Monday, February 27, 2006

of violent seas and calm hearts

As most of you should know, sunday was spent in the sun (sorry for the pun) at paddle culture kayaking. I probably wouldn't describe it as "fun", cause "fun" just happens to be an overused adjective and everything good, happy, nice, fulfilling nowadays has been sadly reduced to a mere "fun". It just doesnt really describe anything substantial.

So...yah sunday we went out to sea (thankfully got to do some serious kayaking). But surprisingly (or shockingly), the waters of east coast proved to be of much more energy than say ubin or pasir ris. It was really quite powerful with waves that seriously threaten to capsize you. And it didnt exactly help that we (we = the 10 pple who are supposedly more pro) were given cyclones to bring out to sea. A easy to manoevre kayak, it can take you in any direction at ur will (or against ur will), even underwater =P

So basically, i totally wasnt enjoying the leg of the journey to macdonalds cause you realise you are doing corrective sweep strokes all the time, instead of focussing on forward and back paddling. It made the whole thing very very sian indeed. But on reflection, you learn that it is important to keep using sweep stroke, instead of backpaddle to correct your orientation. Even though sweep stroke doesnt move u forward much, it ensures u are still moving forward, keeping the momentum and that really helps.

Then had to beach up near the macs. Instructor decided that the 10 more experienced ones should beach up first and that meant we had to disembark without assistance. Now this is when the "fun" started. As i was trying to get out, and i was unfortunately parallel to the coast, this super huge wave...at least the height of a tsunami (okok maybe only chest high) decided to give my kayak a pat on the back and out i came. Luckily never kill anyone.

Left me feeling quite miserable having to empty a kayak and i just dreaded going back out to sea. But hmm things kinda changed on the way back. Before we left for paddle culture once again, i bought candy floss which a select few lucky creatures got to lick/taste/bite/use fingers and tear/gobble it all up.

You start to get used to the continuous correcting strokes required and although it requires great energy, you can be satisfied when you see yourself moving closer and closer the target. Also, you slowly appreciate the not-too-sunny but clear weather of the day. And most importantly, you realise that although the sea was quite violent, my heart had to (or could) remain quite calm. As calm as a clam.

One interesting advantage of the high energy tides and currents was that we managed to return back much much faster as we were in the flow of the currents. And it is kind of philosophical when thinking about it. The mighty waters, like hardships, at first seem intimidating but when ridden in the right direction, they propel you ever faster in the right direction.

Anyway thats all i want to share and hopefully no one is bored to death reading this... Hope it benefits those taking the course this week

cheers all =D




gg loved ODAC at 11:01 PM

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