North Star's maiden trip with CPT Lee CW_25 July 2010

Sorry for the grammar mistakes this report was written under intense alcohol intoxication resulted from non-stop beer intake from 3pm to 8pm...

Supposed to meet Leonard and hit the waters again and alas! he was down with fever and needed the rest. The 6 of us decided to 'break the rules' and started the engine.

CPT Lee CW accepted the challenge and the rest was history. We knew the biggest challenge was getting North Star out and back into the marina. Our plan: I took the bow and dave took the stern.
To our pleasant surprise, the friendly red shirts knew how 'good' we were and came to help us.
North Star eased out to Punggol effortlessly...with Cpt Lee's steady control.

The next challenge was to along side North Star with the prawn farm...and we did it candidly with the help of the prawn vendor...pulling the rope, all of us crowd to the starboard side to ensured North Star did not bump onto the kelong...and Cpt Lee has to issue a 'warning' to get some of our asses to the port side to balance North Star....

With the v happy prawns in the bait well, we started our short fishing trip. No luck near the pasir ris side and we tried one last final stop near Punggol. Just when beer and morale were running low, Liang Feng's rod suddenly made a huge bent. BAM! it was a beautiful ACK...about 700-800g.



































This was the only fish in the trip, but it definitely is a good start of North Star's adventures...

North Star's Sea trial #3

Master Skipper: Leonard

Apprentice Skipper: Chee Wai
Deck man#1 - Dave Ang
Deck man#2 - James Chan
Weather: Rainy again! Choppy waves
Start Point: Punggol Marina
Route: Changi SAF club and back

Start time: 3pm

End time: 7pm without dinner, 10pm with dinner

I think we are really cursed because all of our sea trials were greeted with rain...

Anyways, this was our best sea trial so far and Chee Wai was the most 'stressed' one coz he has to learn a crush course to drive and berth North Star in just 4 hrs...But he did a fantastic job!!! All of us enjoyed the ride and reached MCC in one piece. Of course, all thanks to the great 'shi fu', Mr Leonard.

Lesson #1-Cruising in straight line

Launched North Star into the waters

Shi Fu giving Chee Wai the tips to drive her straight.


















Met Alex and another kayakist near Punggol jetty...not bad, they got some nice size catches.

Lesson #2 - Refuelling (very important)

Lesson #3 - Anchoring

No pictures taken and I was the unofficial one appointed and I must admit that this is the toughest! Though the anchor was not very heavy but pulling the 15ft anchor line under choppy wave conditions is no joke!

We decided to take a break at Changi SAF yacht club and went to Shi Fu's boat, a super chio 39 footer Harrestas. Beautifully refurbished with aircon, beds, toilet with shower 'room', mini kitchen and living room with sofa set...I can live onboard full time man.
Here I am trying to be the skipper of the beauty at the fly bridge...

Finally, it's time to head back for the final lesson at the marina...
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And half way thru, we needed to do a emergency break for the 2 'uncles'...



















Lesson#4 - Berthing (Toughest)

This is the hardest part and Chee Wai has to practice it during night, kilat man!
He tried his best and shi fu said he needed more practice!


















We met Ian, Merv and Jimmy who came back from Tekong trip at the dock. They are super seow on man, started from 8am till 8pm. Super hardcore.
All of us had a good time at the Punggol kopitiam, sharing sea stories and lots of beer...Grrrreat company!!!
The night ended with some of the guys pushing Jimmy's car which needed 'human starter'...