dragon boat rowing and watching those canoeists come and go helped abit. Anyway, sweet retribution was served when we were trying this weird paddle drill to prevent ourselves from capsizing, then Thomas tried to correct me, saying "Oi Reuben, not like that, 90 degrees" *Splosh* he cap'd. I shall forever remind him of that event to amuse myself.


Was speeding around back and forth in between stroke practices, visualizing how I saw the canoeists paddle and matching the mental image into my stroke. Legs felt really uncomfortable, though. Probably due to the 5 X 15-20 quads and 5 X 15-20 hamstring exercises on the legs machine in the school weights room. Paining, paining. Then it didn't help that you had to open your legs a little and have your knees and legs push against the inside of the boat for better support for "touring kayaking" - right in the area where I had suffered the lashes from the capsizes. Learned from Patrick that in competitive kayaking your knees rest together instead of spread out inside. Balance was a little tricker like that, and leg muscles still hurt though.


Turns out Patrick is the school's canoeing coach too. I was wondering what he meant when he asked me if I was free next saturday morning. Heh, that's when the canoeists train. I'm really keen, though. Asked Ivan if I could come on Saturday for their training, and he said he'll ask Sharon (canoeing cap) to get back to me. Patrick said my build is good for kayaking too.

Thinking about it, I wonder if God has a sense of humour. Few weeks back, I was nominated for cap of the dragon boat team. Jeremy and Jonny got the wining votes for the posts. That, I can agree on. Due to my knee injury, I couldn't lead the team for running, and I want that aspect of leadership for the team - something I couldn't give. But now that I don't have a post, I can hop over to the canoeists for a while to pursue my interest. This means that I may have to miss a few dragon boat trainings for canoe training. Not sure exactly how I'm going to be "attached" there, by ivan for training, but I'm quite positive about it. *sigh* Why don't the watersports clubs just merge >_<