SPC's Beach Day Out 2011

Singapore Paddle Club have their headquarters

situated on Prime Land (they're on Sentosa). They have
their own DragonBoats. They have outrigger canoes of all
shapes and sizes (OC6s, OC2s, OC1s). They have sponsors that
range from San Miguel Beer to software companies to pubs.
They win in almost all DragonBoat races they enter in
Singapore.

All seem to be bright and rosy, right? Nope! They have a
problem. They lack people who will paddle their ocean craft,
they lack people to give out the medals they have won to,
and most of all, they lack people to drink their
San Miguel Beers :-)

Hence the recruitment drive called SPC's Beach Day Out.

As I have said in my first post about this BDO, you pay
a nominal fee and you're free to take all their boats out for
a spin! After that, when you're thirsty, you go get yourself
a 100+ or a San Mig Light ... and then you go out and paddle
again! You do this until 6pm or you get drunk,
whichever comes first.

My friend, PaddleMate #2, told me that there were supposed to
be 60 odd people who are supposed to be there. But in the end,
even those kids who were just playing around in the beach got
themselves registered and tried their hand at paddling. In the
end, the event looked like a company outing!

I helped out in manning the bar for a few minutes and the number
one question I have been asked was : "Is this a weekly thing?".
So the intention of generating interest is definitely successful.

I got to try OC6s, ocean kayaks and a standup paddleboard.
Interestingly, a lot of people find standup paddling fun!
I wonder if it is still fun when the racing starts ? :-)

Anyway, the thing about this recruitment drive is it
attracts mainly two types of people : the competitive ones
and the just-wanna-be-fit ones. ...and let there be no
doubt about it, SPC is a competitive club.

The thing is I'm quite sure that, after the
BDO, SPC will have been swamped by emails
from both competitive types and just-wanna-be-fit types
on how they can get on board the club.
Let's see how the ExCo manages to identify and cater
to the needs of these two types of would-be paddlers.

So, enough yakking and here's a short video of what went on.
... and if you say you didn't enjoy the video, then you
need get your doctor to check if you still have a pulse :-)))

Edit : you may also view the video here

Sunday Paddle



McRitchie Reservoir



Yup, you read that right ! Sunday paddle!

But before anything else, my excuse is that I'm 41 years old

this year and I haven't been paddling for almost 3 years

(I'll explain the need for the excuse later).

I paddled Dragonboat and Outrigger Canoes for 3 years

before I discovered MTB. SPC's coach told us that we need strong

legs to 'kick the boat' when we paddle. So I bought a basic MTB

and started to cycle. Ironically, I enjoyed MTB so much, I left

paddling. 

But recently, I began to feel that my core strength is lacking

and of course those pull-ups and dips that used to be easy

before are a lot more difficult now.... and so I decided to

crosstrain and go back to paddling...

The thing is I couldn't have been more wrong in choosing

to do my paddling comeback on a T1 ! The moment I stepped

into the boat, the boat started shuddering violently! The shaking was

actually caused by me trying to balance the boat just by using my

core muscles ... which I think I no longer have :-(

...and so, the boat capsized... and during the course of the

2 hour 'paddle' I think I capsized a total of 10 times.

Hence the excuse at the top of the post :-)

At first, my two paddlemates (see photos below) helped

me empty the boat. But one canoe coach showed me how

to empty the boat singlehandedly. You sit on the pontoon and

cradle the overturned boat on your two feet. You hook your 

two feet and do leg extensions. You do this a couple of times

until all the water drains out.

So needless to say I became an expert at this and I also

got my leg workout :-)

Also, it was my first time @McRitchie and while paddling

at the reservoir, I skirted the edge of the forest. It should be a

nice place to do some trail running. I know this area connects

to Bukit Timah via a 10km trail.

That's it, I leave you these pics of my paddlemates for now :-) 

Paddlemate #1 :-)



Paddlemate #2 ... notice 6pack under the Skins compression wear





Beach Day Out !

SPC will be having a Beach Day Out and the details

are in the flier above.

Basically, what this means is for a nominal fee (10SGD),

anyone, and I mean anyone can try out all the things the

SPC has on offer !

Anyone may try Outrigger Canoes, surfskis, even

stand up paddle boards! Not  just that, I heard you could

even get on board the support boat and they will

show you around the SPC training errrrr grounds!

That means Kusu Island, Sister's Island and Lazarus Island.

Any farther than that and the coast guard will chase you!

... and when these guys put up an event, there will always
be a post-event party and they make sure everybody goes
home fully carbo loaded and all boozed up !
Remember, one of their sponsors is San Miguel Beer :-)

So, for those looking to do some cross training, why not

try paddling?

... and for those who don't know what I'm talking about

here's outrigger canoing and here's dragonboat racing.