NYAA Entry - Physical Recreation - Entry 5 - Kayaking Expedition 5

ENTRY FOR PHYSICAL RECREATION
Kayak Expedition V

Participants
Jiawei, Edmund, Seth

Overview
- Kayak at CSSC
- Used a Dancer kayak (single)
- Paddled around Changi Seafront area
- Completed around 7 km of distance in 6 hours, from 1000-1600

Kayaking @ Changi

Date: 4/3/07
Hours Completed: 6 Hours (1000-1600)

For this time's kayaking expedition, we wanted to challenge oursleves by going to Changi SSC to paddle. In terms of difficulty, the waves here were much stronger and rough compared to other areas like Kallang due to its' relatively unsheltered position facing the ocean.
We decided to meet there directly at 0945 and brought our own lunches beforehand for the day's expedition. However, there was a shortage of dancers by the time we tried to rent them at around 1000 due to the many 2-star proficiencie courses held there today which required the use of dancers. Instead, we were told to wait till around 1100 for our boats to be available for rent.
Thus, we decided to utilise our time fully by first doing a formal briefing on our expedition today to prepare ourselves. As only 2 of us had been in the waters @ Changi, we shared our expieriences with one another and things to look out for at the club's briefing area till around 1045. Then, we did some warm-up exercises like stretching from 1045 to 1115 when our boats were finally ready for us.
By then, we got into the water by 1130 and started to paddle around in the Demarcated area to get the hang of the strong waves and currents there. We left the area at 1200 when it got too crowded with other kayakers and paddled across the channel towards Pulau Sekudu, passing the main sea channel for larger ships. It was an exciting expirience to be able to watch cargo ships pass by from such close proxymity, something that cannot be seen at other SSCs.
We reached P.Sekudu at around 1245 and paddled around an outcrop of rocks near the island, not wanting to go too near to shore after having been warned about the dangerous rocky coastline there. From there, we decided to paddle back towards CSSC by crossing the channel once again and making the 2km trip back there for lunch. We managed to reach the beach by 1345 and took our lunch break subsequently till around 1445.
Having recovered our energy, we got into our kayaks once more and paddled towards the Yacht Club this time. We had to cross a smaller channel meant for bum boats heading out to sea and continued making our way there. Unfortunately for us, storm clouds had gathered directly overhead when we had barely reached our destination and we decided to head back immediately for our own safety as we could see a heavy shower in the distance. We beached up at 1530 and waited for the rain to stop. As by 1550 the rain clouds still had not moved on, we decided to end our expedition there and then for today and went back to CSSC to wash up.