Minute of Silence

A friend of mine who was a freelance canoeing/dragonboat instructor drowned yesterday evening at Macritchie.
An avid adventurer and champion for Diabetes, he has paddled around Singapore within 24hrs while in a canoe and dragonboat. I believe the dragonboat event made it to the Singapore book of records.

Last I heard he was planning to do a marathon swim in aid of diabetes too.

Alas, another life lost.

Read the news article here

3 Star Course at SCF

Got this news from the twodegreesnorth mailing list.

Dear friends,
Please be informed that Singapore Canoe Federation will be conducting a 3Star Personal Skills (Training Course) on the following dates:

Day1 - 31/05/09 (Sun)
Day2 - 07/06/09 (Sun)
Day3 - 14/06/09 (Sun)
Day4 - 21/06/09 (Sun)

Time: 0900hrs to 1600hrs
Venue: Kallang (SCF)
Cost ranges from $90-$125

For sign-up or more information please email:
Lim Jun Ping (limjp@scf.org.sg)

Course syllabus can be found under Awards -> Personal Skill at http://www.scf.org.sg/asp/default.asp

Round Ubin again and again!

Coney Island in the background

Paddled round ubin twice over this weekend after having been out of the water for more than a month! The last time I even touched a kayak was on 5th April...
On Saturday, I brought Seh Suan and KC who had just passed their 2 star course last weekend. They managed to survive the trip but took 5 hours to complete the whole distance.

Seh Suan posing


House No.1 near Chek Jawa

Today, I went with Huanda and Zi Yang who are better paddlers. It was also their first time though.
A total of 4.5hrs was spent to complete the journey but that included a 1 hour lunch break at a seafood restaurant on Ubin. Doubt Huanda will go on a round Ubin trip anytime soon though. Haha!

Now I've got some muscle aches. Better stretch again before I sleep tonight or I'll wake up or sore tmr!

Rolling Clinic

Rolling clinic by Paddle Culture

Date: 17th of May and 24th of May
Time: 1pm to 4pm (free and easy after that until 6pm)
Cost: $25 per day (non-Friend of PC) $20 a day (Friend of PC)
Maximum number of participants: 10 on the 17th, and 20 on the 24th.
Minimum requirement: 2 Star. If 1 star and have prior knowledge or skils, email/call us first.
Things to bring: Yourself and paddling gear. If you feel you need a nose clip, do purchase one beforehand.

Contact Details
Please email us at courses@paddleculture.com or call us at 96552337. Please indicate the subject line as Learn to Roll Class. Please also indicate your skill level. You are also welcome to join if you already know how to roll and want to refine or pick up a different roll.

Places on a first come first served basis. See you in the water!

Cognitive Dissonance.

Took up a module on marketing some time back. During which I learnt about the consumer buying process. One of the last stages is cognitive dissonance.
Basically its when you regret making that purchase when you realise there's 2 conflicting thoughts in your mind.

Eg. You bought a $1000 Gucci bag and later feel guilty because you also would like to have saved that money.

Likewise, I bought a Feathercraft Kahuna and now I regret the purchase. I've used it a grand total of 3 times since I bought it and in the process damaged the hatch rim.

Sigh.

Find it a hassle to dry before packing it up. I dont drive and bring that humongous thing around by bus. Washing up at home is also a chore.

Plan to use it a few more times after my diploma and then sell it off by September where I would hopefully be at the Kandersteg International Scout Center in Switzerland as a short term staff.

Water Sports Licensing

Some time last year, Teo Ser Luck suggested a water safety license. No news on that so far.

But SIM has taken matters into their own hands and gone ahead with starting their own version.
From now on, any person joining a watersports club in SIM is required to show proof of ability to swim or take a swimming test.
The test will include:

1. treading water for 3min
2. drownproofing for 1minute
3. swim 50m in any recognised stroke

Personally I am against such a rule because I feel it is the personal responsibility of core members of the various clubs to ensure they are proficient in swimming. Making it compulsory takes away the personal responsibility from people and usually such rules are put in place for an organisation to cover themselves.

Quick shocked to hear the windsurfers saying people might have difficulty treading water for 3min. Dont think its too much to ask from a person doing watersports.
Then there was this weird ODAC guy who was saying that getting the members to know how to swim isnt enough. He suggesting getting the ODAC exco to be trained as lifeguards.
If you are really so concerned about safety, you would have taken it upon yourself to equip yourself with such knowledge. Not wait till now to do ask. Im guessing he probably wants to do it for free or at some subsidized rate.

What I found funny was that the diving club has to go through this test too. Haha.

1st Failure

Results so far.
I've used the alternative capsize drill coaching technique 3 times so far.

Have since made some changes over my original idea.
I basically split the whole capsize drill into 2 parts. For the first part, I get the paddlers to capsize but stay in kayak till I flip them over.
For the second part, they do the usual capsize drill.

This is what I do.

1. Get 2 boats out in the water.
   
2. 1st boat does part 1, 2nd boat watch.
3. 2nd boat does part 1, 1st boat watch.
4. 1st boat does part 2, 2nd boat watch.
5. 1st boat goes back to shore and empty water, 2nd boat does part 2
6. 2nd boat goes back to shore, 1st boat does part 1.
7. Repeat.

This has been successful so far till today. I got the water phobia group. Out of 9 paddlers, 4 were afraid of doing the capsize. After some coaxing, I got the kids to do the capsize drill.
3 of them managed to overcome their fear and do the drill after completing part 1.
But the last boy was just too afraid of water. He couldnt even do part 1.
The first time he tried, he wet exited on his own. On the second try, he held on to the kayak with only one hand and I couldnt flip him over. During the third try, he grabbed on to my leg underwater!!!
He wouldnt even try the normal capsize drill, he only wanted to do part 1 because I would be there holding him and flipping him. Physical contact was a big factor in calming him. He needed someone to hold him.

Guess even this method is not fail proof.

Some funny things happened though. The 4 boys who were afraid of capsizing kept giving excuses. One particular excuse really took the cake.
The boy said: " I cannot do, I got block nose."
His friend replied: "Nobody can breathe underwater lah!"
Well said. Haha.

At the end of the day after washing the boats, their teacher came up to me and thanked me. She said that she knew some of them were quite "scaredy cats" and she really appreciated my patience when teaching them.

Hearing things like that are nice.
Great for the ego :)