Experience@Langkawi..

3 long weeks!

3 long weeks I find myself nearing the end of what’s been an interesting and experiential trip, filled with delightful things, new discoveries and of course the usual bad stuff, in the mystical yet charming island of Langkawi, Malaysia. It sure is really one of the fun times I have this year amidst the nonsense I had to endure throughout the trip and oh! the usual dose of last-minute things from my boss.
I had learned quite a fair bit, made new friends, in particular my triumph of being able to be friends with Mark Rhodes, the team coach of Oman Sail (whom I believe will be a very important person I’m gonna be working with when I work my way up the ladder to reach Olympic glory), tried new food (good Thai food and Malay food and so on.. KFC!), and explored new places and of course, bought some things. One of the amazing things that I experienced was to be involved in such a big event where I can meet people I normally don’t get to meet and also people with a reputation, be it a good one like Mr. Lock Hong Kit or a perhaps bad one.. Shan’t name anyone. It’s not only about meeting the people; it’s also about witnessing the entire process of how the event is run, more importantly how the money flies since it’s such a large event and it’s important to manage the funds wisely. And it being an Asian event its really interesting to see the different Asian races coming from all over and then racing in the spirit of fun and competitiveness in this event. It’s sure an amazing experience for me. Only the next time I come for the Asian Sailing Championships I promise it wont be for working purposes; it would be as a fully fledged National Squad sailor, who won the trials and is out to win with a fight.

I definitely love the waters off the shores of the National Sailing Centre, Langkawi, Kedah Malaysia. It’s definitely one of the most scenic places to sail that I have seen for myself to date. And every evening the sunset, not masked by any high rise buildings, shine brightly as it sets, the most beautiful sunset that I’ve seen. Although in the eyes of a competitor the shifty winds and unpredictable weather conditions can make it a horror for those unaccustomed to it, for the recreational side of sailing, this is one place you will definitely want to be at.

And a thing more closer to myself: Just yesterday I find myself in the position of being a motivator to the Singaporean Laser 4.7 representatives Theodora and Malone who were apparently uptight and upset over their poor performances for the day’s racing, especially for Theodora who had been in a bronze medal winning position until yesterday. Despite some encouragement from myself and Mark, the Standard representative, they were apparently still quite stressed up and just hard up on themselves. And today as I was passing by the launching ramp, the 4.7s had their racing nearby and I could see them both rounding in last positions. I thought of years ago, actually more like 3 years ago, on my debut in the Laser, how it was like to lose everything, how it was like to be so far behind others despite trying so hard and how badly demoralised I was. I’ve still got much to learn but at least in this context I know how it’s like to be in their booties. I felt for them although I was still annoyed that they are so hard up on themselves because of the Worlds. Look, you are new to the 4.7, no one becomes good within a few months. Even Michael Blackburn took 16 years to become a World Champion; the Laser is not a champion-overnight boat to sail, it is a challenging yet fun boat. With the Worlds in Bueno Aires, Argentina in three weeks, I felt this event was actually more like a morale event: Lose it, they go to the Worlds feeling so hard up and demoralised; win it, and they go to the Worlds with a confidence booster. It’s in these events where you learn though, learn how to tackle the natures of competitive sport. They are still young, and will learn in time to come as I did over time.’

Okay so now that I’m nearing the end of my trip here in Langkawi, with a wound on my right knee and a bugling tummy (damn it..), it comes down to the next question that I suddenly thought of: What am I gonna do when I arrive back in Singapore?
Here’s a few of my answers:
1) Buy and wear contact lenses, applicable only till I enter NS..
 Well I wanna try wear contact lenses, the reason majorly being for sailing purposes since it’s very troublesome to keep wearing specs to go out to sea and get blinded by sunlight. In fact I bought two Oakleys, one is a copy of the Oakley Jawbone I just got in Malaysia and the other my all-time favourite Radar Path which I will get at a later date. I got them both with the intention of using them well with my sailing and besides it’s good to have sunglasses whenever I need them so why not? It’s my long term aim to get Lasik surgery and thus not wear glasses so for now before that happens I wills till see myself wearing specs, but wanna at least try on contacts. I’m not saying that I’m gonna like them and wear them forever, I still wanna try them.

2) Train hard, train hard and train even harder..
I realised that my plan to build up on muscle went down the drain when I reached Langkawi, stuffing myself silly with all the nice food and all. That I’m now unable to compete in the National Youth Championships has shifted my focus to the next event and an event that I equally want to win: The ST Marine Dinghy Championships. I have one month to train hard, to shed some fatty weight, and practise well. Every possible event that I can attend I must attend and go up high as possible so that I can enter the National Squad before the year ends and build up the pathway towards trying to qualify for the Worlds in 2013 and an important event, the Asian Sailing Championships in Korea which also hosts the 2014 Asian Games. Which reminds me of the need to start booking training sessions with people liek Uncle Stanley and start to buy equipment. Yeah.

3) Go out, have fun and enjoy life..
It dawned upon me that I’ve been working non-stop ever since December, rarely taking any days off. I felt that it is about time I start striking a balance in my life, with work, play and training coming hand-in-hand together. Besides it is indeed about time I start taking more offs, go out with my friends and her, have fun doing the many things I wanna do, and spend perhaps more time with my family since I’m already growing up and should take care of my family more as well as myself. It’s about enriching my life further before I go NS and also it’s not about work, work, work: Frankly, I never liked it that I work non-stop everyday.

Okay here’s three that I can think of so far, so this must be my top three things? Haha. Let’s name it: The Top 3 things for me to do when I am back in Singapore.
Wow guess with that I blogged more than enough. It’s a pity though I don’t have a camera, can’t take pictures of my amazing experience here in Langkawi to show everyone. And  find that my posts are lacking pictures! Okay next post I will try to have pictures again..

That’s a wrap! So it’s been quite an amazing journey here in Langkawi, missing Singapore like crazy already though, appreciate the many things I enjoy back there and I’m coming back soon Singapore! Just cant wait. Okay my next post will be when I’m back in Singapore. Till then, cheerios!

- Each night, the conversations we have gives me strength to go on each passing day. You dont know how much it means to me every single day after a long hot tiring day of work. Missing you a lot everyday, and I just can’t wait to be back in the country, to see you and go out with you. -

Great in Langkawi so far!

Hello everyone! It’s a first time I find myself blogging from overseas, in Langkawi, Malaysia to be exact.

I’m actually here in Langkawi on a business trip, yet another first for me in the Olympics year of 2012. I’m actually there to manage Laser boat charters for two regattas being held at the stronghold of Malaysian Sailing, the National Sailing Centre in Langkawi, Kedah, Malaysia. One of these regattas is the upcoming Asian Sailing Championships and it commences three days from now at the time of this blogging. The first one, the Langkawi International Regatta came to a conclusion today after an eventful week.

It has been quite a good trip so far, experiencing many things that are quite interesting. Like for instance, the weather here in Langkawi is not hot. It’s BOILING hot. In fact I told myself I should not complain next time it’s hot in Singapore; just imagine the people living in such hot conditions. There is one major difference though: Unlike Singapore, Langkawi is blessed with good winds. When I say good, I literally mean blowing although it takes the morning to build up, so it more than makes up for the immensely hot conditions here. It is also interesting to note that the winds in Langkawi follow a consistent pattern, in which it dies down at around 2 in the afternoon and then picks up at about 3. Yann, one of my colleagues (actually he used to work at Constant Wind but now he doesn’t; he came on the request of my boss) joked that the winds here in Langkawi do know how to have a lunch break.
Since Langkawi is in such close proximity to Thailand, it is of no surprise to find Thais living in Langkawi. I currently stay at an apartment in Century Suria Condominium which is 5 minutes from the National Sailing Centre Langkawi. Previously for 3 nights I stayed in a motel just above a disco which I frequent for three days with Bo my Thai colleague or games of darts and sometimes pool. I didn’t drink I swear to the heavens; I only had Coke. I only wanted to play darts, darts and more darts, all the time trying to beat Bo at it. The area here is filled with Thais and Thai restaurants along with some Chinese and definitely Malay restaurants. Thankfully nearby are a mega shopping centre and a duty free shopping centre, yes they are both shopping centres but no they are not the same. I had the opportunity to look around on the first day after doing some reconnaissance of the area to get a feel of the place and know where places are. It is definitely an interesting place so far in my 4-5 days that I have been here.

Apart from the first day I arrived at Langkawi and today, everyday has been revolving around a similar style that I find myself following back home in Singapore: I wake up, go to work, finish, return to the apartment, use the com, have dinner, bathe then sleep late. There’s the occasional game of darts at the disco with nice friendly people in there. But that’s basically how my life has been for the past few days here in Langkawi. I seem to be growing pretty accustomed to things around here although it’s a small part of town I have been to in Langkawi so I can’t really say that I am very familiar with the place.

Sailing-wise, apart from the disappointment over my un-awareness of the Langkawi International Regatta and the fact that I’m working rather than competing, I’m immensely impressed to a closely large extent over the setup of sailing here in Malaysia although there are some minus points. Since Kedah is the best state out of the 13 states that have sailing, it’s the stronghold of Malaysian Sailing. All of their best sailors from all over, and of all ages train there and best of all, live there. You got me right, they do live there. Their daily life, going to school, everything revolves back to them staying at the National Sailing centre Langkawi where they train hard. It’s a similar setup to Singapore’s Sports School jsut that in Malaysia’s case, this is dedicated for sailing and sailing only and the sailor literally live next to the sea, saves up on travelling time and so on. Their boat park is pretty spacious and lacks sand, and they have one huge and one smaller launching ramp which is next to their line of pontoons for their motor boats. It’s definitely an impressive lot. In addition, their office stands two storeys high, right next to the launching ramps with a good view of the waters outside. The waters are an immense beauty to sail in; one would be so inspired by the scenery of the waters they are sailing and furthermore, one interesting thing about Langkawi’s waters is that the waters are relatively calm, no waves. The waves only come when the winds are blowing but other than that, there’s not a single significantly sized wave that I managed to find outside periods of blowing winds.
The minus side of the setup of Malaysian Sailing I feel personally is the fact that the Malaysian Yachting Association or MYA is dominated by a family by the name of Afendy. Afendy is not an unfamiliar name, especially for me when my official debut for sailing the Laser for MJ was marked with a reaching duel with Khairulnizam Afendy (not the full name), the son of the current President of the Malaysian Yachting Association, back at the 2009 National Youth Championships. Mr Afendy has Nizam as his son and three daughters, one on the 470, one on the Laser Radial and the youngest on the Laser 4.7. It’s a domination of this family in the scene which hints some form of favouritism as well as a sense of arrogance that is sensed not only by me but the various states’ sailing team that comes here to compete.
Another drawback of such a setup is since Malaysia consists of many states, hence many state governments and different management styles, it hinders the search as well as nurturing of hidden sailing talent in the various states. I noticed Kedah, the best sailing state has the best funding and best talent while other states have different levels of funding, different levels of red tape to overcome and so on. It’s an interesting view-point to view how sailing is managed by other countries. There are certainly things that Singapore and Malaysia can share in the way sailing is being managed in these countries, taking a leaf out of each other’s books.

It’s been quite great so far, and yet there’s 15 days left before I head home back to beloved Singapore. As much as it has been quite awesome so far on my first trip on Langkawi soil, I’m already missing Singapore food and the many things that make being a Singaporean so unique. The next regatta is the Asian Sailing Championships: It’s gonna be fiercer and much tougher to handle but I’m very sure I can handle it equally as well.
Alright about time to head out of the apartment with Bo for games of darts at the disco! Promise: No drinking; only games and will be back after roughly two hours. I wanna sleep! Haha.

Till then! Will blog again soon..