It was another weekend of waiting and hoping for some breeze to fill in, as the morning and early afternoon was a struggle to make any headway for all sailors, beginners and racers alike. The 3rd race of the Sunday Series started in near-nothing glassy conditions, with what little tide and wind pushing them across the line to commence the long journey west to Serangoon Buoy. Thankfully a new breeze creeped in from the east, sending them on a gentle downwind 30 minutes into the race.
The Weta and Beach Catamaran Classes were represented by a total of 3 boats, with Tim Jackson’s Itchy-Go flying solo yet again for the Wetas. She sailed well to finish amongst the Corsairs and ahead of Persian Cat, looking comfortable in yesterday’s wind strength & direction. Unless we see an improved attendance, we will consider merging this class with one of the multihull classes in subsequent club series. Jeremy Nixon’s Bad Influence scored a victory in the Beach Catamaran Class, besting Chris Waddington’s Persian Cat by 5 minutes after handicap correction.
Despite not getting her ideal start, Jaza Too was the first Corsair to cross the line, sailing well to overtake Cicak and claim the bullet for Race 3 in the Cruising Multihull Class. Cicak squandered their good start but managed to maintain a respectable 2nd place across the line. A poor start and costly tactical decisions by Miss Visayan at the finish line left the only Corsair 28 in the fleet out of the podium finishers, surrendering 3rd place to Eeepai.
The PY Class remains hotly contested as usual, with the entire fleet finishing within 28 minutes of each other. Line honours was not enough for Sangaree to break into the top 3, settling for 5th. A questionable tactic to hang on to a mooring until the last few minutes before the start by Minx may have cost them a podium finish, as they completed the race 4th on corrected time. With the fleet so close together, it was unsurprisingly happy days for the 3 biggest handicapped boats, as Olmeto, Ikaroa & Bapsy secured 1st, 2nd & 3rd respectively to round off the PY Class.
2 false starts from the only 2 boats in the IRC fleet was the only exciting moment witnessed from the crows nest, as Red Rum & Jong Dee made light work of the course and wind conditions to finish 3 minutes apart from each other in that order respectively. When the numbers were crunched, Jong Dee emerged the clear winner for the IRC Class.
We take a break from racing next week, and will be back for the Twilight Series I Race 2 on 11th May.
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The final count was 16 boats, such a big turnout for a Sebana/Telok Sengat cruise?Fantastic!!! Happy to share my short account of the weekend.
By 9.30 am, almost all the boats had left the mooring and headed towards Angler?s for the immigration clearance. The tide was rather slack which made the sail out easier, notably for me as I had a cooling water issue on Skybird. 1200 rpm was about the best I could do, which meant near zero forward movement against the strong tides that took control for the rest of the journey.
The smooth clearance at Angler?s helped make a good start to the trip to Sungei Shanti and onto Sebana. The breeze then was generally light and was coming on the nose which made sailing to Angler difficult, so most decided to motor the way there.
The faster ones made it good up river and arrived nice and dry, unfortunately, the few that were slower, where caught in a heavy downpour and were left drenched to the bones. It has been quite a while since I last stood in a downpour and it was quite cold. As we finally approached the marina, Desmond in Todak, who wasn?t too sure about Sebana, radioed me to ask which berth he should take, my answer to him was to find one that wasn?t raining. Fortunately, the rain cleared as we entered the marina, clear skies took over and the rest of the afternoon went to immigration clearance, hotel check-ins and boat cleaning.
Free and easy was the call for the night, Southern Light played host by opening up their boat for a Dock BBQ. However, some already had plans of their own and it ended with BBQ?s at various boats, some went into town for the annual seafood fix at Sungei Ringgit.
As part of this cruise to Sebana, boats can also choose to sail up the Johor River to Teluk Sengat. From the immigration point at Tanjung Pengelih; Sengat is about 13 nautical miles away, a nice 3-hour sail, if the conditions are right. Kurt and Gill in Waka Tere were the only ones that did it and had themselves a sumptuous seafood dinner. The next day they joined the rest of us at Sebana.
Soon the hours went by and everyone went into their own cozy corner for a well-deserved sleep. The nice thing about Sebana is that you can actually chillout there. No hard and fast rules or programmes to follow, truly, to each his own. I feel that it is this common thought that many of us have that make the trip to Sebana a very relaxed and enjoyable event.
Saturday was no different, we all went about doing our own things, some took advantage of the time and convenience to give a good cleaning to their boat. Others went to town while others just lazed around. Together with the crew from Todak, we went further up river in our tenders in search of an old crab farm. After meandering up the river we finally reach the location, it looked so run down that we thought it was shut. Sections of the zinc roofing were blown off, wooden planked-walls were torn, a small fish holding area that was there which didn?t look functional. Must have been some big winds that had come along and took parts of the structure along.
Even then we motored forward to have a closer look. Then we saw an area to the back that was still intact and out popped a head through a window of sought. We asked if they still sold crabs, then the RM250 answer came back and we were in business. After some talking and bargaining, we walked away with three huge crabs and at that price, we were happy. And that was dinner for the night. May be this could be one of a new attraction for our next visit to Sebana; bring your own tender for a crab cruise.
Another thing which I would like to share with you is our visit to Dr. Raymond Tan and his dear wife Margaret. They owned one of those units opposite of the Marina which has their own berth. Ray and Margaret have been members of CSC for a long time. What I actually want to share is that he brought out an old club T-shirt to show and it was made of towel material. Odd but interesting, photo?s will be shown. Btw, Raymond is retired and in he?s earlier days, he circumnavigated the world together with his wife in their yacht Tien Fei. To my knowledge, that makes them and Richard Howe, in his yacht Rum Bottle, the only members from CSC that had done it. If this is incorrect, sincere apologies to all other circumnavigators of CSC!
Time went by swiftly; we soon devoured the freshly bought Crabs in the evening and by late night we had our usual CSC gathering at the Oyster bar and in the Pirates Creek. It was nice to be able to sit around and chat with like-minded people; sailors!!
On Sunday, it was time to bid our farewell to Sebana Cove Resort as boats made preparations for the return trip to Singapore. By 1130, all boats had departed Sebana and headed for their clearance into Singapore. Then came the journey out the river and towards Anglers, many had already reached the location while I was still awhile away. I could hear the calls to immigration and hearing the reply that we needed to get coastguard clearance before proceeding to immigration. A tone of clear frustration was how I thought of the situation. Immigration was trying to offer queue numbers to the horde of boats but there was a queue. It looked like this is to be the norm when coming back into Singapore waters, so PCG before ICA. It was nice that the police were friendly about it, a nice hello on ch. 16 and we were cleared. Being about the last to arrive, the waiting time wasn?t too long before we were on our way back to the club. After clearing immigration, a 10 to 12 knot breeze came and that made our sail back to the club fun and much quicker then motoring. That was the only moment in the entire event when I could actually shut off the engine and sail Sky Bird.
With that we conclude another fun cruise and we thank all the participants for making this another successful event and for breaking the record for having the greatest number of boat entries; 16.
Thank you; Waka Tere, Southern Light, Ikaroa, New Blue Eyes, Midnight Blue, Withywindle, Sui Lynn, Zephyr, Cicak, Miss Visayan, Temptress of Down, Todak, Elessar, Defiance, Firefly and Gary Ng + Family (Cartman) who joined us via land transport!
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I am Swee Lim*, one of the few men among the ladies in the nursing home and assisted living facility. You see, ladies generally outlive men. It almost becomes true for me because about 5 years ago, I had a sudden terrible headache when I was at work in the office and I almost passed out. When I was rushed to the hospital, the A&E doctor diagnosed that I had a brain bleed and I underwent an urgent operation. When I recovered, I wasn’t walking normally and I couldn’t find the words I wanted to say. I was just 51 then.
Anyway, here I am in Good Shepherd Loft. I think I am the youngest among the residents.
The daily routine is rather predictable in the Loft which is why I am very excited about today’s visit to Changi Sailing Club. I have heard many songs about sailing the seas but this might be the first time in my life I am going to get up close to a yacht. The chief nurse told me I am going to get to swim in the club pool and she packed my swimming trunks for me.
Early at 6.30am, we begin to go for our shower, one by one. Then we had breakfast in the dinning room and we are ready! I heard from the nurses’ conversation that for the outing there are 11 people on wheelchairs and 10 who can walk on their own and I am one of them; I walk with a walking stick.
Yay! The bus is here. There is a rule in the Loft: those on wheelchairs will board first. The male nurses carried the seniors off their wheelchairs and put them on the bus one at a time. When all 11 are on the bus, the sweaty nurses come over and declare that we can board the bus. Hurray! The rest of us get on with help and soon we are on our way. It is a long way from Newton to Changi. Maikal our social worker leads us through the songs and hymns and we arrive in the blink of an eye.
Look! Turning into the car park, I can see the yachts bobbing in the turquoise blue sea. With the sunny sky and coconut trees swaying, it feels a bit like paradise. I have not been to the beach for a while, let alone seen so many yachts at one go. We are really at Changi Sailing Club!
We disembark as fast as we can with the help of the nurses and the club staff. The ones on wheelchairs go first. “Don’t forget the rules,” I remind myself despite my enthusiasm. The friendly club staff are there to welcome us and help us down the bus.
I am trying to take in the view all at once. Hmm…A well sited club house is right by the beach with the pool in the centre and surrounded by Changi Hall (a large hall), Tekong Cove (the restaurant), the board walk, the beach BBQ pit. Just a few steps from the pool is the jetty on which visitors can walk straight out to sea where the tenders are.
With all facilities in such proximity, I challenge myself to enjoy all of them within the next hour. The male nurse, Melvin seems to have second guessed my thoughts and he guides me to the “Heads” (nautical term for toilet) to change and then into the pool I go. Relaxing in the cool pool water as I gaze out at the sea is the best thing to do on this hot and humid morning! I am surprised to meet another resident, an old auntie in the pool in her purple short sleeved swimsuit. She looks trendy despite her age. I said to her, “Auntie Joy, how old are you? I didn’t know you swim.” Her cheeky reply was,” I am 96 and when I could swim you were not born yet, adik…” (Malay word for “younger brother?)
After I have had enough of the pool, Melvin helps me dress up and I am off to the board walk. Again I run into Joy doing the same walk. She is spritely and together with Melvin, we take a short walk and enjoy the sea breeze. A pair of mata putih birds followed us inquisitively and chirping merrily. They are enjoying the laidback lifestyle and welcoming us.
On the return leg of the walk, Melvin takes us out to the jetty. It is really rustic with a tall attap hut at the far end of it. It is quite a clever design with two separate gangways which leads down to the more than 4 boats that are tied up against the pontoons.
Joy and I put on our life vests and get on the tender for a ride to nowhere. The pontoon is wobbly to step on and I feel excitement as well as a fear of dropping into the sea. Melvin is always there for us so I feel safe. Soon, the friendly boatman Hairul takes us out to sea. To tell you the truth, it is not that scary because the boat is really smooth and the engine quiet. Hairul gives a running commentary as we go along. The famous Pulau Ubin is not far across the Straits with many fish farms nestled off her shore. As we sail past the numerous yachts moored off the club, he shows us the Fairy Beacon which is a huge boulder at sea with a large luminous red beacon built on it.
Hairul takes us by the longer way back to the jetty knowing that we do not want the boat ride to end so soon. We are very grateful! He is so kind.
When we reach back on land it is time for lunch. We walk straight into Tekong Cove where we are treated like VIPs. There is a sumptuous spread of sambal skate, BBQ squid, hot plate deer meat, garlic fried chicken with ice cold fruit punch waiting for us. We enjoyed the hearty meal with gusto.
Now that I recall that beautiful day, when all of us came in from the scourging sun, there was a gust of cool wind and the rain started. The Heavens were watching over us!
This is the best outing I have had in years. Here is a big THANKS to Changi Sailing Club for making it all happen for my friends and me from Good Shepherd Loft and St Bernadette Lifestyle Village.
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As we begin to see the change in the monsoon winds, conditions become fluky and unpredictable. Right from the early hours of the day, the wind did not appear as predicted by the various online apps.
But very fortunate for us, though light, the wind crept in from the easterly direction as boats were being readied for the 4 pm start. With the incoming tide and the shifty wind direction, the choice of the RED course was called.
A poor turnout in the multihull class saw the Trimaran, the beach cat and the Weta represented by only one boat each. Tim Hill in Cicak, Tim Jackson in Itchy-Go and Chris Waddington in Persian Cat; thank you guys for keeping the flag flying. In true sportsmanship they went round the course with the clock as their only competitor.
As the race progressed, the wind freshened to approximately 8 knots and came in from the easterly direction. The smaller boats could be seen being knocked over by the occasional gust.
The number three seemed to have plagued the IRC class; only Jong Dee, Waka Tere and Born in Fire were at the start. Paul Kendall in Jong Dee sailed very well to the conditions and kept the lead throughout the race. However, Kurt in Waka, trailed not too far behind keeping within the time margin and took the first place off Paul?s hands by a very narrow 2-seconds after corrected time. The fire wasn?t burning too brightly for Pascal in BIF as she seemed to have trouble trying to keep up with the other two. We hope to see the return of Shardana, Red Rum and Invictus for the coming IRC races; maybe even Skybird???
Great support in the PY category; 8 boats made it to the start and as usual the tussle for a good start was on everyone?s mind. John Boers in Sangaree short off the line in good speed and position and led the PYers all throughout the race. As the winds became more stable, blowing easterly, the stretch from Squance to Changi turned into a long windward leg. With an almost ideal Twilight condition, John Boers in Sangaree took line in the PY class and also finishing first after corrected time. A well sailed Boreas helmed by Pepe Yabe came in second and Kevin Harris sailed Temptress of Down to the third spot.
Welcome back Choy as he had just completed his two week reserve training in the army, back to you!!
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Sunday Series 1, Race 2; Right to the last hour, before the start sequence, the wind didn?t seem to want to show. Very fortunately, some great guy must have heard our plea and turned on his fan and the breeze kicked in at the very right moment.
The multihulls where the first to be started off, followed 5 minutes later by the keelboats. A little jostling at the start line saw three boats, Brio, Red Rum and Sangaree being caught OCS. Steve was quick to swing Red Rum back across the line to be the first to be exonerated.
The generally easterly wind direction at the start made CAAS 2 the ideal windward mark. The winds continued to be in our favour, the three beach cats took advantage of it and zoomed towards Tekong. Unfortunate for Jeremy, a wrong mark rounding caused him to have to retire. Uli Braun in Allo finished 1st and Chris Waddington came in 2nd in Persian Cat.
Tim Jackson held the Weta flag flying as he did a solo run around the course. Calling all Weta owners, come keep Tim company at the next race please.
Finishing only 12 seconds apart after corrected time, Tim Hill in Cicak managed to hold Graham Horn in Jaza Too for most part of the race. Unfortunate for him Graham took over the lead to secure his 1st place. Shaun finished 3rd about 11 minutes later.
Steve Manning did a quick recovery from his OCS start and took line in the IR class. His lead was good enough to also come in 1st for the race. Shardana?s lead over Jong Dee also saw her maintaining her 2nd placing across the line, Jong Dee finished 3rd.
And forming the biggest class, the PY division saw ten boats at the start line. Kevin in Temptress of Down had a good start and managed to hold the lead throughout the race. It was rather close sailing for the top 5 PY boats. Temptress of Down, Southern Light, Sangaree, Bapsy and Minx were only 11 minutes apart in actual sailing time. In the end, after corrected time, the 1st place went to Southern Light, 2nd place to Temptress of Down and 3rd to Bapsy.
Big thank you to all sailors who have participated in the second race of the Sunday Series! We look forward to seeing you on 13th April, for the Twilight Series.
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