When I came back from my Chiangmai Expedition I gleefully remarked to my other half that I could now happily stay home every weekend without kayaking for at least an entire month! I spoke too soon as Guan called me and asked if I could take them kayaking this weekend. Uh oh! Since he and Law went kayaking at my place for the first time, this adventurous duo had been out kayaking on their own every weekend since. They had even done an overnight kayaking trip at Batang Air on the long weekend. However these two trips had been plagued with ‘scary’ incidents. Since they already had their mishaps and I my fair share of misadventures at Chiangmai – and with an ‘experienced’ kayaker like me to show them the ropes surely what else can go wrong, right? Wrong!

They were free on Saturday afternoon and it so happened that my other half was also not too keen to attend a lunch function which I could now skip (!); I suggested Santubong as I know of an easy put-in with sheltered waters and this would also be a nice introduction of sea conditions to them.

Guan and Law brought along a Stearns “Back Country” tandem inflatable recreational canoe/kayak. They did their customary easing of themselves before getting into their kayak. The sun was shining, the sky was blue and the sea was calm with a nice breeze as we paddled away from the boat ramp towards “Monkey Island”. Guan took out his camera and started clicking away. “I took a picture of you Francis!” Just a short while out I noticed that they were not following me; so I turned back to check on them.

Guan was making futile efforts to pump the foot-pump with his hands! One of the 3 air chambers must be leaking as the right side tube was getting soft. I suggested that perhaps I could pump it from the foot rest of my sit-on-top. As I stepped on the pump with Law holding it I inadvertently kicked my water bottle into the water. Just then the winds picked up and the sky turned dark. Even though we had started to notice dark clouds in the distant horizon; we were still startled by this sudden change in weather. We headed back to shore with the wind trying to ‘snatch’ the paddles from us and blowing our kayaks every which way but inland. The seas turned choppy and sky turned dark making monkeys out of us as we paddled frantically. Luckily we were only a short distance from shore and we breathed sighs of relief on terra-firma the sky opened up on us. We were drenched. They then mentioned between grimacing smiles that this is the second time this had happened!

We adjoined to Buntal Village for a simple lunch to wait out the rain; thereafter as we head back to our cars we noticed that the air chamber of the Stearns had completely deflated! The next time should I ever get on an inflatable – I’ll remember Guan and Law’s Law!

Stumble It!