Sailing Coach Course Level 1

 I decided to go to a course to train to be a level 1 sailing coach which specifies in mostly racing boats such as The Optimist, ILCA and Windsurfing. It was 5 days long and the programme was packed. It's been such a long time since I've attended anything like this. It was tiring but it was so much fun. I met so many people from everywhere.

The first person I met was a guy seated at the same table as I did. His name was Arief and he was from Outward Bound Malaysia in Lumut. He sails the Weller keel boat. He takes groups of between 8-10 people sailing around Pangkor island. I'd like to do that someday and I do love monohulls big and small.

The, 2 more people joined our group. Zu and Afizall from the Malaysian Scouts in KL. They usually sail on Sundays at Port Klang with other scout members and they usually sail as crew on board a keel boat. I can't remember which boat it is but it's a monohull as well. 

The, more people showed up in the seminar room. We had some teachers from Kelantan, a coach from Selangor or N9. A bunch of UMT sailing club students. One guy was from the scouts in Terengganu. Others were sailors from the same sailing club I'm in. 

Most of us were beginner sailors. It was funny coz I was just thinking to myself that I haven't seen coach in a long while coz he's been busy and I haven't been sailing and he's been teaching us at the course for 5 days straight 😂 Coach Affendy was also the other coach who flew over from the Kedah sailing club. 

I can tell that I have probably screwed up my theory exam at this point because, I always have problems understanding questions just like how I failed my driving theory test numerous times back in the day. For the most part, I did learn so much especially when it came to safety preparations and briefing and debriefing. I also almost fell overboard from the 470 twice. I didn't 😅

This was so much fun and I managed to get to know more sailors which was super useful especially from the UMT sailing club coz they sail together with the kids from the club I'm in whenever we practice at Duyong Marina Resort 😊

vibing is hard!

 I used to laugh at those jokes about the writers and readers memes I used to see online. It's actually true! Hahaha! This is so F*CKED up! 😂 I am just laughing at myself now as I struggle to find the core of a character I created when I was about 13 or 14 years old........I managed to get the playlist together to set the tone and mood but holy crap! I am losing my mind! HE IS SO FUCKING DEPRESSING TO WRITE! Well, not him but the emotions that he brings into the story and this somehow reminded me of why I couldn't kill him off. I love depressing emotions. I used to feed on my depression just so that I could write better songs and better stories and better poetry. I guess I never realized how far away I am from that state of mind now and I am struggling to live my reality and that little fictitious world I created years ago.

Shit! I have to get my shit together!

I need to focus on what's coming in the coming weeks and these emotions have NOTHING to do with it! 

*sigh*

I was looking into reefing the sails and how to do it and why we do it.......I know, it's very strange considering how I don't need to do it with the boat I am sailing now........ -_-

I try very hard not to get sidetracked with random shit that has nothing to do with me but I sometimes find it hard to do coz I just am programmed this way. I need to take a step back and refocus coz I have goals to set and goals to meet. I can't mess it up and waste more time coz God knows how much of it I have left 😂 I sound like I am dying 😂

I'm not. I just love piling shit up into my bucket list that it almost never ends. Speaking of which, I have a few things left to do before the year end and this course coming up is not it 😂

Distracted by Jellyfish

 So..... I went sailing again..... Finally. After months. I don't know if I kept making up excuses or coach really was busy with races on the west coast. Either ways, I'm glad I'm sailing again.

I have my own sailboat now so that means I'm not going to wait around for available hulls when all of the sailors return for a full day of training. Also, I have a brand new sail. Didn't realise it didn't come with battens so I had to borrow. Erm, I borrowed the rudder and dagger board too coz..... I wasn't sure which ones were supposed to be mine.

The 2 sailors who helped me set up (Nik and Daniel) got rigging and I think the ones left on my boat wasn't complete. Nik switched out the traveler block coz said the ones I had on wasn't functioning. I didn't have the dagger board tied up to the bow coz there weren't any bungee ropes left. The kids did what they could which was more than helpful. Coach Tengku is in charge of the inventory so he would have known which ones were which but he was already out at sea on the coach boat monitoring the Optimist sailors.

I didn't realise that they had a race going on that day. What's even funnier was that I tagged along coz they didn't have all the ILCA sailors back from Langkawi yet. As usual, I didn't make the marks. I was trying to get used to sailing in the ocean and I was trying to get used to the boat. I also just realised that I didn't have any telltales on so I had to learn to sail without them. Coach Salahuddin was helpful with prompting me what to do.

I wish I wasn't too distracted by the jellyfish in the water. There were so many. I kept telling myself I didn't want to fall into the water and get stung. Yeah, I was distracted. It also didn't help that I got the main sheet stuck in between the rudder and the hull.  I'm a moving catastrophe. I'm always terrified of running into the other boats who were racing or training.

Coach says I should race. The other coaches talked me into it too. I did try. I didn't make the marks and I think I got disqualified 😅

I need to sail more often......

complacent

 It's been a crazy few months. We've been everywhere and nowhere and we've met new people and familiar faces. I've been sailing alone which is proving to be good and bad.

Because I have to sail the ILCA, I had to get help from the younger sailors for help with the rigging coz I have never set up any of the Lasers on my own. The mast is also heavy coz it comes on and off to get the sails in. These young sailors had been sailing their entire youth. I am nowhere near their ability to set up the boat with their eyes closed.

The good thing is, even though I have only sailed like 4 times on my own, Coach Mus thinks I've improved a lot. He had been helping us set up the 470 eversince I started sailing. I'm still waiting on Coach Rani to evaluate my certification. Here's my problem....... I have to capsize the boat and get it back up........ And learn the flags too........

I don't know if anyone knows at all that I am terrified of fish........ And I am terrified of swimming in waters which I cannot see the bottom of....... And I am terrified of fresh water fish........

So far, I have managed to get myself into the water everytime I need to get the boat in and out of the water. The sailing school is located where the fresh water from the rivers meet the open sea. Not entirely fresh water. Not entirely sea water but I am quite aware of what swims in these waters and it terrifies me. I'll get over it, I'm sure. I just need time.

I have automatically made it a point to make myself useful when helping other sailors get their boats up out from the water. I especially help the Optimist sailors coz they are so damn tiny and I try to help Coach Mus with the Hansa boats coz most of the sailors get off at the jetty area onto their wheelchairs so he's usually left alone to get all those boats up. I just tend to help around with ILCA sailors as well whenever they get up.

There's been a lot of competitions locally and in Singapore and Thailand recently. The international competition was the one in Langkawi. I always hope these kids get to break into the Olympics some day. I hope they'd get to train in different waters and wind conditions too like in Australia or New Zealand. They can qualify because they are highly skilled. They just need to win. That also means they need sponsors but they need to win. I hope they'll find the right people to guide them all the way up there. I know the head coach is up for it........ I just hope the rest of the management team are in the same boat.......

Shu and I got to talking about something that made me realise something about the attitude and mentality of a certain group of people which got me thinking, there is ALWAYS room for improvement. But that doesn't seem to be the case with some people and it bothers me because it was the same reason I got annoyed with something one of my students said all those years ago when I was lecturing.

It made me gave up teaching under grad students entirely because I can only do so much but if you don't feel like it's a need to do better than the best, it's just a waste of time and energy.

Having said that, I was asked why I didn't join the recent open class sailing competition. I just don't think I'm good enough. As it is, I've been struggling to keep up with the herd during training. But I'm also beginning to see why Coach had me set up for the Radial instead of the ILCA 4. At some point, that sail made me feel like I was taking a walk in the park. He wanted me to challenge myself which the Radial did. I sailed that the first time I sailed alone and I was so afraid if I was gonna get yeeted off the boat 🤣

What a way to end the year

 This had been an amazing year. We moved which was a major event. We adopted cats. Befriended cats. We spend most of our time by the beach. I began to sail. It was tough but worth it. Met loads of amazing people along the way. I decided to get more committed to the club which is very unlike me.

I am ever so thankful with everything. I know that there were some downs along the way like the monsoon and the flood. I wish I could do more for everyone.........

Oh yeah, I joined a blood drive for the very first time. It was exciting. I've been wanting to do it for so long.

One of the things I plan to do next year is to sail more and be a better skipper. I need to spend more time sailing whether it's going to be on my own boat..... Or not.......... 

Team Foxburr

 Shu had been sailing with me.

This was when we sailed together for the first time last week. Shu was the crew while I was at the helm. I was trying to figure out what went wrong when we were reaching and running. I keep messing up. Also, I wasn't aware that Shu's never been on crew before so I was having a hard time figuring out what I was doing and not realising that I should also be giving commands about the jib sail and center board.

We sailed again yesterday.

This was us setting up the boat. Safiyya is part of the crew since she's always with us when I used to go sailing in the mornings. 

There was a race later that day. The Laser and Optimists were getting ready. We just sailed outside their circuit so we don't interrupt the race. 

I think we did much better this time around. I still need to work on the reaching and running but I think, after the first debriefing the other day, we did so much better. 

Coach said Shu needs to be at helm control the next time we sail...... Probably next week. He just needs to understand both positions better but honestly, I think we can gauge who will be doing what if we ever make it to the race day...... 

Sailing partners

 On October the 19th, coach briefly said in the passing that I am a qualified sailor.......

On June 4th, Shu signed me up for a weekend open day for the sailing club over at Duyong Marina Resort. I was windsurfing for the first time. I was learning how to understand the wind and balancing the board. I had no idea what I was doing. 

Then, I decided to sign up for the certification course. It's a 3 part course. Again, I had no idea what was doing but I just wanted to sail. Coach set me up for the Laser 470. I was confused with the ropes for the most part. It was difficult because I was overwhelmed with so much information in such a short time.

I continued to learn and practice sailing. I swear I was on the verge of breaking down and I was so afraid if coach was gonna give up on me. I was so close to actually making it. I just needed more time on the boat.

One day, I decided to try setting up the boat myself. Coach told me to come by an hour early. Coach Mus arrived to grant me access to the storage room where the booms and sails were kept. I attempted to set up the sails myself with Shu and Coach Mus. I made a few mistakes which were pointed out when Coach Rani arrived.

I attempted to set up the sails again the following day and tried to understand and remember which rope goes where. I also did a lot of studying at home (textbook, Google and YouTube) My sailing got better. Tacking was better and we did a lot of S turn practices. It was tensed but it taught me a lot. Especially NOT to freak out every damn time.

Coach said I can sail on my own now....... It's just that........ Sailing the 470 meant that I would be needing a crew. A sailing partner. 

Today, we have one attending his first lesson 😊

Shu. My partner in crime since forever. He's probably a better sailor than I am coz he understands things better and he's not the freaking out type 😁

Lesen L

 After a little over a month of not sailing from being sick to the coach being busy with SUKMA and all, I was finally sailing again. I kept telling myself that I had to focus. I have to observe the tell-tale. I have to understand what I was doing. It was OK for a bit until I tried tacking again........

I have this coordination problem when I overthink. Just like jamming on the guitar. Just like driving. Everytime I think more than I should, I'd mess up. I found myself not knowing where the tiller extension was at and then, I'd freak out.

Of all the times I was practising tacking, I think I only managed to get one turn correctly. I made it such that the radius and distance between the boat and bouy were almost perfect. I need to get back to that state of mind.......

Also, I realised now that if I am sailing the Laser, I am probably going to have to focus on speed because....... It's a race boat....... I've come to terms with that...... 

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 😬

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.