Calm before the storm

In Perhentian with my fellow DSA swim instructors today, I had my second big test in scuba diving. (The first was in July 2010 when I survived a panic attack inside a shipwreck.) Today we did our last dive of the day at the Perhentian light house. We began our descend at around 5.30pm. Towards the end of the dive, while underwater, we noticed that it was getting dark very quickly. We also saw a few light flashes. We thought some people were taking photos. We did our 5 minutes safety stop, and as we were coming up, I looked up and saw lots of raindrops. I thought, uh-oh, this is not good! True enough, it was raining heavily up there. No, it wasn't just rain, it was a full-fledged storm! The waves were 3-4m high! Those flashing lights we saw earlier were actually lightning bolts! I felt like I was in a bad dream. It really looked like a scene from a Hollywood disaster movie. A single bolt of lightning even struck very close to one of my friends. We were caught in a storm at sea. Our boat was nowhere to be seen. We did not know where we were. We looked around and could see nothing but gigantic waves. We shouted for help but quickly realised how futile it was. I tried taking off my mask once but the rain was so heavy, I had to put it back on again. There were five of us. Three including me were swimming instructors. The other two were new divers. Both girls. They were quiet. One of them was so new, it was only her second leisure dive after becoming certified. I was scared (too). I had a lot of confidence in my swimming ability but this was my first taste of what the forces of Nature could do to Man. We are no match. Really. If this was how I was gonna go, I thought, at least I'd die doing something that I liked. But we did two right things straight away. The first was to remain calm. The second was to huddle together for moral support and to maintain body heat. I learnt this during BOSET (basic offshore safety training for oil and gas workers) last year. We learnt afterwards that this was a freak storm which nobody saw coming. The last time it happened in Perhentian was about 10 years ago. Our dive master Jamie asked if anyone had a whistle. None of us did. For a while there, we were not quite sure what to do. Our BC jackets were fully inflated and that allowed us to bob around in the rough sea without using much energy. Then, our boat came back. It was a bit of relief, but not for long because we then realised the boat was of no help as it was rocking violently. It would've killed anyone trying to get onto it. Jamie then saw some lights. "Listen everyone. We're going to swim back to the jetty!" he said. It was then that we realised we were some 300m away from shore, so there was hope. We stayed together and swam on our back, all the while conserving energy. We sang songs to keep our spirits up. At one point, I developed a cramp in my right leg but was able to resolve it quickly. We finally reached the jetty after what must've been an hour swimming in the sea. It took some time for the whole thing to sink in. But now, every time Jamie, Chow Wei, Chow Kuan, Shanice and Geraldine see the Perhentian light house, we can smile and laugh about it. I call our group of survivors the Lighthouse Family.

When All Is Said And Done

Welcome to heli

There are so many things people do not know about how things work in the oil and gas industry.

For example, people think you can just board a chopper and fly to the oil platforms. No, it's not that simple. You need training before you can go to an oil platform.

This is because the platforms are a sensitive area. One wrong move and things can go *TEBA-BO!!!* -- or however you would spell the sound of explosions.

Also, being hundreds of kilometres away from shore, the sea may not be... well, let's just say the sea may not be the calm, pretty waters you get in Tioman or Perhentian. And in worst case scenarios, you need to know how to stay alive for days, even weeks, in the water before help arrives.

Which is why, oil companies have made it compulsory for everyone going to oil platforms for work or even a short visit to sit for a safety course.

Called BOSET, or Basic Offshore Safety and Emergency Training, the three-day course is designed to equip you with basic skills for handling emergencies.

I was privileged enough to be assigned by my company to attend BOSET in preparation for an offshore study visit.

I learnt useful BOSET skills like firefighting, CPR, sea survival and many more.


But really, the heart of BOSET is HUET, or Helicopter Underwater Escape Training. When people, especially first timers, talk about BOSET, this is what they fear the most.

HUET is supposed to simulate a helicopter crash landing at sea and going below. Once underwater, you're supposed to unbuckle yourself, pop open the window and swim to the surface.

But not before waiting for at least 10 seconds for the main rotor to stop turning, otherwise you risk getting decapitated.

Hence, welcome to heli.

We do not use real helis for the training, only a fibreglass shell with cockpit and windows made to look like a heli.

It's a straightforward affair: you get into the simulator, buckle up and wait for the instructors to submerge the heli. Then you escape.

You do not need to be a good swimmer to do this exercise, but you do need some measure of water confidence.

In the old days, trainees had to hold their breaths during HUET. Not anymore. In 2008, a thingamajig called Emergency Breathing System (EBS) was introduced. It's basically a rebreather integrated into your life jacket that allows you to breath underwater for a good one minute or so.

If you're already a scuba diver, this is kacang putih (piece of cake).

Each of us got to perform the HUET four times, two of which with the heli turned upside-down. It was fun.

Apart from HUET, we also learnt skills such as how to jump from height without having the lifejacket bashing your face and how to minimise heat loss from long hours in the water by using the HELP and Huddle positions.

I passed my BOSET without any problem.

I'm glad I went for BOSET. Apart from enjoying myself, there was a take-home message: that just because you're a diver or swimmer, doesn't mean you automatically know how to save yourself at sea. For your own survival, everyone should be open to learning.

Dedicated to friends and instructors from DSA

Taking to the sky

I am on my way to obliterating my fear of height.

YT and I went paramotoring the other day. You're probably familiar with paragliding. Well this is something similar but with a motor behind your back.

It's the easiest and cheapest form of powered flight. Only Rocketeer's backpack or Iron Man's suit could beat it!

We flew tandem, of course, since flying a paramotor requires a license issued by the Malaysian Department of Civil Aviation.

The flights took place in an open field in Pulau Indah near Port Klang.

It's very simple. You just rest your bum in the tiny seat right in front of the pilot, they strap you in and off you go. You can be airborne in a few minutes.

Well, it should be that simple. But not in my case. The pilot had to abort the first two take-off attempts. The RM12,000 wing had lost its 'power', so to speak.

"It has exceeded its 400 hour flight limit, so we're not getting enough lift," said Pok Soh, my pilot.

Uh-oh. Should I be concerned about this?

"Not to worry. Once we're airborne, it's ok," said Pok Soh, probably sensing my unease.

True enough, we were successful in our third attempt. Although, because of the condition of the wing, it was a very slow ascent.

I looked down. I had little more than this tiny seat and some metal frames below me.

Strangely enough, I wasn't afraid.

"How high up does it go?" I asked Pok Soh through the radio communication. "500ft," he said.

At 400ft (which is apparently the restriction imposed by the DCA for paramotors), Pok Soh switched off the engine and we began to glide like a bird.

Flying in complete silence. It was really, really peaceful.

I looked around and saw the sea and had trouble recognising the tiny cars and cows on the ground.

Pok Soh then got me to take over control. With both arms extended, I was able to control the glider. Pull right to turn right, pull left to turn left. It was effortless.

We spent some time circling the airspace.

After about ten minutes (which was too short!), we went back to the landing field. I had difficulty locating it initially as everything looked different from up there.

Landing was a straightforward affair and does not need a large space.

As soon as we touched down, I wondered when I would get on that RM150 flight again.

They say once you have tasted flight, you'll want to be up there again. It's true.

Standard Chartered run

The last time I ran the 10k, I injured my left knee.

Which wasn't all bad as it forced me to spend more time at the pool. I became a better swimmer as a result.

But I was worried about my knee. The injury was rather serious. I felt pain in my left knee after long walks. I was worried that the injury was permanent and that I would never run again.

When a FB friend invited me to sign up for a recent Standard Chartered KL Marathon, I said yes.

We trained together. We had about three months before the run, but the training wasn't regular. I felt it wasn't enough.

So I set a modest goal: to finish.

Preferably, to finish running. At the last run (the Mizuno Wave run in 2009), I aggravated my knee injury halfway into the run and limped all the way to the finishing line. It was hell.

It was also nice that this time around, a bunch of fellow divers and swimmers from Dolphin also joined in the run. They, too, claimed to not have enough training and so we said we'd see how it goes (and stop for cendol if we got too tired lol).


Me and my scuba and swimming instructor Cyrena

This was also the first time I took the LRT to a 10k run. I was out of the house by 6am.

I expected the train to be empty. I was so wrong. By the time the LRT reached my station (and it's only the SECOND station), it was packed with people in green running singlets. I just managed to squeeze in.

(Lesson learnt for race organisers: you must get Prasarana to use the four-car LRT on race mornings. That day, it was the shorter two-car LRT.)

The event for 10k started near Tugu Negara at 7am.

By the time I got to the starting line, I was already drenched in sweat because I ran from the Masjid Jamek station to the starting line.

I started my run at a pace that I could maintain comfortably.

One thing that I did differently with this run was I kept running. I did not stop to walk. No matter the route, even when going uphill, I just kept running at a constant pace.

I found that I was able to pass so many people this way.

By the time I remembered to check my mileage, It was already at kilometre 6. I was surprised.

I did feel something in my left knee at kilometre 8 however, so I had to scale down my pace.

But after the final turn on Jalan Tuanku Abdul Rahman, the pain somehow went away. I ran a bit faster all the way to the finishing line, with lots of people cheering along the way.

I finished my run in 1hr 10mins -- a personal best.

The rest of my Dolphin teammates, too, did well. The best of us did just over 1hr.

I am running and swimming better now than I did in my 20s.

It was a great day.

How to tackle Table Topics

I'm no longer active in Toastmasters, but that doesn't mean I no longer take an interest in how they do things at the world's biggest public speaking club. Specifically, I am most intrigued by how some speakers seem to handle Table Topics so effortlessly.

Table Topics is a segment in a Toastmasters meeting in which participants speak off-the-cuff about a given topic for two minutes.

Two minutes is not a very long time, which is precisely why it is very easy to waste the 120 seconds on making feeble arguments or getting sidetracked, generally not able to really say what you want to say.

So how do you deliver a polished Table Topics speech? Here are some techniques employed by seasoned Toastmasters:

1. 5Ws + H
State the what, where, when, who and how of a given topic.

2. PREP
That is, you state your Point on a given topic, then Re-emphasise your point, followed by an Example and lastly, state the Point again. This technique works well with topics that require you to take a stand.

3. Another approach is talk about the Past --> Present --> Future of a given topic.

4. Yet another technique is to use a Cause --> Result approach.

There you have it. Four techniques at your disposal for tackling Table Topics. And remember also the three rules in public speaking:

* Don't apologise
* Don't ramble
* Don't invent