So far, I've clocked more or less between 6-7hours of sailing lessons.......

 I'm too big for the Optimist so I have to sail the Laser. I was told we were sailing the Laser 430 but the main sail had a 470 printed on it. Either ways, I was happy.

I have no basic sailing experience whatsoever so I was absorbing new information as much as I could and as quickly as possible. Imagine learning to drive a car but you have absolutely no idea what or how it works. Whatever the hell I read helped but only by about 5%.......maybe less.....

I am still trying to remember the ropes and the safety checks. So far, I can set up the jib sail although I am not fully confident that I did it correctly. I still need help setting up the main sail because there's a lot that goes into it from the boom to the gooseneck and the halyard and eventually feeding the rope through the main control.

I realised that I tend to panic and over think. The boom accidentally hit my jaw on the first day of school. The wind picks up every now and then. It also changes directions so quickly that sometimes the mast tilts too much that I begin to panic. 

My worst point is controlling the Tiller Extension. Everytime I tack the boat, I could never hit the 90 degrees mark. I was doing so bad that I did a 360 degree turn. That's a big fail. I think I am a good crew though. I find leaning and pulling the the mast while the wind is strong makes me happy.

I have a class tomorrow afternoon. I hope I'll do better. I hope the wind will be forgiving. I hope I won't capsize or fall overboard 😬

Yesterday.......

Was our 12th year anniversary of being married. We had plans to go fly out of town but had to cancel all of them for a few main reasons.

One was monkey pox........

Two...... MAS had been making headlines at f*cking up flight schedules. We made reservations about a month ago but didn't want to risk wasting all our time, energy and money in trying to have a good time but either having to cut our holiday short or having mess up everything on the way.

So, Shu made a reservation for lunch yesterday. We went to KBB Steak and Burger in town. I'm on diet. Beef is my top most priority and having good meat is a win. It's not as expensive as Jibby East but their meat is good. Lunch is a good time to go unless you like dining in on a full house. Make a reservation whatever it is. You won't regret it.

Later on, we decided to head to the beach because it's a way of life.

Our holiday is being rescheduled but we're OK with it. It's better to be safe and happy then just rushing everything. I like taking my time.

Happy 12th year anniversary, baby!

BEST. DAY. EVER!!!

 I was woken up by Shu yesterday morning. He asked me if I was up for a beginner's sailing class today. I said hell yeah!

The class started at about 10am. I was up just before 6am coz I've been having trouble sleeping. I was also super excited and super anxious at the same time. Kids were already up by 7am. We had breakfast and got ready. The kids were super excited coz I was going to school today 😂

We got to Duyong Marina Resort at about 9am. The kids and Shu had breakfast over at Bytes Cafe and then they sent me off to class. We were doing a few knots at first. Practising over and over. The facilitators were from UMT. They have a community sailing club at the marina. We then learned about the boat parts and how to control the boats as you sail. 

The bigger kids and adults like me had to learn to sail from using a wind surfing board. We have to know how to control the sail and balance ourselves on the board while steering it into the direction we were headed. I failed the first couple of times from Just falling into the water because the sail got heavy and I was too caught up with the technicality of the whole thing. I got up and about after a few tries. I also almost drowned from falling into the water and having the sail fall on top of me.

The thing we were taught to do was to NOT PANIC. That helped. The facilitators were freaking out a little but I got up. We had a break between 1pm to 3pm. That gave me time to go home and shower and got changed and pray and then headed back to the marina. This time I fell so many more times over but I got a different coach and he taught me a few tricks to handling the sail and board without using up so much energy. I was sailing and in control in no time.

Oh yeah, Yusuf got invited to join a facilitator on a boat. He learned a thing or two about sailing. If he's interested, Shu and I are planning to get him signed up for the proper sailing classes which I shall be joining myself as well.

I had a blast. I am burnt and tanned and my left knee has a bruising and my left ankle has a painful cut. My hands are sore and somewhat blistered from pulling the ropes but I enjoyed myself so much. Shu bought me the guide to sailing book by lecturers from UMT and I had them both sign my copy coz they were also there. The main coach today was Mr. Rani who trains kids for the sailing championships. He's so awesome.