For the last few weeks Papa T has been attending rowing training sessions in preparation for a series of races organised to highlight the charity the Mission to Seafarers. This charity looks after the welfare of seafarers in 200 ports across 20 countries https://www.missiontoseafarers.org
2 Cornish pilot gigs were imported two years ago for a fundraising effort for this charity in which the boats were rowed around the whole island of Singapore and raised thousands of dollars in the process
Over the few weeks of training Papa T and his fellow volunteer oarsmen had become more in time with each other, more skilled at manoeuvring the boat and had thoroughly enjoyed the exercise
They trained in Cruise Bay, the small bay between Harbourfront at the southern tip of mainland Singapore and the resort island of Sentosa and this is where the race took place last weekend. The beautiful tall ship the Royal Albatross was the venue for the event's base camp and a lovely place to relax and watch the races from
During the heat, humidity and the occasional tropical downpour the races took place between the 8 teams. The teams came from a cross section of the maritime community including cadets, students from the maritime academy, lawyers and workers from the insurance industry
Papa T and his team took part in the first race and started well but after only a few minutes one of the 'pins' that hold the oars in place suddenly broke causing the oarsman to fall back, miss his stroke and the whole crew were left flailing for a moment or two and subsequently lost a lot of ground
They lost that race and unfortunately the second race but after an intense battle they won their last race-hooray
They were pretty pleased not to have been last overall and in fact were awarded the best looking trophy of the whole competition
These races were the trial run for a much larger event planned for later in the year, which gives Papa T and his shipmates plenty of time to train and improve-hopefully
