Going are the sails... Chapter 2

At the top of the gentle slope of the beach where the
sailors and surfers launch their crafts and boards, a
lookout shack stands under a droopy tall tree. It is a
sturdy makeshift wooden shack with a roof of layered
coconut leaves. Here the lifeguards keep their
vigilant watch through binoculars for the sailors and
windsurfers.

I remembered when i first took up windsurfing at 18yrs
old. What motivated me, a westerner(i used to stay in
Jurong West),who rarely touch sand or even smell a
whiff of the seabreeze, was a TKGS gal whom i was very
fond of. She wrote me a letter of perfumed pages with
photos about her windsurfing adventure and its
culture. And there in my frantic efforts to emulate
the lifestyle of the object of my heart, came Robert
Teng, riding on the waves of a motorboat to rescue me
from being foolishly swallowed up by the unfamiliar
sea.

Robert is still around. He has been rescuing
windsurfers and sailors for more than 20 years. The
wide teethy wrinkled smile that beamed under the
sad-looking hood-lid eyes never fail to lighten the
gravity of any circumstance. He is the man to go to if
you need anything; from contacts for sail repairs,
cheap second-hand boards to the correct techniques of
sailing and windsurfing. This man who is in his late
sixties still walk around half naked, baring his
tanned body with a big midline scar on his chest- a
testimony of a heart operation he so openly admitted
from taking a bit too much of those smoke-sticks which
kept him warm when it rained.

With him is Shamsuddin, a muscular Malay man in the
late forties who worked with him for many years. "Din"
is a serious looking frowny chap who smokes as much as
he takes his job seriously. First look at him and you
feel intimidated and hope not to foul up on safety
precautions at the beach. He would sometimes shout
across to you from the shack. And, thankfully, he
would shout at any other sailor who so unwittingly put
himself at a collision course with you. It was known
around the circle that he used to windsurf
competitively and was good in it. However, one does
not get to see him windsurf that easily. It was only
during one of those days when a freakish storm blew so
hard till the leaves of the trees littered the beach
that I witnessed his lithe figure speeding across the
sea. In late afternoons, Din can be found at the
"windsurfing school" shack located at the west end
corner of the centre premises, doing his prayers.

Robert got another help from the less talkative but
helpful Shukor, a former fisherman. Shukor likes to
fix things and when things are quiet at the beach, you
can see him scraping some small piece of wood with a
blunt knife. Sometimes, i wonder whether he carve
figurines or repair fittings with that piece of wood.
On certain days, he would set out net-traps at to
catch lobsters and crabs. One can see where they are;
the bobbing white oval floats 50-100m from the coast.
Some days, he would be found alone swinging a fine net
over the grassy areas for grasshoppers to feed his pet
birds. On lazy afternoons, his mata-putehs and jambus
chirped happily in the air, making soothing lullabies
with the waves and the rustles of the trees, and
luring any tired mind to restful sleep.

Work is not all that easy for these lifeguards as they
have to be on the constant lookout for the safety and
the lives of the sailors and surfers; other than
ensuring the rental crafts and sailing premises are in
good condition. They have two motorboats moored nearby
which are used for rescue and to tow back stranded
surfboards or dinghies. All sailors and windsurfers
are at the mercy of the capricious wind and currents.
But knowing that there are responsible eyes scanning
for us if we ever run into trouble or when the wind
died, gives us the assurance that we will never be
lost to the ocean.

-adam