Today marks my first yacht experience! Was planning to celebrate my big 3 on board a yacht this year but it seems like that’s not quite happening, just way too costly, and happen to stumble upon this SDN event so here I am!
I’m glad I choose a event that’s activity based, cause otherwise I would have been so freaking bored to death haha. Today’s mix is actually kind of funny, in a weird sense, I think this is what they call dark humour. We’ve got an auntie, I’m serious, I guess she’s probably going to or already in her 50s and she displays her auntie personality rather strongly (read: chattering non stop, asking silly questions, big obiang hat, asking for discounts, you get the drift). I think at one point, the yacht instructor really wanted to throw her overboard haha. But there’s much for us to learn from her. She’s totally not shy and goes for what she eyed. She basically start hitting on the instructor and stuck rather close to him haha asking him all sorts of questions and finally when she asked ‘are you single?’ and he said yes, she immediately asked for his number, right in front of the whole group.
I’m impressed, haha well I for one, can’t do that. Then there’s the bimbo who came with thick make up and a furry, look-atas handbag as if she was going shopping instead of a boat trip. Not forgetting the strong silent ranger (read: weird and perhaps psychotic haha) who whispers and one other that didnt appear interested in learning about yachting nor meeting a partner, so I don’t know why he’s there.
Well I’m just glad I went there with the objective of learning about yacht (which I did) and not to meet anyone. It would have been a bonus if I did but it wasn’t the main purpose and no, there wasn’t anyone identified haha. Actually maybe 1 looked rather promising, except he’s ABNN, nothing wrong, just personal preference haha
Learnt quite a bit about yachts today and fell in love with the sea once again. It’s really quite refreshing sitting at the bow (front of the boat) with the breeze in your face, the occasional splatter of sea water (which got a little too much at one point haha), the sound of the waves. Blessed with good weather today, no hot sun, no heavy rain, just light drizzle which made it very comfortable. Lovely lovely weather. In fact, would have loved to just lie on the bow and fall asleep to the tune of waves, if I were in familiar company.
Berthed Yachts @ Raffles Marina, Tuas
Did you know?
Raffles Marina is the very 1st yacht berth in Singapore and can hold up to 250 berths
Our yacht for the day
She has a name, except I couldn’t exactly catch it and the spelling of it 
sounded like some African country, Sa-something, something-li haha. She’s a cosy ride with 3 cabins, yes it looks small from the outside, in fact it is considered a medium size leisure boat but it has 3 cabins at the bottom. This yacht is 55ft long and 25 tonnes heavy with legal capacity of 16 persons including crew.
Runs on AC at the berth and generator on board once she disembarks
Pump room
The look-complicated-but-quite-easy-to-understand control panel
The Captain said the yacht is 17 years old (though he say it was built in 1993 haha either he fail maths or I heard wrongly) and can go up to a maximum speed 20 knots but we cruised at 12 to save fuel. Even though it’s almost 20yrs in age, she clocked just over 700 engine hours which is apparently “very new” because you’ll only have to change an engine after it hits 10,000 hours of usage.
Did you know?
1. Terms of reference
Bow = front of yacht
Port = left of yacht, facing front
Starboard (pronounced as “star-bird”) = right of yacht, facing front
Stern (pronounced as “stun”) = backend of the yacht
(In fact, Captain Andrew shared that “go-stun” in Singlish actually originated from this term, because they used to say “go back” as “go stern” which was pronounced as “go-stun”, which transformed into our Singlish term of “go-stun”)
Cabin = rooms on board a boat
Flybridge = the area where the captain controls the steering
Heads = toilet (according to the Captain, the toilets used to be at the bow, and very tight and small, so the crew had to stick their heads out of the space to breathe, hence the name)
Galley = kitchenett
Galley
Salon = the “living room” area, which is the main resting area in the middle of the boat, fully airconditioned for this one
Salon
Important safety point – doors to the Salon should always be locked otherwise when the boat rocks it’ll slide and becomes a danger to all, in particular the fingers -_-
2. Yachts are measured / categorized by their length and weight. And this 55 footer is considered only a medium-sized yacht. Bigger ones are called Super Yacht and beyond that, Cruise Ships.
3. The “fenders” on board are not to help maintain buoyancy haha, they are to help protect the boat from scratches as it berths
4. You should not allow the yacht to enter waters where the depth of the water underneath it is < 3m
5. Yellow buoy in the sea signifies works-in-progress, so keep clear. Red and Green buoys are to demarc the channel to deconflict the vessels so that everyone knows what to do, which way to go to avoid clashing into each other
6. As the yacht approaches too close to smaller, capsizeable boats (i.e. sampans), out of courtesy, we ought to switch off the engine as the huge waves generated by the engine could flip them over
Not too bad for an hour’s journey huh? I’m a fast learner haha. We headed towards the Puteri Channels, which apparently at 730m apart, is the shortest point between Singapore & Malaysia. With that, we reached Puteri Harbour, just in time for lunch
Puteri Harbour dock
Had lunch at the cafe by the dock
Nasi Kampung - Spicy Fried Rice with Prawns and Chicken
Not too bad, a bit too spicy for me but I survived. And quite cheap, for a rather atas cafe by the dockside, RM8 for this big plate.
After today’s trip I realise yachting is no easy feat. It’s not as simple as controlling a complicated panel of gears and steering wheel. You need to have really good geography and know how to “sense” wind directions, need to be really knowledgeable, knowing when the winds come from which direction and watch the currents, while keeping on track.
Me on the Flybridge
I don’t think I’ll ever aspire to own or operate a yacht on my own, but I would love to go on more of such boat trips. The sea is indeed theraputic, especially for the water dog in me. And for once, the seasick pill worked! 
