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.
