A tip on canoeing...

Kamusta!

(That's "Hi!" in Tagalog, by the way)



Another great day in canoeing training! True, maybe it was painful with the fact that Tuesdays are weight trainning days and that today there was resistance water trainning (That's trainning with a big rubber band wrapped around the boat to reduce momentum, for those who don't know; a true killer). But 1) The training was well worth it fof the exercise that makes me spend my holidays well, 2) As the old saying goes, 'Spending misery with friends is better than spending good times alone, for friends can cheer each other throughout the hardship and celebrate the victory together while just playing alone can leave you lonely with no one to share your pleasure with.', and 3) God just haaaaaaad to to give me another talk on the water again. Let me use a couple of paragraphs to give a brief intoduction on Canoeing first...

You see, in a Kayak Double (K2), there is the Frontman and the Backman. The Frontman is the guy who controls the direction of the kayak (Using a tiller inside his cockpit that controls a rudder at the back of the boat), gives a rhythm for both rowers to follow for paddling and is suppose to be the only man onboard the boat allowed to give the following orders: 'Tally Mark Left/Right" (Jam the paddle into the water to brake and rotate the boat at the same time), "Scoop Water Left/Right" (Move SIDEWARDS), "Glide" ( Stop rowwing but let the boat glide on the water) and "Easy" (Stop the boat). The Backman is the guy who basically follows the rhythm AND ensures the balance of the boat. Both men can advise each other on other paddling speeds, like "Pulsing", "Easy Paddling", "70%", "Sprint" or "Burst", and how far they want to continue paddling at that speed, distances being measured either in Meters (just say the no.), Kilometers (no. K) or Bouys (no. Bouys), but they would have to agree on the plan before they can execute it (Duh).

Now let me explain a bit further on the Backman's special duty of balance. The Backman is the guy who controls the balance of the boat. If he tilts to the left, the Frontman will slide to the left of the boat. If he tilts to the right, the Frontman will slide to the right. Basically, this guy is the one who holds onto the 'Self-Destruct' Button of the boat; all he has to do is to purposely lean excessively on one side of the boat and both men will fall out and the boat will capsize! But besides that advantage of power over the boat, the Backman will in turn get the disadvantage of having the ability of feeling every single wobble on the boat; that means that if the Frontman shakes about in his cockpit, the Backman may feel as much as trice the shock. It's just like sitting on an enormous handphone on silent mode with someone trying to call at the other end.

So moving on to today's training, I was paired up with a guy who was well known to be one of the irritating hyperactives in the team and was instructed by my coach to be the Backman because of my great stabability power and the fact that I've been a Frontman for the past month already. So while we were waiting at the 250m (or two-fifty) mark, my partner was playing around with the water, wacking the water towards any nearby boats. Now, wacking water onboard a boat, esspecially a Racing Kayak, can already cause a lot of shaking on the boat. So imagine what I had to deal with back there; I had to stablise the boat with the waves AND counter-attack the extra wobbles at the same time. But one thing I find good about this guy is that he is willing to put in effort to do his stokes properly and win his opponents when he is serious, and with my ability of being able to be seriously quiet, I sure can force him into seriousness quite easily during Distance Trainnings. So I felt that holding back a few angry screams to hold fire wouldn't harm me too much. Although I did try to request from neighbouring boats "for assistance to calm my Steersman".

Then while paddling during training, it dawned into me that didn't Jesus have to go through the same equation of torture? I mean, just like I had to suffer at the expense of my partner for him to enjoy a few seconds of fun before serious training, Jesus had to die on the cross at the expense of us Humans for us to gain freedom from Satan and to forgive every single sin commited by Man past, present and future so that we may be rightious in the site of God, our Daddy. But just like I could have screamed at my partner to stop harassing me, but instead chose to keep quiet since he had my favour, in the same way Jesus could have just told His Dad to just back out of the deal and stop the humiliation and pain, but instead chose to endure it, die in it and complete it all because both of Them loves us very, very much (Read John 3:16 and 17) ! Isn't that touching?

God bless you!