northern island xhaustion

Came back from the Northern Island Xpedition organized by the NUS Canoeing Sub-club yesterday.

I was kind of cheated into joining by hj cos I really knew noone there (actually I know a lot of them, just that they dunno me), and hj being in the committee had to take the single kayak while the participants like me took double kayaks. By the way that kid was the one who drove the lorry and transported the kayaks to Changi. Impressed.

The particpants ranged from year 1 to PhD students, and the level of proficiency from no experience to 2 stars generals like me. Actually it doesn't matter much about your experience, you don't sink can already.

I partnered with Shi Yao who was my Sec 3&4 classmate. Actually both of us kayaked in Ubin together (not same boat though) before. I did a lot of stupid things yesterday, such as my favourite water spraying with the paddle which I picked up during ODAC days. hj got it worst from me. Then I was passing Shi Yao's oreo around on my paddle,then the whole packet rolled off into the sea... when I picked it up it had become soggy biscuit (boy's school guys should know the joke)

As for the organization, hmm... the navigator was way too fast and he didn't take into account the sweeper's distance. The right marker also seemed like kayaking side by side with the navigator, so the supposedly diamond formation (which they didn't make known) became like kite or sometimes inverted triangle. The navigator also asked for a raft-up way too close to the rocks, not a good choice. And the beaching up was messy. And they didn't do a floating test for out PFDs (personal floatation device) Ok fine, most of the committee members are year 1.

Anyway, now I can appreciate free-surface effect more. When the inside of your kayak is half-filled with water, you'll know how it's like. What metacentre?

Tags: kayak, canoe