Sea Kayaking. Well, the first bit to this was the 1 Star course, which takes you from knowing nothing about a kayak to being able to zigzag (ok - you are supposed to go in a straight line) around the marina bay and do a few rudimentary manoeuvres. I did give kayaking a brief go when I was about 12, which was about half of the average age of the folks on the course, me being the oldest by a fair bit. I do remember it being a bit easier when I was in my teens, but then I also remember most things being a bit easier then when I think about it. The guys on the course were all good fun and lunchtime was interesting as they probed me all about London life and generally what I thought about Singapore. I also got to try a few more foods that they insisted that I try out from the local hawker centre nearby. Something that I always love doing. I should really start paying more attention to some of the names of things rather than pointing inanely at things and saying "Yes please!" when I see something that looks interesting.
The course I did was run in a small river bay that is now a catchment area for a resovoir nearby. I say now, as like most things in Singapore, it's going under a huge reconstruction phase of linking all the rivers up to increase the water catchment area for the Marina Reservoir. This does mean that eventually, you'll be able to kayak most of the river system in Singapore, which sounds pretty cool.
The point of going on this course was not only to have a bit of a mess about on the water one weekend but also to pursue the 2nd and 3rd star grades so that I can do a kayaking trip up the rivers of Thailand on a 4 day camping trip that I've seen. Once I've got a bit more practice in and ironed out the zigzags into more of an A-B path missing out involuntary excursions into the international shipping lane or the path of an oncoming sea tanker I might be good enough to give it a go.
The course itself was great fun and I forgot how much fun it is to learn something again from scratch, even if you do look a bit rubbish at it at first. My arms do feel like they've been pulled out of their sockets this evening and the factor 50 missed a few key areas (back of neck and ears look like they've been dipped in pink paint) but all in all a great weekend and recommended.
One thing the SGs have well and truly sorted out is making courses for young people readily accessible. Maybe I've been inner-city living for too long but this is an inner-city and as far as I can see there's a lot of choice and availability, for hardy any money at all. The entire course for an adult was less than 40 bucks a day which I thought was great value for all the kit hire, great instruction and quite a fun learning experience too.
They should put on a free wiping of after sun cream service on the way out though as loads of us had no strength in our arms to lift them to gingerly dab at our overly pink ears as we left.
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