Desi Titanic...

One of the gripes I have always had as an UTSAV member is that we always seem to do the same thing every year... very little innovation, because in general people are too lazy to try new things. But seriously, how much Antakshari can you play? Secondly, I have always felt that the general membership should play an active role in organizing and suggesting events... not just the executive. After all, we are there to execute, but the membership is really what matters.

This year, I was approached by a member about putting together a team for the annual Longboat race. Almost every other club on campus takes an active role in UBC-REC events such as Longboat, whereas UTSAV has always lagged... maybe due to changing club demographics, this trend is changing, but whatever the case, I was pleasantly surprised and happy to try and oblige.

I was even more pleasantly surprised when it turned out that membership was actually more enthusiastic then expected. We had originally planned to subsidize only one team, however, we had enough participants to put together two teams, one mens team, and one coed team. Another UTSAV first! One minor issue for me though... although in general, I like anything sporting... there is one major exception. I really don't like swimming!

I took a few lessons as a kid... my parents insisted on it, as they said I would make use of it later on in my life. Consequently, I did actually learn the basics... how to float, doggy paddle, backstroke, and swim a few lengths of the pool at least. Not an expert, but enough to not drown I guess... However, over time, for some reason, I developed an adversion to water... I once actually almost drowned when I went fishing at a lake (long story, maybe for another blog entry), and had to be pulled out by an uncle... secondly, I was a bit fussy about swimming in public pools with people releasing god knows what kind of fluids into the water. Finally, and most importantly, I just didn't find it to be much fun. So whenever my friends were enthusiastically diving into the water for a swim, I preferred to remain poolside or laze on the beach.

Now, Longboat (unfortunately for me) is a water-based race where 10 team members enthusiastically paddle around a race course in English Bay, and ends off with the boat landing on the beach, and one of the team members running upto the finish line and banging a gong. While I was cool with the gong part, not so much with the boat part... what if we fell in? Well, I decided that I would be a hypocrite to encourage others to try new things, and then chicken out myself... besides, what were chances of us ACTUALLY flipping the boat?

Well, we had a pre-race clinic one week before the race so that everyone would know the rules and get accustomed to rowing the boat. Was pretty simple... I was selected to be the 'driver' who steered the boat, while everyone else was responsible for providing the propulsion to motor along on the water... while initially we had trouble paddling in sync, before we knew it, we were paddling around right in the middle of English Bay... we developed an 'interesting' 'R'-rated chant to keep us paddling in rythm (which I shall not mention as this is a family blog), and after a while, we got the hang of turning the boat left and right... despite the waves, we did quite decently! Satisfied, we decided to head back to shore, and THAT is where things took an interesting turn... literally!

About 100 m from the beach, one (unnamed) teammate decided to enthusiastically turn around and yell at another one of our teammates seated in the middle of the boat... unfortunately in his enthusiasm, he gave the boat a sudden shake which tipped it one way... and without warning, my worst fears came true and the Pacific Ocean which had until then managed to stay OUTSIDE of the boat, now started to pour INTO the boat! Within a split second, the boat was almost completely submerged, and flipped right over, and before I knew it, I was floating in the middle of English Bay!

In the ensuing panic, it was like a desi version of the 'Titanic'... bodys in the water, everyone screaming and shouting at each other! Thank god for our life jackets which kept everyone afloat! Not to mention, the waters of the Pacific Ocean are much colder then I ever imagined, and I was afraid that if I wasn't pulled out in minutes, some of my body parts would freeze and start falling off... However, despite my water phobia, I actually managed to stay relatively calm, and shouted at everyone to try and relax... one of my teammates sprawled himself on top of the overturned boat, while the others clung onto each other and the sides of the boat for dear life... I was genuinely worried for one or two of them who were shivering scared... I was barely staying afloat myself... what would we do if one of them went under? Well, thankfully, I didn't have to find out, as after what seemed like an eternity, but was in reality not more than 2 min, the rescue boats arrived to pull us out... one of the rescue members chuckled at us and told us we were the first boat of the day to flip... I chuckled back, and cursed at him in my head as I swam over, away from the flipped boat and into the rescue raft. One by one, we all climbed on to the rescue boats, and headed back to the beach... when we got back on dry land the spectators on shore gave us an enthusiastic ovation... not know what to do, I bowed back!

At the time, when the boat was submerged, the whole incident did not seem funny at all... but in retrospect, I think for some of us, the unexpected swim in the Pacific was maybe the funnest part of the entire event! Morals of the story, boys and girls?

1. Your biggest fears are often not as bad as they seem...
2. When in a boat, always wear your lifejacket...
3. Mom and Dad have an uncanny way of always being right!

(PS, We DID compete in the actual race today, successfully finished, and most importantly, this time we did NOT flip the boat... )