Protecting our Freedom and Individual Rights

I want to go to sea and sail the oceans. To experience true freedom unshackled from the throngs of society and prohibitions. To sail responsibly because I want to and not because I'm compelled to do so. To be a respecter of nature, immersed and not just an observer oblivious of the magical moments that unravel before me. This TED talk is a mind opener.

Dr Sylvia Earle 

Dr Sylvia Earle - Sustainable Seas, The Vision, The Reality

   

An Interesting Video depicting Singapore and Johor in the early 20th Century

Watch and enjoy the era now past....

Fishing gets better in Singapore with new age anglers

The old style of fishing with live or dead baits do not catch pelagic fish such as Trevally and Scad as easily as artificial lures. You get better results with ready made jigs like Sabiki and Sure-Catch or micro jigs which comes in countless designs and colors. The other variable is the fishing spot and timing. Do you fish on a rising or falling tide with a strong or weak current. It seems the more academic you are the less likely you will catch fish. The experts observe much and speak little.

   

The Grady Tiger Cat 18 years old and still going strong

Eleven years ago, a friend of mine bought a used Grady Catamaran, modeled as the Tiger Cat. It was Grady White's entry into multi-hulls. It was also to be the last time they built a Cat. Shortly after the introduction of the Tiger Cat, Grady decided to halt production of Catamarans and stick to mono hulls. A decision that remains till this day. I often wondered why. After having used the Tiger Cat, the last 11 years, I am convinced beyond any doubt that this 26 foot Grady with twin 150HP  Outboards, handles the chops far better than the Grady mono hulls; especially in head seas. So I am surprised they didn't expand the Cat range instead.  Anyway, I'm sold on the Grady Cat. Its one hull of a boat.

The Tiger Cat at RSYC where she is based 

The Boat Owner and his excited kids

A much healthier lifestyle away from computers and TV

The need to go out to sea

Man shall not live by bread alone. Neither should we live life just to work. I have been extremely occupied with work the past 8 months. That being out of necessity to put bread on the table but makes for an unhealthy unbalanced life. Responsibility is the motivation behind my preoccupation not so much a higher desire to move up the ladder of fame and fortune.

In any case, I felt I was missing out on a balanced life and decided to push myself to go out to sea again; even for a few hours of fishing or just plain cruising around. The unplanned trip was absolutely refreshing. Ahh!! how I miss being at sea on a boat away from the madding crowd.

Drift fishing off Pempang North Cardinal Mark

Low maintenance, high performance fishing machine, the Grady White

David with a Queen Fish caught on No 16 Jig Hooks 

  

Remembering the Vietnamese Refugees

It was on a cool raining morning on Boxing day 39 years ago, when I joined the Navy. At 18 years I felt I was already all grown up. I didn't know what grown up meant. Shortly after Midshipman training when I graduated as a 2nd Lieutenant, I was thrust into the harsh reality of the struggles of the Vietnamese Refugees. My first hand encounters with these people in rickety over-crowded wooden boats opened my eyes to the harsh reality of the world we live in. A world where governments don't protect its citizens; where you are responsible for your own survival. Where blaming someone else is a luxury albeit a pointless one. You either make the best of your circumstances, or die trying. I had never been to Vietnam and have not met Vietnamese people before. They were a "distant" country and people. I had no feelings for them. However, things changed immediately during my first face to face encounter with them. I felt sorrow, pain and anguish for these boat people; for their sufferings, their pain and their sense of hopelessness, every time we turned them away for reaching the shore. These pictures bring back memories of the time when innocence was lost forever.