Weekend
The weekend, was once again, in characteristical fashion - jammed packed with all sorts of activities and experiences. Last week was quite a busy one for me, so I didn't really find the time to blog down. It used to be so easy to just write down nonsensical ramblings of all kinds into the blogger input box. Lately, every post comes with it all kinds of quirks.
Photos have to be resized, cropped, edited and uploaded to maintain a photologue of my life. Come to think of it, while I enjoy doing it, it sure does take a good deal of time, especially with the photos. At the same time, I am constantly reminded that my hit rate for good photographs is pathetically low. Most of those that post up on my blog are the nicer ones. And behind them are tonnes of images that have been trashed in the bid for be a little bit more presentable.
Nicoll Highway At Night [50mm, 30s, f/16, 200]
While I do enjoy writing, I realize that when I look back and read my previous posts else archives. I just cringe at the nonsensical way in which I put my thoughts down. Perhaps its just another part of me that wishes ideal possessiveness and command and control of the "external identity" by means of words. Its amazing what A level Literature students can pull out and infer in a piece of writing. Quite a horrifying prospect to be read through the facade that we all try to put up sometimes. Yet for the last few weeks, my mind's been in a constant state of blank. Just soaking into whatever things I need to go through with and whatever experiences that can be experienced. Until that date of ORD beckons.
The irony being that I ORD later than most of the people who enlisted in earlier. Stupid national service policies. So much for meritocracy. Its just an idealistic euphemism that we all strive to upkeep to and in theory believe is going on pretty well in the practical sense. Then again, its quite a joke to see all the contradictions in The System of The Society. I guess things will only be good for you in NS if you are a White Horse or one of the much more exotic Ivory variety.
As I was working on Sunday this week. I usually attend services on Fridays. Thank God for the opportunity that I have such that I don't actually have to skip weekly church service at all even though I work in shifts. Unfortunately, while onboard for a night shift on Thursday, I suddenly felt quite ill. What started it off was quite a bad nosebleed that happened all of a sudden out of the blue. My nose bled quite badly twice onboard and again later at home. I actually sneezed at the sink when I was washing my nose and I saw the entire basin blanketed in crimson. So on Friday, I was officially really ill and rested the whole day. Having to cancel two important engagements - one with a good friend and another with God at church.
I certainly did feel much better on Saturday. Even if I were sick, I would still have gone out to meet up with the rest of my cellgroup members for a cellgroup meeting. It was held at Ben's house and after spending a good deal of time sharing our testimonies and learning new things about the Lord in bible study. Ben enthralled everyone with his saxophone solo rendition. Sooner of later, this wonderful brother will be serving in the music ministry in church, so that's really a hallmark of the standard of musicianship that he has been blessed with.
The refreshments too, were really good. And while we ate, most of us went to play with Ben's hyperactive dogs. I guess this is the one and only time every week that my entire cellgroup probably has time for each other. Most of the time, everyone is so busy serving in ministry and tremendously soaked up in their everyday activities. Its very rare that we can all meet up in church at the same time. So such a time of fellowship with each other is indeed very well treasured. No matter how short it may be, no matter how simple things are. Its just that fact that everyone's present that really makes the difference.
After my cellgroup meeting. I had to rush down all the way to Changi. Trust me, its not easy to rush down from a part of Singapore very near to Bukit Batok all the way to the part of Changi that borders the coast line within an hour. I had to take a bus ride made worst by all the constant and incessant jams that plague our roads on the weekends as well as to ride in the trains that for some reason or other - never have seating places. Unless of course you board from Pasir Ris station at 11.30 at night, but that's a different story. Time was of the essence in this case as I had to rush to catch a shuttle bus at 8.30 and I only left Ben's house shortly after 7.20.
Well, for one reason or other, my ACJC class were actually meeting up once again to have a small class party at some chalet place so far away that I have not even heard of it. Its not everyday that I get to meet up with the rest of my classmates that left ACJC almost 2 years back. So every time there is a gathering, I always make it a point to go and meet them. Class Spirit I guess. But really, nothing beats seeing all the familiar faces and people that I spent two of the most nonsensical years of my life with. Especially since now the class girls are in university - "enjoying their freedoms and liberties that we guys have to pay for" and since it is nearly impossible to meet any of the class guys on the weekdays. I was told even the weekends weren't so much of a weekend as they were often called back or held back to work on Saturday's. Seems like whatever 5 day initiatives spearheaded by our Prime Minister just doesn't apply to NSFs in the SAF. The Horror. The Horror!
Everyone! This is my class girl Peiyi. She's a super nice girl. Even back at ACJC she already had this reputation for being just so sweet to us all. Extremely nice person that I am very blessed to know in my short life. What happened was that I actually missed the shuttle bus from Tanah Merah MRT station. I did arrive on the dot of the time that shuttle bus was supposed to arrive - 8.30. Yet I guess the bus probably came a few minutes earlier and had gone off already. So I was stranded. With no money (as usual) to take a taxi and I do not relish walking 6km in onto unfamiliar territory in the hours of darkness especially when its in an ulu place called changi-very-near-to-the-coastline. I don't even know where it is.
I was quite dejected actually, believing that I would never have made it there. And all kinds of nonsensical thoughts as well as thinkings flooded my brain. I wonder if its just me to attempt to blame God when things do not turn out my way? Its funny how I usually take God for granted and all - blessings, safety, security, His Presence. And yet I can be so faithless at times. Well, what happened was that I thought that I'd never make it, so I boarded the MRT and decided to head back home. One full round trip around the island completely wasted. Peiyi called me while I was inside and said that she and Jaimes were on the way to pick me up by car!
I was really touched. Normally in my rugged-individualistic self-manner. I'll usually try to do things all by myself. Perhaps in a vain attempt to prove that I can be strong in my own terms and stand on my own two feet. Yet I guess we all need help from others at one point or other in our lives and I think this really fitted the bill. Indeed, my heart was "strangely warmed" in joy as I realised that as classmates, one more person would have made a difference to all when we meet up with each other. I felt so loved. Truly, I am in a really really really good ACJC class. One that is not fragmented into silly cliches or divided by dumb philosophies of "moral reasoning" and "inquisitive thought". While waiting for them to pick me up at the bustop. I made the two pictures above. What was even better was that after the shutter had finished firing had they arrived exactly at the bus stop.
Managed to meet up with almost all of the group of slackers - T-Squared, L-Squared, Jaimes. Professor Wang was missing in action though. About half the class girls were there. Generally its good to just meet up with whoever can make it down - especially in a place where it is simply so hard to find and so remote - except perhaps on the weekends. The place was jammed packed with all sorts of young people doing "their own things" inside the various Chalets. For me, even though I arrived at almost 9.30 and didn't have dinner. I didn't feel hungry at all. I guess just seeing everyone once again made me "full enough" in a odd manner. Nevermind my eccentric references...
As usual, I took a good number of pictures. Attempting to practice low light photography and all. Its not easy since there is hardly any light, but at the end of the day, one of my class girls suggested that we do the "classic poise" that the guys and girls did on prom night. Just as a recollection of our younger days. Basically it has all the girls kneeling at the head of the bed, while all the guys just lie down and "act relaxed". I don't know, at the same time, this was the most popular picture in my prom album - especially in an album full of lousy pictures.
While I was there, everyone just let me let go by practicing my flash metering. So I just took photographs of everyone using my external flash. Definitely one of those few times in my life that I can actually bounce a flash off the ceiling as the rooms were rather small and the ceilings were rather low at it. To top it all off, I didn't have to take public transport home. One of my class girls drove a good number of us home in her 7 seater MPV. I really miss my class. They're really the most wonderful bunch of people I spent the most time of my life with in ACJC. The other being the brothers and sister in Christ at the Christian Fellowship. Fantastic. Really love my class. I think the next class party we have will be at my house, so that we all needn't travel so far again and its much more convenient for everybody. Well, that was my day on Saturday and it was back to a day shift for me at the base on Sunday.
I was assigned the most special duty on Sunday - to be on the boat on Marina Bay for the Formula 1 Grand Prix Powerboat Race. This is probably the most public place the coast guard has ever worked in since most of the time, we work so far out at sea that nobody can even see us. Unless a person's been on a giant container vessel anchored far out at sea, its unlikely that anyone would have ever seen a coast guard boat on normal patrol duty. Yet today, the entire marina bay on all fronts was blanketed in crowds waiting for the race to start. Our crew had lunch at the base and soon left for duty. The food is bad as usual (vegetables are rotten.. urgh), but I guess I won't really complain. Have to learn to be more than thankful in life.
And as usual, how could I forget my camera? I usually carry it with me wherever I go to now. I just hope it does not drop into the sea or the like. At the same time while I was at Marina Bay. I saw all these photography enthusiasts on Esplanade Flyover mounting their super big mama ultra long 600mm f/4 sports telephoto lenses on thousand dollar tripods along with Wimberley Gimbal mounting heads. Nevermind if you don't understand me here. Its just that, they pay 20 grand for a super ultra telephoto and their mounting system for the lens alone can buy off my entire camera collection. The camera has yet to come into play. Yes. From my binoculars I can see the EOS 1D Mark II as well as the Nikon D2H all in play. Its scary. In fact, I did see a good number of people with their compact cameras take photos of the photographers instead of the scene. Big White Lenses and the Dark Side galore. If you look hard enough on the local forums you'll be able to see their incredible pics. Any 200mm lens will yield the Formula 1 boats as tiny ants. Unless of course, these guys cut extremely close to the bow of our ship. Which is what they did:
I was kneeling at the very edge of the boat when the pre race segment started and all these formula 1 powerboats with their incredibly loud outboard motor engines started to go around the circuit of marina bay. With one outboard engine rated at 400 horsepower. That's loud. When all 20 of them start up. The place is like thunder! Extremely loud! One thing that you noticed in the above picture was that one of the boats deliberately cut very very close to our bow. After the Merlion Jetty, you can see a "hard to port" movement by looking at the curved trial of the backwash left in the water. One thing amazing about these boats is that despite their tremendous speed - two or three times faster than the fastest police coast guard boats in our seas, they hardly even leave a trail of waves behind. Almost as though as they are flying just above the surface of the water. One amazing thing about these F1 boat is their turning ability. Its plain scary. As a rule of thumb on air, land and sea, the faster one goes, the wider the turning radius will likely be. These boats can do a complete 180 degree twist in less than 10 meters, all at a speed of 130 to 140 knots (230-250kmh).
Before the race, Singapore City was secured by the Police Coast Guard and at the same time, we had plenty of help from the organisers' boats. At one point of time way before the pre-race segment, there was actually a sailpast of yachts in Marina Bay. We could see this entire slew of very expensive yachts probably owned by the super rich in Singapore in a mass display. At other times when things were going a little bit slower and it was very much hotter (no air conditioning onboard), we spent time by sipping on ice cold drinks or chatting with the other boats assisting us in our duties.
Later on, the organisers' gave us some cold drinks to cool us down as the heat was really building up. The glare on the sea was quite bad. If you look carefully at one of the pics up there that has my reflection in the shiny sunglasses, you'll notice that I'm wearing oversized shades. As much as they look ugly and perhaps just too retro for anyone. Its the only choice of a polarizing clip-on that I can buy out there sans a custom made one. And it being so oversized, certainly helps kill off glare that tends to seep in from the edges of normal sunglass clip-ons. Polarizing filters help to cut off the reflections from the sea as well as provide about 4 stops of light difference.
The irony was that when the race started, the sky started to turn dark and people started to take out their umbrellas and all, else to seek shade. One moment is was burning hot, at another, it was windy and cool with a touch of moderate rain. In such cases we had to wear the most obiang policemen's raincoat ever. Its this trench coat like piece of clothing that comes in a shade brighter than that of a flurorescent marker. The very good thing about it is that it is completely water proof and totally windproof. What makes it very cold out at sea is not really the rain, but the accompanying wind that makes rain feel like snow. Everywhere, people were either opening up rain gear else taking shade. The only few people I didn't see budge one bit were there photographers with their Big Mama Lens - both the Canon and Nikon professional series gear are heavily waterproofed and can withstand the onslaught of a heavy downpour.
Later on just as the race officially started. It was quite exciting watching the happenings for the first few rounds, with super fast boats skimming their way across the water, leaving a trail of mist in their wake. We did see one of the boats crash there after and from our binoculars, could see the drama unfold as divers from the safety boat were dispatched to the scene while a rescue boat and other safety jetskiiers proceeded to rush to the scene. Later on, the funniest thing happened - the organisers just didn't know where to put one of the piece of the wreckage, so they asked us if we had space on our boat to do so. And in the end, it was handed over to us:
The thing is made of a fibreglass composite. Extremely light and extremely strong. The entire thing just weighed perhaps less than 2 kilograms and was easily shifted. In the picture you can see just what an awful shade of color our police raincoats come in. As the race went on, it actually become quite boring as it was just seeing the boats go round and round non-stop. The thunderous noise as well as the constant dizzying loops didn't make for much of an enjoyment too. So we were finally quite happy to see the race end and headed back to base. Overall, an experience in itself.
The weekend, was once again, in characteristical fashion - jammed packed with all sorts of activities and experiences. Last week was quite a busy one for me, so I didn't really find the time to blog down. It used to be so easy to just write down nonsensical ramblings of all kinds into the blogger input box. Lately, every post comes with it all kinds of quirks.
Photos have to be resized, cropped, edited and uploaded to maintain a photologue of my life. Come to think of it, while I enjoy doing it, it sure does take a good deal of time, especially with the photos. At the same time, I am constantly reminded that my hit rate for good photographs is pathetically low. Most of those that post up on my blog are the nicer ones. And behind them are tonnes of images that have been trashed in the bid for be a little bit more presentable.
Nicoll Highway At Night [50mm, 30s, f/16, 200]
While I do enjoy writing, I realize that when I look back and read my previous posts else archives. I just cringe at the nonsensical way in which I put my thoughts down. Perhaps its just another part of me that wishes ideal possessiveness and command and control of the "external identity" by means of words. Its amazing what A level Literature students can pull out and infer in a piece of writing. Quite a horrifying prospect to be read through the facade that we all try to put up sometimes. Yet for the last few weeks, my mind's been in a constant state of blank. Just soaking into whatever things I need to go through with and whatever experiences that can be experienced. Until that date of ORD beckons.
The irony being that I ORD later than most of the people who enlisted in earlier. Stupid national service policies. So much for meritocracy. Its just an idealistic euphemism that we all strive to upkeep to and in theory believe is going on pretty well in the practical sense. Then again, its quite a joke to see all the contradictions in The System of The Society. I guess things will only be good for you in NS if you are a White Horse or one of the much more exotic Ivory variety.
As I was working on Sunday this week. I usually attend services on Fridays. Thank God for the opportunity that I have such that I don't actually have to skip weekly church service at all even though I work in shifts. Unfortunately, while onboard for a night shift on Thursday, I suddenly felt quite ill. What started it off was quite a bad nosebleed that happened all of a sudden out of the blue. My nose bled quite badly twice onboard and again later at home. I actually sneezed at the sink when I was washing my nose and I saw the entire basin blanketed in crimson. So on Friday, I was officially really ill and rested the whole day. Having to cancel two important engagements - one with a good friend and another with God at church.
I certainly did feel much better on Saturday. Even if I were sick, I would still have gone out to meet up with the rest of my cellgroup members for a cellgroup meeting. It was held at Ben's house and after spending a good deal of time sharing our testimonies and learning new things about the Lord in bible study. Ben enthralled everyone with his saxophone solo rendition. Sooner of later, this wonderful brother will be serving in the music ministry in church, so that's really a hallmark of the standard of musicianship that he has been blessed with.
The refreshments too, were really good. And while we ate, most of us went to play with Ben's hyperactive dogs. I guess this is the one and only time every week that my entire cellgroup probably has time for each other. Most of the time, everyone is so busy serving in ministry and tremendously soaked up in their everyday activities. Its very rare that we can all meet up in church at the same time. So such a time of fellowship with each other is indeed very well treasured. No matter how short it may be, no matter how simple things are. Its just that fact that everyone's present that really makes the difference.
After my cellgroup meeting. I had to rush down all the way to Changi. Trust me, its not easy to rush down from a part of Singapore very near to Bukit Batok all the way to the part of Changi that borders the coast line within an hour. I had to take a bus ride made worst by all the constant and incessant jams that plague our roads on the weekends as well as to ride in the trains that for some reason or other - never have seating places. Unless of course you board from Pasir Ris station at 11.30 at night, but that's a different story. Time was of the essence in this case as I had to rush to catch a shuttle bus at 8.30 and I only left Ben's house shortly after 7.20.
Well, for one reason or other, my ACJC class were actually meeting up once again to have a small class party at some chalet place so far away that I have not even heard of it. Its not everyday that I get to meet up with the rest of my classmates that left ACJC almost 2 years back. So every time there is a gathering, I always make it a point to go and meet them. Class Spirit I guess. But really, nothing beats seeing all the familiar faces and people that I spent two of the most nonsensical years of my life with. Especially since now the class girls are in university - "enjoying their freedoms and liberties that we guys have to pay for" and since it is nearly impossible to meet any of the class guys on the weekdays. I was told even the weekends weren't so much of a weekend as they were often called back or held back to work on Saturday's. Seems like whatever 5 day initiatives spearheaded by our Prime Minister just doesn't apply to NSFs in the SAF. The Horror. The Horror!
Everyone! This is my class girl Peiyi. She's a super nice girl. Even back at ACJC she already had this reputation for being just so sweet to us all. Extremely nice person that I am very blessed to know in my short life. What happened was that I actually missed the shuttle bus from Tanah Merah MRT station. I did arrive on the dot of the time that shuttle bus was supposed to arrive - 8.30. Yet I guess the bus probably came a few minutes earlier and had gone off already. So I was stranded. With no money (as usual) to take a taxi and I do not relish walking 6km in onto unfamiliar territory in the hours of darkness especially when its in an ulu place called changi-very-near-to-the-coastline. I don't even know where it is.
I was quite dejected actually, believing that I would never have made it there. And all kinds of nonsensical thoughts as well as thinkings flooded my brain. I wonder if its just me to attempt to blame God when things do not turn out my way? Its funny how I usually take God for granted and all - blessings, safety, security, His Presence. And yet I can be so faithless at times. Well, what happened was that I thought that I'd never make it, so I boarded the MRT and decided to head back home. One full round trip around the island completely wasted. Peiyi called me while I was inside and said that she and Jaimes were on the way to pick me up by car!
I was really touched. Normally in my rugged-individualistic self-manner. I'll usually try to do things all by myself. Perhaps in a vain attempt to prove that I can be strong in my own terms and stand on my own two feet. Yet I guess we all need help from others at one point or other in our lives and I think this really fitted the bill. Indeed, my heart was "strangely warmed" in joy as I realised that as classmates, one more person would have made a difference to all when we meet up with each other. I felt so loved. Truly, I am in a really really really good ACJC class. One that is not fragmented into silly cliches or divided by dumb philosophies of "moral reasoning" and "inquisitive thought". While waiting for them to pick me up at the bustop. I made the two pictures above. What was even better was that after the shutter had finished firing had they arrived exactly at the bus stop.
Managed to meet up with almost all of the group of slackers - T-Squared, L-Squared, Jaimes. Professor Wang was missing in action though. About half the class girls were there. Generally its good to just meet up with whoever can make it down - especially in a place where it is simply so hard to find and so remote - except perhaps on the weekends. The place was jammed packed with all sorts of young people doing "their own things" inside the various Chalets. For me, even though I arrived at almost 9.30 and didn't have dinner. I didn't feel hungry at all. I guess just seeing everyone once again made me "full enough" in a odd manner. Nevermind my eccentric references...
As usual, I took a good number of pictures. Attempting to practice low light photography and all. Its not easy since there is hardly any light, but at the end of the day, one of my class girls suggested that we do the "classic poise" that the guys and girls did on prom night. Just as a recollection of our younger days. Basically it has all the girls kneeling at the head of the bed, while all the guys just lie down and "act relaxed". I don't know, at the same time, this was the most popular picture in my prom album - especially in an album full of lousy pictures.
While I was there, everyone just let me let go by practicing my flash metering. So I just took photographs of everyone using my external flash. Definitely one of those few times in my life that I can actually bounce a flash off the ceiling as the rooms were rather small and the ceilings were rather low at it. To top it all off, I didn't have to take public transport home. One of my class girls drove a good number of us home in her 7 seater MPV. I really miss my class. They're really the most wonderful bunch of people I spent the most time of my life with in ACJC. The other being the brothers and sister in Christ at the Christian Fellowship. Fantastic. Really love my class. I think the next class party we have will be at my house, so that we all needn't travel so far again and its much more convenient for everybody. Well, that was my day on Saturday and it was back to a day shift for me at the base on Sunday.
I was assigned the most special duty on Sunday - to be on the boat on Marina Bay for the Formula 1 Grand Prix Powerboat Race. This is probably the most public place the coast guard has ever worked in since most of the time, we work so far out at sea that nobody can even see us. Unless a person's been on a giant container vessel anchored far out at sea, its unlikely that anyone would have ever seen a coast guard boat on normal patrol duty. Yet today, the entire marina bay on all fronts was blanketed in crowds waiting for the race to start. Our crew had lunch at the base and soon left for duty. The food is bad as usual (vegetables are rotten.. urgh), but I guess I won't really complain. Have to learn to be more than thankful in life.
And as usual, how could I forget my camera? I usually carry it with me wherever I go to now. I just hope it does not drop into the sea or the like. At the same time while I was at Marina Bay. I saw all these photography enthusiasts on Esplanade Flyover mounting their super big mama ultra long 600mm f/4 sports telephoto lenses on thousand dollar tripods along with Wimberley Gimbal mounting heads. Nevermind if you don't understand me here. Its just that, they pay 20 grand for a super ultra telephoto and their mounting system for the lens alone can buy off my entire camera collection. The camera has yet to come into play. Yes. From my binoculars I can see the EOS 1D Mark II as well as the Nikon D2H all in play. Its scary. In fact, I did see a good number of people with their compact cameras take photos of the photographers instead of the scene. Big White Lenses and the Dark Side galore. If you look hard enough on the local forums you'll be able to see their incredible pics. Any 200mm lens will yield the Formula 1 boats as tiny ants. Unless of course, these guys cut extremely close to the bow of our ship. Which is what they did:
I was kneeling at the very edge of the boat when the pre race segment started and all these formula 1 powerboats with their incredibly loud outboard motor engines started to go around the circuit of marina bay. With one outboard engine rated at 400 horsepower. That's loud. When all 20 of them start up. The place is like thunder! Extremely loud! One thing that you noticed in the above picture was that one of the boats deliberately cut very very close to our bow. After the Merlion Jetty, you can see a "hard to port" movement by looking at the curved trial of the backwash left in the water. One thing amazing about these boats is that despite their tremendous speed - two or three times faster than the fastest police coast guard boats in our seas, they hardly even leave a trail of waves behind. Almost as though as they are flying just above the surface of the water. One amazing thing about these F1 boat is their turning ability. Its plain scary. As a rule of thumb on air, land and sea, the faster one goes, the wider the turning radius will likely be. These boats can do a complete 180 degree twist in less than 10 meters, all at a speed of 130 to 140 knots (230-250kmh).
Before the race, Singapore City was secured by the Police Coast Guard and at the same time, we had plenty of help from the organisers' boats. At one point of time way before the pre-race segment, there was actually a sailpast of yachts in Marina Bay. We could see this entire slew of very expensive yachts probably owned by the super rich in Singapore in a mass display. At other times when things were going a little bit slower and it was very much hotter (no air conditioning onboard), we spent time by sipping on ice cold drinks or chatting with the other boats assisting us in our duties.
Later on, the organisers' gave us some cold drinks to cool us down as the heat was really building up. The glare on the sea was quite bad. If you look carefully at one of the pics up there that has my reflection in the shiny sunglasses, you'll notice that I'm wearing oversized shades. As much as they look ugly and perhaps just too retro for anyone. Its the only choice of a polarizing clip-on that I can buy out there sans a custom made one. And it being so oversized, certainly helps kill off glare that tends to seep in from the edges of normal sunglass clip-ons. Polarizing filters help to cut off the reflections from the sea as well as provide about 4 stops of light difference.
The irony was that when the race started, the sky started to turn dark and people started to take out their umbrellas and all, else to seek shade. One moment is was burning hot, at another, it was windy and cool with a touch of moderate rain. In such cases we had to wear the most obiang policemen's raincoat ever. Its this trench coat like piece of clothing that comes in a shade brighter than that of a flurorescent marker. The very good thing about it is that it is completely water proof and totally windproof. What makes it very cold out at sea is not really the rain, but the accompanying wind that makes rain feel like snow. Everywhere, people were either opening up rain gear else taking shade. The only few people I didn't see budge one bit were there photographers with their Big Mama Lens - both the Canon and Nikon professional series gear are heavily waterproofed and can withstand the onslaught of a heavy downpour.
Later on just as the race officially started. It was quite exciting watching the happenings for the first few rounds, with super fast boats skimming their way across the water, leaving a trail of mist in their wake. We did see one of the boats crash there after and from our binoculars, could see the drama unfold as divers from the safety boat were dispatched to the scene while a rescue boat and other safety jetskiiers proceeded to rush to the scene. Later on, the funniest thing happened - the organisers just didn't know where to put one of the piece of the wreckage, so they asked us if we had space on our boat to do so. And in the end, it was handed over to us:
The thing is made of a fibreglass composite. Extremely light and extremely strong. The entire thing just weighed perhaps less than 2 kilograms and was easily shifted. In the picture you can see just what an awful shade of color our police raincoats come in. As the race went on, it actually become quite boring as it was just seeing the boats go round and round non-stop. The thunderous noise as well as the constant dizzying loops didn't make for much of an enjoyment too. So we were finally quite happy to see the race end and headed back to base. Overall, an experience in itself.
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