Back in the waters..

After a long hiatus, it was time to get down and wet.. in the kayak again. This time, with a clearer vision of whitewater ahead, I've decided to plunge ahead to learn how to roll (finally!!). Messsaged SO, and got my first rolling class rolling. I've tried to roll before but have never got it done, so, this time, with goggles, and a nose piece, I'm super determined to get it done at least once...

Capsizing, at first, is scary. But after capsizing so many times in my first WW kayaking course, it's.. somewhat, quite a normal thing for me already. So, capsize one.. I'm upside down, orientation off, SO tried to get my paddle in the right position, tried to hip flick... kaboosh... fell into the water again. This went on and on for a few more times.. before finally, with SO's help... my first assisted roll!! yay!! OK, now need to do an unassisted roll. Tried a few more times ... and failed... but.. never give up!! and, after a while more... MY FIRST ROLL!! and then another 3 and I'm done for that day!.. This was a few weeks ago...

Rewind to last weekend. EA-san wanted to do 2Star kayaking. I wanted to do 2Star Kayaking. So we went and sign up for the course. There are a few reasons to do 2Star:
1) Can't rent a spray skirt without 2Star
2) Most kayak races (WW) will require a 2Star
3) Kayak expeditions in SG will require at least a 2Star

The 2Star course is 3- day long, and includes a 6km expedition. Other than that, the other useful skills would be the Eskimo Bow Rescue and Scullying Draw (which SO has taught us in 1Star). The first day was used up to polish the 1Star skills, and I realised that I don't even remember much. After a while, everything started to come back to me and well, started to get back in the groove.

The second day was the expedition day, and it was fun. I guess one reason was that we were bonding better with our team and an expedition is always more fun than just a skills course. We packed chicken rice for lunch as we're suppose to kayak somewhere, eat lunch and kayak back. The journey there was fun, except for the avoiding the fishing line part. Also, the instructor was commenting on our strokes, and he gave some useful tips like, keep the other arm at the forehead while drawing, it makes a good pivot point. We reached the Changi Water Venture are about an hour later and had lunch. By the time we finished, the dark clouds started to come in and it drizzled a bit.. brr..cold.. The drizzle soon became a thundering storm, and hmm.. we ran for shelter at the Changi Water Venture. Shivering and cold, we waited till the storm abated (a bit) and headed out to kayak back. There was still lightning in while we were kayaking back, and even the instructor was a bit reluctant. OK, let's do it slowly this time.. (we were all tired anyway).. and soon, we were reaching Pasir Ris.. :) On the way, we did some wave surfings.. hehe.. awesome

The guys in the Tiny Teddies Kayaking team!

Gwen with her Vibrams

The rock wall, so near, yet so far...

Yeah... the tiny teddies kayakers!!

Back at Pasir Ris, with some extra time, we practiced Eskimo Bow Rescue, and I tried the C-to-C roll a few times, before getting it right again. We were all shacked out by then. OK.. 5pm.. time to call it a day. Chop chop, we packed up and showered. A few achievements from this course so far:
1) I can finally kayak straighter
2) I can finally scully to save my life
3) I still remember how to roll, as of yesterday.

Just one more day and I can get my cert. Sorta exciting in the sense that with the cert, I can go do more crazy things. So, wish me luck this coming Saturday, and we'll see what happens...

:)

Kayak on!!

Update 20/11/10: I passed!!!! Now I'm a 2star kayaker!!!