Feathercraft K1 review

It was, after all, a great day of paddling yesterday, from Changi to Punggol jetty. The sun was in a fiery mood when we started but was eventually pacified by the clouds. The wind picked up after lunch and the resultant drift made us return on the dot at 5pm, but it was all right. I sprinted back the last stretch and then did rolls and self-rescues with my K1.

I should have assembled it much quicker, because things went into place much easier this time round - the boat was assembled for the past week and that must have stretched the skin well. When I put in the last crossribs I was actually thinking hard wondering what I could have missed out, because it was all smooth and fast going. I did miss steps though - footrests not in, pins on crossribs didn't fit nicely into their blocks. The former made me released all the rods' tensions and withdraw the chine bars so that I fit the footrests in. Damn, I could have gotten it in 40mins.

Made a mistake and just want help to settle the problem fast...

Paddling speed is so-so only, and it's definitely not as fast as a sleek hardshell due to the size of the beam. Cadence have to be a little bit faster to keep it cruising, and doing high angle aggressive strokes doesn't really propel it faster (or is that the case for all boats?). Roland speculated that the lack of load prevents it from gaining momentum. It tracks very well though, and holds an edge easily, thus making the rudder unnecessary. Besides saving on assembly time, I rather have a solid footrest for me to push against.

At Punggol point for lunch under the shade from the sweltering heat
*notice Roland behind returning from a coke - buying trip from the hawker.

Seat is comfortable but after 2 hours the sides of my gluts have a burning ache sensation probably due to numbness - must change positions once in a while! I like the fact that the sprayskirt is tight and reliable but at the same time easy to remove and put on.

Roland in a dancer...he haven't been in one for ages.

The seasock is excellent! I tried wet exits and rescues in it and it definitely helps a lot in limiting the amount of water that goes into the boat. It doesn't makes my legs overly warm too either. The boat can also be rolled! Tried both forward and backward recovery on left and right side, allare good!

Happy paddlers - Roland and Edwin

When I disembarked, I noticed that the skin in between the keel and chine bars at the seat area is pretty loose and is pushed upwards by the water underneath, I wonder if that is supposed to be the case. On the water, I can feel the fabric on the hull rippling when going over rough waves - this effect is supposed to aid the crossing of such waters by absorbing their energy, and I do feel that it is much less 'disturbed' when going through rough patches. The boat is surprisingly easy to balance and carry on the shoulder despite the 5m length, sweet!

A happy paddler and a tired paddler...

Disassembly was so easy; I even save time by doing different things with each hand, such as taking out a hatch rim and releasing the screw on the crossribs, or opening the sponson's valve and removing the thigh brace bars simultaneously. The washing was another matter though...

All in all, right now I really don't mind assembling it for day trips because it's really part of the fun, and I'm finding it so much easier to set up even on my second attempt. Such a long time since I went out to sea, and I really miss this whole experience. Must go out more!

TAF activities

It's shameful, but I have to admit that it has been a while since I have done anything innovative in my classes. I think I do my badminton lessons pretty good, and there is only so much I can innovate when it comes to teaching fundamental techniques for net barrier games.

So anyway, I was in a playful mood the last Tuesday when the TAF kids were out doing rounds at the field. I joined some other kids in playing football, and then one of the boys asked if he can have the ball to play with while walking the rounds (yes they don't actually run la, but I close an eye). Oh ok, go ahead and dribble it round the field, if it makes you happier.

Then I thought about finding new ways to make the kids have fun and do physical activity at the same time. Currently, they do rounds, interval runs, rope skipping and play badminton for their sessions. Today, I gave them these choices:

1. Run/Walk 4 rounds
2. Make an accurate frisbee pass across the 18yard (16.5m) penalty box on the football field to a partner,
   
3. Juggle a football with any parts of the body (except for the arms)

Of course, no one choose option 1, only 1 boy chose option 3, and he completed the task pretty quickly. All the girls choose option 2. Did it work? It does! Think it's pretty obvious that they are intrigued by the tasks, and they reported being tired just by picking up the frisbees.

Anyone can think of more skills tasks to share?

Lull period!

The lull period is here! All assignments marked, results keyed in, lessons finishing...this is the moment I've been waiting for!

I had told myself in those crazy weeks where work is nonstop that I'll want to make use of this lull in my work to prepare for things in advance, but now that it has arrived I can no longer remember what those things are :p

This week, I played badminton yesterday night, training polo today and tomorrow, climbing on Saturday and paddling for the whole of Sunday, how shiok man!

I'm a definite sports addict. But it's just reward for surviving the madness of the past weeks.

I want to go kayak sailing!

I think that one of the great thing about having your own boat is that you can attach a sail on it and sail as you paddle! I'm looking at getting a spirit sail for my K1 soon!

The feeling of being able to drift downwind is incredible, and it really makes you grin from ear to ear and want to shout out to the sea in joy when you catch a good wind and fly forward.


Here's a video of someone doing kayak sailing, you can tell how fast he's going - just imagine the excitement!

Water bottles

Bings asked over MSN if I knew about Nalgene bottles containing supposedly harmful BPA substances (I have no idea what that is actually), and turned out that Nalgene now have a line of products which is BPA-free. I don't think my current Nalgene bottle is BPA free, but I really don't care. It's better than using plastic bottles anyway.

Speaking of which, the world should really put an end to the bottled water industry. It doesn't help you one bit to prefer them over tap water, and it just produces a hell lot of waste. Do get rid of the delusion that tap water is not clean enough for us - if you don't get diarrhoea drinking from the tap before, you probably ain't gonna do so at all. Plus, don't bother boiling tapwater too - we're not out in the wilderness, and boiling water doesn't help to remove trace metals dissolved in it, if that's what you claim to be doing. Read more about this issue here too, very good for educators to know.

My red Feathercraft K1

The boat arrived last Thursday, and shipping only takes 3 short days! The box was huge, and the weight of the boat in the bag feels more than the 20kg specified on the website.

Here are the parts of the boat after I took out the boat skin - you see the rudder at the top, the ribs in white and the hatch rims. The black cloth with the yellow safety tag is the seat, with safety advices given on the tag. Paddle safe!

The skin unrolled. It's loooooong! 5m to be exact. The red strap inside the cockpit are for attaching the rudder controls to the footrest, the black tubes are for inflating the sponsons (air chambers) at the side of the boat for stability and to tighten up the skin on the frame.

A whole bundle of aluminium tubes! Thank goodness there are 2 large separate bundles for the bow and the stern; there are only 7 loose tubes apart from those 2.

Friday night - Roland and Enric came over and helped to assemble the boat for the first time. We decided to read the bare minimum and go down to work straight away. Roland had experience with the Kahuna and it was pretty easy for him. But still, it was hard work trying to fix up the center part of the boat. Fingers were bruised and the kayak was marinated with our sweat after one and a half hours of it.

In the end, we decided to take away the center portion of the frame again, because the frame was slightly off-center. Damn.

Next day, I did it myself, and surprisingly it wasn't that bad! I think I can finish the entire assembly myself in 45 minutes the next time round (hopefully).

It's so long that I can't get a decent picture of the whole boat. The rudders well, and I fitted the seasock over the cockpit. I can't help but want to sit inside it for a while or caress the skin of the boat whenever I see it. First time out on the water will be next Saturday at Changi. Can't wait!

I work in a moral hellhole.

Today was one of those days when I felt that the movement to educate our kids here is going to the dogs. The teachers are too harassed by so many different concerns and so pressurised to produce results that a great many mark too leniently to make all parties happy. I refuse to give in and always mark objectively, and people actually start asking me to give more slack to the kids - what good will that bring for anyone???????

Meanwhile, leaders and administrators are so blinded by results on paper that they missed the whole purpose of education. To hell with character development and holistic education - these people will force practice papers down students' throats every way they can. And this unhealthy practice is going to make the whole system disillusioned and failing because nobody likes to do things that they innately know is unnatural. These school leaders are really creating cram schools. Might as well drop all pretense and cancel CCAs and such.

It's really terrible. So terrible. That a new teacher like me with a year's experience only can see things this way. It's the system's fault, coupled with a lack of courageous leaders with moral conscience and a clear belief in the importance of a wholesome education, that caused this problem.

Where is the sanctuary within this hell where I can work under an inspirational leader for the right causes?

FedEx doesn't deliver fast enough...

...at least not as fast as I wanted it to!

My boat is somewhere in transit...hurry come come!

Track it with me here!

Nice things...

The week got better as it goes...it was quite busy for me at the beginning but today went by happily even though I had to be observed for a lesson, and it'll be Friday tomorrow.

I went to get my stuff which I bought on eBay after school today, a nice pair of bright yellow Pro M frame with 3 lenses, a new bike helmet, and a pair of shoes I bought for Karen - ah, the joy of consumerism! I can't help it, but I really love to gawk at my new bright yellow shades, just looking at it makes me feel sunny.

And at my badminton session yesterday, a friend commented that I have shown great improvements in my skills! Am happy to hear that, because I can't see it myself ha. Not sure what I improved in too, but I think I am more aware of what are the things I need to do in certain situations I suppose. Technical skills wise, still need much more practice time to perfect. It really makes me look forward to my Sunday training session.

Now I hope my polo competition will end soon so that I can get back to climbing. It has been an unsuccessful campaign for my team thus far, and so I don't know how much I can hope to win our remaining 2 matches. Ah well. Sad to say, but I don't have high expectations of my team for this season at least.

Nonetheless, a happy week! Next - looking forward to labour-day week hehe.

Opportunities

I can't help it, but amidst the excitement of waiting for my boat to come, I would sometimes wonder if that can really make me much happier, in any sense of the word. I mean it's such a big dream of mine to be able to paddle independently anywhere I can access, and now that I have the means to do so, how much happier will that make me? And inevitably this line of self-questioning will lead on to some really heavy existential questions on the purpose and meaning of happiness and existence... I must be crazy.

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And I was just thinking of all the opportunities we get in our lives. I believe that everyone can make changes to their lives and can go down the way they want, so long as the goals are not too far-fetched (and even then that might not be impossible). But still, life opportunities does so much to help or limit our advancement. There are new teachers in other schools who are marked to be HODs and subject heads etc simply because the school happens to have a position there which requires someone to take over; in these situations, it's quite silly to insist that work ability is the main deciding factor in whether these newbies get the job eventually. Schools will make all sorts of ridiculous arrangements to fill the gaps and allow the system to carry on running.

So, what sort of opportunities will I find next year? Who the hell will know right. Any new posting for me will last for 3 years, and if I end up somewhere where I'm not satisfied it'll be 3 years spent away from my goal.

I haven't heard much about other places, but so far I've yet to hear of a good P who have big and realistic goals and can actually introduce drastic and effective changes to propel the school towards them. I haven't been unhappy about my boss for quite a while, but still I know I should go somewhere else to save myself the agony of working in an environment which only pays lip service to positive changes.

Ok I did it.

I realised a dream - I just bought my own foldable kayak.

It's the Feathercraft K1 expedition model kayak, and it will cost me around $6.5k including shipping from US. I responded to an ad selling it online at a foldable kayak forum, and this guy is selling it brand new after he bought it from a guy who won a Feathercraft-sponsored competition in a copy of Sea Kayaker's magazine. And it happens to be my favourite colour, red!

Ok ok I know this is a big sum of money and half of you readers out there will be thinking I'm crazy for spending this much on a boat that requires manual propulsion. But I know I want to carry on going for long expeditions out at sea and see the world out on the water, and I will have to get this someday. I actually save more than $1k from this deal and that's too much for me to let go. Opportunities comes around once or twice, and when good ones comes we should grab!

So, now on to some water adventures in the coming future! Will probably post some photos when I have it here. And perhaps go paddle round the Marina reservoir with it, something I have not done for a long while already.

Northern Exposure II

It was a great concert that I went for yesterday night - The Philharmonic Orchestra really did quite well with Sibelius 4th and 2nd Symphony. The conductor Lim Yau took his time to explain the 4th symphony, perhaps fearing that the menacing sounds of the opening bars might turn off the audience; it does helps me to understand the music better, and communicated his enthusiasm to us. The nicely presented program notes was superbly written by old friend leon, and I'm sure he's somewhere in the crowd although I didn't catch him myself.

The orchestra's standards' pretty high, and I'm sure I can't tell them apart from the SSO - really looking forward to their last concert for Sibelius's late symphonies! And I was talking about it with my school's music teacher today - it made me listened to his symphonies for a few hours today, and to want to go back try scratch notes on the violin again if I had the chance. It's a joy to awaken old interests once again.