It struck my heart suddenly. Having trained on water before, this incident really held me breathless for a moment. It was merely just another training session, but an unfortunate event happened & claimed lives. I cried when I saw the news in the paper/TV. Parents crying out loud; there was one couple who lost their only child after 12years childless. It was horrible.
Insight look into watersports. Believe me, if it is possible, everyone who does water sports will not want to wear a life jacket. Life jacket is created in such way that it does not permit free movement, hence harder to paddle & it might cause capsize if not balanced properly. World championship rowing does not include life jacket into its race course. Kayakers have its version of racing life jacket; thin enough to be worn as a spagetti strap/singlet. It does have the property of life jacket, but will not float for long. For your information, normal life jackets have its lifespan. Upon expiry, the sponge tend to absorb water & does not float for long. That might have happened to the drown teacher with life jacket on. Perhaps a racing life jacket with a floating feature should be looked into.
Also, the other factor was the organizer itself. Why do a race course on a busy water route? Near jetty, you have all sorts of ships coming in & out. I seriously think the head organizer should take full responsibility on this. These kids are innocent. They are brilliant & still young. However it is, this serves as a message for all the sports enthusiasts out there; not only watersports athlete. I felt that sports hazard could have happened to me as well as i am careless & like training. Need to keep this incident in as reminder. God bless them
saya sangat setuju dgn puan nurul ain. I remembered last time when we kayaked from Pulau Aman back to Water Sports Centre at Batu Feringghi. Weather was really bad with big waves, and some kayaks capsized. Luckily, we were provided with bulky lifevests - and that helped us out.
ReplyDeleteFong, didn't they find the teacher's body under the capsized boat with the life jacket stuck to it?
ReplyDeleteWell whatver it is, someone needs to be accountable for it. Though it will not bring back the dead, but at least the parents can find a closure. I dont think they blame anyone though. such a tragedy and unnecessary lost of lives.
ian: guess u know the bulky life jacket feeling too =)
ReplyDeletekash: teacher was under the boat? din read dat part. life jacket has its shelf life. expired jacket will float for a while, eventually water sips into the sponge. kesian sangat kat dorg...
fong... i believe it's not a race during it happened. Kalau x sure ada bot penyelamat etc... Diorg turun berlatih jer... did u saw the headline? "Pelajar dikhuatiri lemas ketika mendayung"... scary tul!! I was shocked & carefully watch the news. Takut2 kat tempat kita...
ReplyDeleteNauzubillah...
k.mus, tu lar pasal.. dorg training jer.. tp silapnyer, race course tu kat jetty, dats y budak2 g training situ.. nak train ngan wave skalik kot... hope kite nyer ok lar..
ReplyDelete