Met Carol to discuss trailwalker training on Lantau. After our chat, I finally dragged myself down to the water and launched Martlet. I was only going to do my 23km routine, but then I haven't had an accident for over a month now, and we all know that's just too good to last...
DB Tai Pak 5:48pm
Kau Yi 6:29
Sunny Is. 6:51
Hei Ling C ???
Mui Wo ???
Marina ???
DB Tai Pak 9:02
That makes 25km in 3hrs 14 mins = 7.7km/hr Plus fumbling with compass and map and fishes and cell phone, so I think, the speed isn't too bad.
Right, the accident. I was just going to go through with my normal 23k island hopping routine, the late evening sky was amazingly beautiful, so beautiful it was, that I forgot to look where I was going before it gets really really dark.
So it got dark, I was rounding the dam of HLC, somehow I thought Disco Bay is the only civilization on Lantau, so I saw city light, and I got drawn into it like a moth drawn into a flame. By the time I noticed there was a welcome store, McD, and China Bear, I knew I was in trouble.
Pulled out my map, since it was too dark to use my regular compass, I tried to use my CASIO watch compass, but somehow it wouldn't give me a reading. And my fingers got tired trying to hold down the backlit button. (it wouldn't stay lit anyway.) I ended up needing to use my strobe light to help me see the black compass that I always wear around my neck. Note to self: next time, get a glow-in-the-dark compass.
Paddling in the dark was unnerving. I wasn't able to judge the distances of the landscape, and a fairly large boat sailed pass me without any light on at all -- no red, no green, no white light, I only saw its silhouette when it moved between me and Disney. It's scary, I wasn't sure if it could see me either (I did had my C-strobe on) and the engine sounded really close to my kayak.
When I finally got out of Mui Wo, I thought my phone rang, because something was vibrating between my legs... strange, I know, because I DID NOT KEEP MY PHONE BETWEEN MY LEGS. Turns out not one but three little fish jumped into my boat. I loosen up my waist band before launching so to alleviate the salt-sore on my ab, and the fishes just slide right into my pants... ;__; When I finally realized what was happening, I freaked out and screamed my head off. I think the ninja-boat next to me heard me, because they sped away from me towards Disney. Anyway, I couldn't take the suspense anymore. I called Dennis for some moral support, mostly to hear myself say that I still have everything under control ... more or less.
The nastiest part of it was that I didn't bring a bottle of water. I thought it was going to be a quick repetition of a well-practiced routine route, but shit happens. Next time, bring water no matter what.
I was so thirsty when I finally landed, I tried to muscle my water-filled martlet up to shore, and in the process, probably did something to my collar bone where I had a fracture a few years ago. I bailed the water and carried the boat with my other shoulder afterwards. I guess I won't know if it's hurt until a day or two later.
After shower, I did a bit of weight training up in the gym. Worked on shoulder/chest muscle, back, triceps, and quad.
Ready for bed now.
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