the funny moments

I know I'm sharing my sailing training in bits... but I can't help it since I also received photos of the training in bits too.

To add to my blogs... here's the first one.


Here's what we do in part B - we drink and chill onboard at the end of every day's sail.

And there were lots of massagings too...











And there were dreadful moments of long waits too... as a result of organisers' logistical screwed up.









The most recent ones that I received from my team mates are the funny ones... they were totally hilarious but I'm too embarrassed to show them all.

but here's one that my team mate caught me in action...


yes...that's me nursing a hangover in laundry shop.













dun laugh.... and thankfully they didn't put me into that large washing machine!!


















At the parties in Jersey, where we had the most drinks and fun...



first... it was the snake dance















second was the sexy dancers...















erhmmm... that's it for now!!

non-sailing moments

I was not thinking of blogging today but I was just looking at the calendar and realised that the round the worlders have left Singapore for their last training and also pre-race preparation. On 18 September in Liverpool, all the boats will be flagged off for the race. It's all happening too soon. It just daunted on me that 6 months had flown by just like this. Memories of the first press conference announcing the 21 STB sponsored crew were still fresh in my mind.

Mike's call on Friday and looking at the latest photo album shared by Shin Shin also brought back my memories of training too. He brought back latest gossips for us too. He did the 3 part trainings in 3 separate occasions unlike myself and group that I went with. We did the crazy 3-weeks back-to-back at one go. Mike was in my part B training and he was the one who brought the Singapore's Yeo's can curry and rendang for us. After one week of training, we missed our food so badly. All thanks to him that we had some local flavours to our English meals.

Where food is closest to our heart in our culture... it's tough to eat eggs, bacon, sausages, sandwiches and pasta all the time. The 'ang mos' probably thought the bunch of Singaporeans are mad when we are always talking about food. They probably didn't realise the food culture here. Well... being singapore ambassadors, our job is to promote Singapore and we started with food. In the last part of our training, we were the only boat that had the most interesting meals. In this training, all the Singaporeans and 'Uniquely Singapore' international based crew were sailing and living together for one week. We had lots of fun cooking our meals. Too many creations to remember but the best that we ever had was mediterranean rice with vege curry and naan. This was the last meal that we cooked at the end of training.

Besides the food, we've probably created a reputation of being party animals and a crazy bunch of crew. The funny things is we never really joined the rest of the other crew in pubs to drink bt we still had that reputation... What I can is that... we drank quite a lot amongst ourselves. We gossiped a lot, chatted and massaged.

In fact, we probably had lots of reputation already... one being the only Asian boat; two being small in size compared to the big ang mos; three being a team that comprised of more females than the other boats (I'm not sure of the exact ratio of genders in the other boats but it does look like Singapore have more females onboard at least for some legs)... and more reputations to be created as we sail...who knows???!!!

The hottest gossip now is that we have a couple within the team now....yes, so it's kindda become SDU too... and it's probably the first and the last... or have I spoke to soon?

cross roads

yet again... I've come to a junction of cross roads....

shall I turn right or right... go straight or stay put??

Hopefully the verdict will be out next week. It'll either have another change in my life or I'll just continue to live with what I have.

the comfort now and the fear of uncertainties of future.... whatever it is...a decision has to be made and live with that decision.

Quick Updates...

I was only away for one month and when I came back... here's the news I received so far:

One friend is posted to Bangladesh to work for one year and option of indefinite time... a promotion for him and with overseas opportunities... not that Bangla is best of a choice but still overseas gives wider exposure..

Another friend managed to secure a job that brings him to San Francisco for 1.5 years... damn!!!.. it's San Frans you know... I wish I had this opportunity too. I sincerely wish him all the best and hope that he can find his niche in silicon valley. On another note... gives me a reason to visit San Francisco now.

Yet another friend was posted to Philadelphia to work for 2 years... arghh... why's everyone getting the overseas jobs??? I am so jealous!!

And another is in Hong Kong for one month for a short stint.. still better than nothing!

and while I was in London, my friend told me that he's going to Shanghai for 6 months and perhaps longer as his wife found a teaching job in an international school in Shanghai.

Ok enough of the overseas jobs.... next is usual wedding and births.

One friend has given birth to a boy... and my close buddy in melbourne just informed me that she will be going for induction next friday and probably be giving birth by end of next week... Gosh...I'll be godma finally!

When I came back from UK, my mum told me that my cousin from JB is getting married in September. Another cousin who's younger than me is getting married in October and another cousin in December.

and a uni friend..... who called a couple of days ago telling me that his wedding is in October and I have no excuse for not attending as my race starts in November. Even when I told him that it's the same day as my cousin's, he said that I have to attend cos everyone will be attending. It's gonna be a uni-hostel gathering for us...geez.

lastly... my dearest friend in Paris is also getting married next year... looks like I have to save up to go to Paris... I liked the idea tho...and I hope it's a wedding ceremony/party in a chateau.

ooohhhhh... it's too much for me to take....

Life onboard

In cockpit... waiting for action otherwise it's sitting in the cold, chatting, eating and looking out for sailing vessels...

That's the bunks that we live in. I'm only staying there for 3 weeks plus... can't imagine living in here for 11 months for round the world....urghh

















View from top of the mast... that was not me. But I was left up there on the mast for half an hour by my team mates...whilst I try to fix the radar deflector.

And... this is "Uniquely Singapore" in action....

that's all folks... more later!

Ocean sailing is tough

It's been a long time since I last blog... it was all the work and sailing that took away all my time. Yeh yeh...It's a lie.

Well, I have been sailing almost every weekend since I met the Uniquely Singapore Clipper crew and I've just returned one month of training in UK. My verdict.... ocean sailing is very tough and I made it. I'm pretty proud of myself for surviving the tough training.

Why tough? It's physically tiring and mentally challenging. The hard work of sailing - changing sails that weigh 5-6 times more than me whether in the day or night, grinding those loaded winches, getting drenched while on the deck, moving swiftly on deck with the boat heeling to an angle; the challenge of living together with 17 crew and our skipper within a confined space - all that snoring which can be extremely melodious, those smelly socks/shoes that are lying every where, all that differences in living habits, temperaments and personalities and diet habits; the dreadful wind chill and cold of ocean - cold beyond description until you personally experience it; the torture of seasickness and not being able to sit in the cabin to rest. The worst of all is overcoming seasickness in cold... you are torn between sitting on deck for fresh air for seasickness and the need to keep warm in the cabin. Let's just say that I had seasick and had to be on deck and yet it was so cold that I wanted to stay in the cabin. Naturally the best cure for seasickness is sleeping. Unfortunately I don't have the luxury to do that otherwise it won't be fair to my team mates. I can't possibly be sleeping throughout the whole sail when your team members are doing all the hard work and suffering in the cold.

26 days flew by very quickly. The actual race will yet be another test for my determination and perserverance. Now that I'm back in Singapore and sitting at my desk in office, I miss the days of sailing. Being away from reality is always welcoming and tempting... and being back in office and home is dreading. After 3 weeks, I still can't adapt to the normal life.

On hindsight, what I miss most.... is both sailing and living together with the crew. The Singaporean and international crew were a fantastic bunch of people. It is the team work and togetherness that helped me to survive the trainings and I believe this team spirit will help us all survive the race. The CREW, the jokes, the nonsence, the drink parties, the dances, the cheers, the funny things that happened during sails etc formed the fond memories and these are all that I remembered.

Look out for more updates and photos of my sails...

Post birthday blues

For some strange reasons, I could not sleep last night. I was pretty much awake most of the night and perhaps caught a wink at dawn. My brain juices were rather active and keeping me awake. Lots of things came to my mind... there bits on sailing like on the strategies that I could get more sponsorship, the challenges onboard for that 2 months, the inter-personal challenges onboard especially under duress; there were bits on work; and there were bits on my birthday.

Oh I'm yet another year older.... not dreadful cos it's just a number but it's how I spent my life. Nothing beats having a fantastic bunch of friends with me and definitely am very happy that my close buddies are still spending the day/weekend before with me.

.... and I just wish my birthday wish will come true...