Kayaking trip from Pasir Ris to Changi and back

Thanks to the passionate staff who aren't your typical civil servants that do the bare minimum at work and only look forward to collecting a salary, Water-Venture Pasir Ris has been organising short trips to entice 1 Star certified paddlers to take up 2 Star certification as well as provide a guided trip for newly minted or rusty 2 Star paddlers who may not be familiar with the possible one day kayaking trips in the area.

The first trip was organised back on 2 Jan which led to a participant eventually taking up the 2 Star course in April.

Water-Venture Changi Walkabout

Made my way down to Water-Venture Changi after avoiding the place for many years due to the coaches and staff there that subscribe to Frederick Taylor's "one best way" ideology of doing things. And of course, no prizes for you if you guessed that their way is always the best way :p

Passion Wave @ Marina Bay Walkabout

The latest and fanciest Water-Venture outlet officially opened last month even though it had already been operating for several months.

This outlet located at 11 Rhu Cross can be considered the replacement for the previous Water-Venture Kallang outlet under the Nicoll Highway.

It takes quite a bit of effort to reach Passion Wave as it is hidden amongst the condominiums in Tanjong Rhu.

Reservoir Discovery Series 2015 - Punggol Waterway

 

 Most people have been on the TPE, but few have gone under it!

Just a mere 2 weeks after the first leg of the Reservoir Discover Series (RDS) at Jurong Lake, I got roped in to help out at second leg held at the Punggol Waterway.

The little 6km tour starts off at the "watersports centre" located at 59 Anchorvale Road. Its actually the Anchorvale CC/Sports and Recreation Centre.

Reservoir Discovery Series 2015 - Jurong Lake

Once again, PA Water-Venture has kicked off another round of the Reservoir Discovery Series which covers Jurong Lake, Punggol Waterway, Lower Seletar Reservoir and Marina Reservoir.

I kicked off the 1st leg of 2015 at Jurong Lake 2 weeks ago on 24 June and the RDS kicked off with overwhelming response.

 Check out the huge group!

It was a wonderfully bright and sunny day, great for a leisurely paddle around the Jurong Lake.

Taking a back seat

Check out the view!

The 2nd wave of Water-Venture's Reservoir Discovery Series ended last weekend with the final leg being held at Kallang.

Project Blue WaVe - Third Wave Event Report

After waiting for quite a long time, I finally got to participate in the Third Wave of Project Blue WaVe at Jurong Lake last Sunday! Had to get up really bright and early to report at 7am!

It was a hazy day with the PSI hitting 104 by the time the event ended!

  The slipway all decked out in Project Blue WaVe posters

 Kian Seng talking about marine conservation on behalf of Waterways Watch Society

Project Blue WaVe

A blue movement by PA Water-Venture to engage all stakeholders in building & maintaining a clean & blue water landscap.

Instead of its annual coastal cleanup, Water-Venture is including an educational element to solve the issue instead of reducing the symptoms.

Project Blue WaVe will be rolled out in 3 waves at various locations with a different theme for each location.  Interconnection, Ownership and Sustainability will be the 3 themes guiding the running of each wave and you can find out more on their facebook page: Project Blue WaVe

 

Head on to http://one.pa.gov.sg to register. It's free!
Simply search for "project blue wave" in activities using the search bar.

I will be participating in the Third Wave at Water-Venture Jurong Lake on 19 October. See you there!

Reservoir Discovery Series 2014 Kallang - Event Report

Had a blast at the final leg of Water-Venture's Reservoir Discovery Series in Kallang. I wasn't the lead paddler for that trip and mainly stayed back to help paddlers out.

I was left behind right from the start to help out the late comers while an old school instructor led the group. Not too sure if the participants were ok with him, but I feel that there really is no need to run these kind of events like a military operation.

Anyway, after I guided the late comers to the main group the first thing I did was some wildlife rescue!
Noticed a bird trying to fly, but the poor thing kept getting yanked down as there was a bit of string tangled round its beak. Luckily, I had a scissors in my PFD and was able to cut it free. Look at it, the poor bird looks so traumatised.

Shortly after, more wildlife was spotted under the Merdeka Bridge. An owl!

The group was actually quite capable and cleared the 10km distance really fast. Spoke to some of the participants and they commented that it was more interesting to paddle here.

And.. I agree! Check out the view.

 Happy faces from the participants.

And of course, PA had to promote its newest outlet Passion Waves at Tanjong Rhu by having a stopover at its pontoon. This new outlet is set to replace the existing Kallang outlet under the Nicoll Highway when the it reopens at the end of 2014.

Pontoon launches should lead to some interesting candid snapshots if people capsize. :p

All in all, I had a great time being a part of the Reservoir Discovery Series. I realised that I have come to prefer this sort of events over the standard 1 Star coaching courses.

Just a small time paddler in Jurong Lake

 

Just came back from a kayaking try-out session at Water-Venture Jurong Lake. The great thing about these sort of events is that it is that there is basically no committment involved. I show up, do a quick brief and it is pretty much just babysitting for the rest of the session.
Free and easy.

Reservoir Discovery Series 2014 - Kallang

After an enjoyable day of paddling for the 1st leg in the PA Water-Venture's Reservoir Discovery Series at Jurong Lake, I just confirmed my participation in another leg of PA Water-Venture's Reservoir Discovery Series at Kallang!

Check out my write up "Water-Venture Kallang Walkabout" if you've never been there.

Those who are driving may wish to park their cars at the Kampong Bugis carpark across the river. You just have to cross a small bridge and walk a little to reach Water-Venture Kallang.



Noticed a blog with a write up on the Jurong Lake leg of the RDS 2014 as well on A Winsome Life and saw a pic of myself :) It's not often that I get my picture taken while paddling.

Water-Venture Reservoir Discovery Series: Jurong Lake

I had the good fortune to be involved in the 1st leg of Water-Venture's Reservoir Discovery Series. It was a simple 5km kayaking trip around Jurong Lake, Chinese Garden and the Japanese Garden.
One good thing about this event is that its a simple and short trip at only 5km. Best part was that permissions was granted by PUB to allow paddlers to enter the Chinese Garden and Japanese Garden, places usually out of bounds to avoid the risk of paddlers being flushed out by the tidal gates when PUB needs to reduce the water level.

 

The day started off pretty gloomy with heavy rains early in the morning. The event was delayed by 30 minutes, starting at 10am instead of 9.30pm.
The organisers were a little worried when only less than half of the registrants showed up at around 9am, but we ended with quite a good turn out.

World Water Day 2014 at Water-Venture Jurong Lake

Played my part at World Water Day 2014 by helping out at Water-Venture Jurong Lake. Wayang for DPM Tharman and free kayaking try-outs. This year, the minister actually walked all the way into the launch area to see the kayaking.

Had to wake up ridiculously early and report by 7am. Unfortunately, I overslept and only reached at 7.30. But this is what I saw upon arrival.

Awesome right? One of the perks of getting up early.

The place was packed in the morning and it was pretty hectic, but it soon slowed down after 11am. Mostly just sat around and helped people launch and recover the kayaks.

Full album here.

Kayaking trips with Water-Venture (Pasir Ris) in 2014

This is great for paddlers who want to clock some journeys for their 3 Star Kayaking Award. Round ubin is a great day trip for moderately fit paddlers. $30 may be a bit pricey since it would usually only cost half that to rent a kayak for a whole day and paddle round Pulau Ubin on your own.
However, you are paying for a powerboat escort for these trips.

Great for first timers to get a feel for the route before setting off on their own in future.

Source: https://www.facebook.com/WaterVenture

Kayaking Orientation for Hapag-Lloyd at Jurong Lake

According to the club's records, I haven't been to Jurong Lake/Chinese Gardens since 2011! My my... How time flies.

Spent some time with a really nice group of people from Hapag-Llyod today. Quite pleasantly suprised to see the ladies interested in the activity were not too worried about getting a tan or lifting the heavy boats.

NTU ODAC 1 Star Course 5-6 October 2013

Finally went back to Water-Venture Pasir Ris to conduct a 1 Star course over the weekend. Been a long.. time since I've been back there.

Was suprised to see the previously regimental and hard core group of coaches now embracing new coaching techniques, which are more fun and interesting.
Hopefully it leads them to be more open to new and/or alternative techniques of paddling instead of sticking to ridiculously outdated coaching methods.
Was pleasantly suprised when they were encouraged to wear their own PFDs and try out various kinds of paddles.

Well, back to my 1 Star course. It was a pretty small group of 6, so things went pretty smoothly. Pretty funny group, they mentioned how the kayaks reminded them of crab sticks and sausages. Never thought about the kayaks that way...

 Cheating during rafting up

Water-Venture Kallang Walkabout

Water-Venture Kallang has since closed down. A new outlet named PassionWave @ Marina Bay is located at 11 Rhu Cross.

Water-Venture Kallang is located under the Merdeka Bridge of the Nicoll Highway.

 
The address is:
4876 Beach Road (S) 199587
Tel: 6296 6683
Fax: 6294 4393

Water-Venture Pasir Ris Walkabout

Water-Venture Pasir Ris is located at 125 Elias Road. There is only one bus service that plys that route and the frequency can be quite slow at around 20minutes or so.
To get there, you can take bus service 403 from Pasir Ris Interchange and alight after the roundabout in Pasir Ris Park.
Personally, I prefer to cycle there from my home in Hougang.

Water-Venture Bedok Reservoir

Main entrance

Went down to Water-Venture's Bedok Reservoir for the first time today to conduct orientation programmes. Quite a nice place and it takes about 45minutes to travel there from my home.

I like the fact that the launch site for the recreational boats and the racing kayaks are separate. No issue of helpless newbie paddlers getting in the way of racers and being yelled at.

Kolam Ayer CC River Vista Kayaking Clinic Review

In my last blog post, I blogged about a trip where I led a group of paddlers from Kolam Ayer CC's River Vista Kayaking Centre to the Marina Barrage. It was a fun trip with grandparents and kids paddling together.

Kolam Ayer CC runs the centre and organises kayak orientation programmes led by qualified instructors every 1st Saturday of the month.
While I applaud the initiative to start this kayak centre and organise activities for the residents, I find that it is a waste of time for anyone to join the monthly kayak orientation programmes.

Why is this so?

This is because the demarcated area for paddling is very small. Even with the qualifed instructors present as guides, the management from Kolam Ayer CC does not allow paddlers to go out of the demarcated area.
This would not be a problem if the boundary is big. However, during the last orientation programme I was involved in, it took a bunch of newbies 20 minutes to paddle from one end to the other. Participants pay $18 for a 3hours session, but the place is so small you would get bored in under an hour.

Im guessing the management from Kolam Ayer CC simply took the idea of a demarcated area from Water-Venture and implemented it without considering if it makes sense to apply it to their kayak centre.
Water-Venture allows unsupervised and unguided rentals of kayaks, having a demarcated area helps them limit where these people can wander. On the other hand, Kolam Ayer CC only opens up the centre once a month for guided orientation programmes.

If anyone is considering paddling there I'd rather you go to Water-Venture Kallang, located at 4876 Beach Road. They are open everyday except Mondays and you get to paddle freely, without a guide in a much bigger area.
Rental costs $15 for 2 hours. Or if you sign up for their bundled PAssion card and Water-Venture membership, it will only cost you $7.
For more details on membership and rates, check out http://www.water-venture.org.sg/