*dimsumdolly* - the different morsels of the life of a foodie

OC Workshop

I spent my entire weekend at the beach and out on the water. It was a good weekend and one which left me so exhausted that I went to sleep at 9.30pm last night. The only downside of this fun weekend is that I’m now slightly sunburnt on my face! If you see me, don’t ask me if I’ve been wearing goggles to swim. No, I haven’t. I’ve only been wearing sunglasses and have been out on the water A LOT. And yes, I did apply sunscreen! Anyway, I now have uneven tan lines from face to toe. Eeeks.

Saturday morning was spent dragonboating at Kallang, after which 19 other teammates and I went to Tanjong Beach for our outrigger canoeing (OC) workshop. Twenty of us had paid to fly this outrigger canoe world champion from Australia to conduct a workshop over the weekend. She was doing it for free really. We were paying for her airfare and the cost of a support boat (a speed boat) for the weekend. Well, it helps that she’s the good friend of one of my teammates and so we didn’t have to pay for her accommodation.

The thing about the OC fraternity is that everyone is so willing to help out new clubs starting up. As the only club, and a fledgling one at that, who does the sport here in Singapore we need all the help we can get to build the sport here. People all the over world have been really helpful and it’s very heartening. There’s competition, but it’s friendly competition and there are none of those bitter rivalries you get in professional football.

Anyway, so she corrected our stroke technique and talked to us about many aspects of the sport like nutrition, cross-training, seat positions etc. I’m beginning to really love OC – much more than dragonboat actually. I never thought I would say that!!! Although I like the more social aspect of dragonboat (by virtue of the fact that more people are in the boat at one time compared to on an OC), I like the thrill of being in the open sea when OC-ing. Surfing the waves (whatever little we have in Singapore) and having the sea breeze blow into your face when you’re out on the water, canoeing to Sisters Island, St John’s and Kusu – there’s just nothing like it. Unlike the more abrupt and fast dragonboat strokes, there’s a certain elegance in the long and graceful OC stroke and the graceful glide of the long canoe as it zips through the water is like seeing a red-hot Ferrari on the road. It’s beautiful!

I learnt a lot more about the sport and am glad I’m getting the stroke technique right. Apparently, us girls have better technique than the guys ‘cos unlike them, we can’t muscle it so we rely more on proper technique. The coach said she was willing to put her money on the girls to win a 16km race over the guys. She said they would be ahead of us only up to the 10km mark after which we girls would be zipping past them ‘cos the guys would have burnt out by then. Haha. That certainly massaged our egos!

But what I enjoy about both sports is that there’s a lot of “heart” in both. “Heart” refers to the team spirit and the camaraderie that links everyone in the team. A team with terrific individual athletes but without this X-factor is not a good team. Some people might not believe that but I firmly believe in this “heart” element in making a team strong.

So I’m now more fired up to improve in both sports and if anyone out there is interested in knowing more about OC or dragonboat in Singapore, please feel free to let me know!

Posted by DSD at September 18, 2006 6:15 PM