Penang Swimming Club Regatta 10-11 March 2001 It has been a whirlwind month...it went by almost as fast as I thought Carl Lewis had run passed me. Training wound down to moderation 2 days before the Penang Regatta which was held over 10-11 March at Penang. It was intended to stretch me in all manners and much more, indeed, than I had imagined. We rented 3 cars and drove up on Friday afternoon with 7 sets of equipment and 2 coaches. It proved to be a longer ride than we had planned for, with much unforeseen delays. Ranging from roof racks, bladder problems, paper work, you name it we had it. :) Setting off from our club at 3 p.m., we reached Penang only at 2+ a.m. (real early!). Just when I had expected myself to be able to get a much-deserved sleep, the boys wanted supper, and beer. Off we went, to eat the famous Penang char kway teow, laksa etc...when we were done, it was almost 4 a.m. after we cleared a horrendous road construction jam. I figured I slept only at 5 a.m. The next morning at 10 a.m., we were gobbling down our breakfast at KFC before rushing to the Opening Ceremony at 11 a.m. at the Penang Swimming Club. Blah blah blah... we rigged up our gear and were on the water after lunch. There, we waited for 2 hrs for the OD to lay, relay buoys, shift and reshift the boat etc...I had to do my pre-race homework 4-5x which truly frustrated me! They just cannot decide if the OD boat be on the starboard or port side of the start line. They also cannot decide on the range of wind shifts, plus, the start line was a wee too short. The best part was, the start line port buoy was also the 3rd mark which boats will round coming downwind. And, there are 470s, catamarans & lasers racing on the same course, and windsurfers start last. I had my first shock doing my first start, when I decided it was port bias and was nicely pa0srked there...and at 1 min, charging head-on with a bunch of catamarans, 470s & lasers. I had my first screwed-up start for the regatta. Ker Wan & I had supposedly had good starts considering port start was correct. We overlooked a major wind shift and overlayed enough for the whole fleet to tack on top of us. I spent the rest of the race just trying to recover from my mistakes and finished decent. We had another race and finished well though I can't remember what position. By the way, the wind was good...ranging from 10-13 knots. Thank God we had minimal pumping that day. I survived much better than I imagined...despite the lack of sleep, jet lag and fatigue. We rewarded ourselves with loads and loads of Penang good food afterwards. From char kway teow, laksa, prawn noodles, mee chiam kuay, soya bean, rojak etc...to buying loads of pirated VCDs...Sunday's race was exciting. The wind was lighter, sometimes planing on upwind in gusts but it was otherwise, predominantly pumping for the 3 races. There were protests, changes in finish rules and arguments. I hesitate to write these accounts with optimism but I was honestly pissed off by some of our sailors, and definitely, the OD. The OD had made changes to the finish line rule only to revert it back after the race and qualify all the sailors who had not obeyed the rule. This resulted in some sailors losing their positions to those who were ignorant of the change. This caused Thye to lose his first place (including 300RM) to Andrew (who had missed the correct finish line). I had my points reverted too... and sailors who had multiple OCS and flouting of rules were not penalised at all. Unfairness and lack of integrity reigns in this regatta and many of us swear never to return again. I came in 4th in the Mistral Men's class ultimately, sailing very well and holding my own among the boys. I had insulted the guy whom I had asked if I could join the Men's class since there is no Ladies class or Open class. He had told me most gently that I could take part if I just wanted to have some fun. Sure...I wanted fun but I came to do well...:) POWERPUFF GIRLS RULE!!!!! 2001 KL SEA Games Trials 17 March to 1 April 2001 Till now, we have done 12 races in this series of 16 races to make up the SEA Games Trials. 4 of these are Singapore Open & Tudor International races. Tudor was the worst race I have in this series and the curse child. I had 10 points for both which I have no choice but to discard. My March trials races were good, having one of the top 5 scores in the team of 11 sailors taking part in this selections. In these races over the last 2 weeks, my scores were (positions counted as Overall in the fleet of 11): 2, 8, 8, 5, 5, 2, 7 & 4. We are allowed to discard 4 races in this series and unfortunate for my Tudor results and a couple flukes (storms and sudden wind shifts), I could have much better results than these. The best races are my 2 races of 2nd positions. I had one each week. The rest are average results and in those circumstances, I will focus on covering my rival and making sure I cross the line ahead of her. Ultimately, I strive for personal best races which mean top 4 positions. Everytime the conditions are tricky and shifty where wind judgement supercedes pumping prowess, I tend to excel. I got the 7th position in a strong wind race where everything bad began to snowball on the start line. I had TC Chua who was on Formula equipment, knocking me hard just as we charged off the line. I couldn't recover my rhythm and groove...Murphy's law took over from then...everything bad happened since. At the moment, I'm 4th overall in the National Team (out of 11) in this selections and fighting to climb to 3rd and keeping my Ladies champion podium to myself. I hoped I proved the point that lady windsurfers are no losers among the boys... We have had decently light training load this week...all of us were on shortboard on Tuesday when it blew up to 16 kts. I enjoyed the relaxing planing, smooth gybes and jumps. My ankles hurt now...from jumping off the lip of the waves and not landing properly. Yesterday we sailed long distances focusing on riding waves on upwind/downwind. I figured I love riding on waves...the thrills are tremendous. Coach commented that my speed sense is very good now. After 3 weeks of hard hard racing, the pain has finally taken its toll on me. Aching and in pain, fatigued and tired, even a massage session last night eased me only for the night. Everyone in the Trials is tired and the sailor who perseveres till the end wins! Though I'm leading the Ladies now, I cannot rest on my laurels. Respect my rivals and never never ever underestimate them. You never know when they can beat you unawares until you have crossed the finish line in the last race. Stay tuned for the final results...the Straits Times and Sportscity will cover this final showdown this weekends. :)