I spent my entire weekend at the beach and out on the water. It was a good weekend and one which left me so exhausted that I went to sleep at 9.30pm last night. The only downside of this fun weekend is that I\u2019m now slightly sunburnt on my face! If you see me, don\u2019t ask me if I\u2019ve been wearing goggles to swim. No, I haven\u2019t. I\u2019ve only been wearing sunglasses and have been out on the water A LOT. And yes, I did apply sunscreen! Anyway, I now have uneven tan lines from face to toe. Eeeks.
\nSaturday morning was spent dragonboating at Kallang, after which 19 other teammates and I went to Tanjong Beach for our outrigger canoeing (OC) workshop. Twenty of us had paid to fly this outrigger canoe world champion from Australia to conduct a workshop over the weekend. She was doing it for free really. We were paying for her airfare and the cost of a support boat (a speed boat) for the weekend. Well, it helps that she\u2019s the good friend of one of my teammates and so we didn\u2019t have to pay for her accommodation.
\nThe thing about the OC fraternity is that everyone is so willing to help out new clubs starting up. As the only club, and a fledgling one at that, who does the sport here in Singapore we need all the help we can get to build the sport here. People all the over world have been really helpful and it\u2019s very heartening. There\u2019s competition, but it\u2019s friendly competition and there are none of those bitter rivalries you get in professional football.
\nAnyway, so she corrected our stroke technique and talked to us about many aspects of the sport like nutrition, cross-training, seat positions etc. I\u2019m beginning to really love OC \u2013 much more than dragonboat actually. I never thought I would say that!!! Although I like the more social aspect of dragonboat (by virtue of the fact that more people are in the boat at one time compared to on an OC), I like the thrill of being in the open sea when OC-ing. Surfing the waves (whatever little we have in Singapore) and having the sea breeze blow into your face when you\u2019re out on the water, canoeing to Sisters Island, St John\u2019s and Kusu \u2013 there\u2019s just nothing like it. Unlike the more abrupt and fast dragonboat strokes, there\u2019s a certain elegance in the long and graceful OC stroke and the graceful glide of the long canoe as it zips through the water is like seeing a red-hot Ferrari on the road. It\u2019s beautiful!
\nI learnt a lot more about the sport and am glad I\u2019m getting the stroke technique right. Apparently, us girls have better technique than the guys \u2018cos unlike them, we can\u2019t muscle it so we rely more on proper technique. The coach said she was willing to put her money on the girls to win a 16km race over the guys. She said they would be ahead of us only up to the 10km mark after which we girls would be zipping past them \u2018cos the guys would have burnt out by then. Haha. That certainly massaged our egos!
\nBut what I enjoy about both sports is that there\u2019s a lot of \u201cheart\u201d in both. \u201cHeart\u201d refers to the team spirit and the camaraderie that links everyone in the team. A team with terrific individual athletes but without this X-factor is not a good team. Some people might not believe that but I firmly believe in this \u201cheart\u201d element in making a team strong.
\nSo I\u2019m now more fired up to improve in both sports and if anyone out there is interested in knowing more about OC or dragonboat in Singapore, please feel free to let me know!<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
I spent my entire weekend at the beach and out on the water. It was a good weekend and one which left me so exhausted that I went to sleep at 9.30pm last night. The only downside of this fun … Continue reading