I am Sailing...

...I am Sailing
Home again 'cross the sea
I am sailing, stormy waters
To be near you, to be free

Well, those are the opening lyrics to the famous 'Sailing' song by Rod Stewart. Part of it were true as the waters off Pulau Duyong was quite rough and the wind was challenging as mad redo1 and his band of brothers in the newly formed Team OMEGA took to the waters for the 2011 Heritage Bay Cup - Ides of March Edition.

With the recent high magnitude earthquake and tsunami in Japan, mad redo1 feared that the event might be cancelled but in the end it received a 'go ahead' from the relevant authorities.

With many of the Team AG:eing members were not available, thus the name was changed to Team OMEGA, mostly influenced by the hastily procured team attire which borne the name of the health drinks, Nesvita Omega Plus.

This time there was no Ai-Li in sight but we drew the name Sean who turned out to be a friend of the sea loving city girl. Sean told us Ai-Li would be starting a new job on Monday, thus could not make it to Pulau Duyong this time around.

Thus, mad redo1, Mat Ming and Abu of the original Team AG:eing boarded the F36 boat with a new set of crew of Vam, Jim, Robert and Airy. After an hour and a half practice session the team was ready for action which was scheduled to start at 1500hrs.

Once again, it was a good start and Team OMEGA finished the first race on a winward-leeward course in third place. The choppy waters and strong winds certainly tested the crew and with heavy rain coming down it was a whole new experience for mad redo1.

To mad redo1's amazement the exact same thing happened as it was during the Monsoon Cup Edition as Team OMEGA found themselves finishing last in the second race which was done in a trapezoid course.

Of course there was some moments when another team bumped into us which should have been penalised (but was not) and another hit the buoy (again, no penalty) that could see us finishing at least fourth.

The third race was back on a windward-leeward course and we rallied together and managed to finish fourth. with a 3-5-4 score, Team OMEGA occupied the the number four spot of the five teams event.

At least the initial objective of not finishing last was achieved.

Will Team AG:eing make a return in the scheduled June edition? It looks likely as Mrs Birch had already stated her intention to return and helms the F36 again.

To everybody in Team OMEGA, congratulations!



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Horsing...

...Around.

After the excitement in the water during the Heritage Bay Cup, Monsoon Cup 2010 Edition with Team AG:eing, mad redo1 will take his interest a bit inland with the Sultan's Cup Terengganu Endurance Challenge 2010 at The Terengganu International Equestrian Park in Lembah Bidong, Setiu, Terengganu.

The following information are taken from www.Equestrian.com.my:

The Sultan’s Cup 2010 is an CEI 2* endurance race run over 120km of undulating terrain with a time limit of 12 hours including holding time totalling 210 minutes at the first four vet gates. The race consists of five phases. The first phase is 30km, second phase is 25km, third phase is 20km, fourth is 25km and the fifth and final phase is 20km.

At the vet gates, horses’ heart rates will be checked and must be 64 beat per minute (bpm) within 20 minutes and at the final exam, the heart rate must be 64 bpm within 30 minutes. If the stipulated heart rates are not achieved the horse will be disqualified. The minimum weight for riders is 75 kg.

Seri Paduka Baginda Raja Permaisuri Agong Tuanku Nur Zahirah will flag-off of the 2010 Sultan’s Cup at the Terengganu International Endurance Park (TIEP) at 5.00pm on Saturday, 6 November.

mad redo1 intends to be there during the flag-off to capture a few shots of this prestigious tournament. With Linda is away again, it is up to him to keep the AKSes occupied during the weekend.

Of course prior to the flag-off the organizers already lined up a number of programme aimed at the general public who will come to the event, mad redo1 and the AKSes included.


...

Ocean...

...Deep!

Well, not really.

The estuary of the Terengganu River is not that deep, even to the extend that a F36 Monsoon Cup yacht could run aground if it sails too near to the shore. How does mad redo1 know all this?

He just competed in the Heritage Bay Cup, The Monsoon Cup 2010 Edition with his Team AG:eing.

mad redo1 is not a sailor and he never intend to become one during his childhood years. But since the annual Monsoon Cup tour came to town in 2005 it has been his ambition to get himself onto the boat.

Last year was the closest when someone offered him the chance to ride with the competitors during the race but due to his 'busy' schedule, he only got to shoot pictures of the race from the balcony of the Marina building.

Then when mad redo1 received this call, he did not have to think twice and within a day a crew of seven was assembled. Taking into consideration the average age of the crews (39.3 years old) thus the name Team AG:eing was adopted.

A set of sailing attire was ordered and printed with the name of the team and the crew, at a very low cost, thanks to the sponsorship by the print-shop owner himself who then delivered the shirts on the very next day after confirming the order.

Anybody wishing to get a good deal on uniforms/shirts or other items can get in touch with ABB Jaya Enterprise via e-mail: abbjaya_05@yahoo.com or contact the manager: Encik Anuar at 013-927-1418. The business already has a good reputation in kT.

On Friday, the crew assembled at The Ri-Yaz Heritage Marina and after a briefing by Mr David Mills, the Programme Facilitator, Team AG:eing took to the water on a F36 boat under the tutelage of Miss Ai-Li and Miss Anushka. Of course it was just a short with just over an hour for these ageing brains to absorb all the information needed in order to compete later in the afternoon.

Then it was time for Friday Prayers.

The race time could not come soon enough for the crew. Despite having a few butterflies in the stomach everybody was in an upbeat mood. After Mr Mills had given the racing brief, everybody headed out to the marina and this time everyone seemed to know their job.

Linda a.k.a. Mrs Birch had taken the role of the skipper while mad redo1 a.k.a. The Birch would be the Bowman. These roles put both of them at different ends of the boat. Nizam or more more affectionately known as Kulat had volunteered for the role of the Mast-man while the rest of the crew namely Abu, Hilmi a.k.a. Mat Ming, Enal and Eskay became trimmers and grinders for port and starboard sides respectively.

The weather was similar to the monsoon which made us more excited with the challenge.

Race One was done on a Windward Leeward Course and after a few tacking and jiving we surprised ourselves by coming in at third place. Not bad, not bad at all for a crew of beginners.

Unfortunately for Race Two which was done on a Trapezoid Course, our advisor 'seemed' to be misjudging the distance in getting to the starting line in time for the start of the race. As a result we were already 15 seconds behind the rest of the pack. It was not a recoverable distance and Team AG:eing finished last.

For Race Three which returned to the Windward Leeward Course we timed our start almost perfectly and despite going in different direction from the rest of the pack it seemed that we were still in a good position to at least finish at least among the top four of this race.

Unfortunately several 'questionable advices' threw us off the pace and after hitting a buoy which induced a penalty, Team AG:eing really looked the age as we finished last again. Thus the two last finishes put paid to our hopes of not finishing last of the pack.

The sailing bugs certainly have bitten us hard and we are certainly looking forward to competing again in the next edition of the Heritage Bay Cup.

Watch out world, Team AG:eing is coming at you again!

By the way the Heritage Bay Cup was won by the Ri-Yaz Sailing Team.



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