Dragonboating. Sun, concrete, and a tragic boating accident. Drama on the high seas. Anyways, went down to Kallang and met Ang Hong. Went to the place by crossing this wide 4(or was it 6?) lane road to get to the other side. Vaulted this green barrier with bars sticking out the top, which for a moment put me in fear for my own...safety.

Managed to do so with a little difficulty and also thankfully without impaling myself. Got there, complained about the weather. It was freakin' hot. Also quite a few people were late. The scenery was quite nice but it was still freaking hot. Then after some basic instructions, we set off. At first it seemed like there were going to be too many people, but we managed to fit everyone in. =( So I got in the last boat. I was in the bow. I have also mentioned my dislike of large bodies of water.

So we had some basic lessons, and if you just do it nice and easy, you don't really have to exert yourself, and the view and experience was quite nice. But that was because the sun went behind the cloud for a while. Once it came out, it was scorching. I now have sunburnt arms. Thanks SAF for the increased risk of skin cancer. Touch wood. Actually touching it now. My table is wood lol.

But after the initial funness and new experience, it started to get a little monotonous. and tiring. I got half wet because I was on the right and water was splashing around. Well at least I had a really nice view from the bow so I guess I was kinda lucky. Paddled around for a while and the hard strokes were really tiring. Okay that sounds really wrong, so moving on...

The final event was a race. Between three of our boats. The race started and we had a slight lead, which we maintained till halfway when the second boat kept catching up. One reason was probably because we were at an angle to the finish line, instead of heading for it.

It was also because we were at an angle that we were heading straight towards the second boat, now catching up. Imagine a dragonboat of 22 army guys paddling as hard as they can, powering towards another boat with another 22 guys paddling as hard as they can too! I noticed the collision course and I think others did too, but we just kept going. Maybe we thought that we could turn in time? We didn't.

So we paddled with our arms tiring and our boat slowly lost power, but not speed, ripping through the water of the Kallang River (I think.) The other boat cut straight ahead, gaining on us. They steadily cut across our bow and we were headed right for their side. Going, going, gone. I watched the distance steadily drop to zero. I don't know if the guy with the rudder wasn't experienced enough or couldn't do enough to change our course.

So with us paddling still, (It's a competition remember?) WHAM we hit the other boat broadside. At an angle, we hit them somewhat in the middle, full-force and our boat went up and over theirs with an awful grinding. The people either scattered or were shoved clear of the deadly path and I was right at the front of it all, being in the bow. Our boat went forward, even past the other side of the boat, before stopping and sliding back off.

We rocked back, dead in the water, some still pretty stunned by what just happened. As the stricken boat drifted slowly past the buoys marking the finish line, a lone voice drifted across the water...

"Does this mean we win?"