Kiyah-Splashh!

The meaning for the above idiom is:

If you are up a river without a paddle, you are in an unfortunate situation, unprepared and with none of the resources to remedy the matter.

Team Kiyah-Splashh! met with a little collision with another dragon boat team at last Sunday’s training. Two full 40-seater boats, filled with Kiyah-Splashhies, were pacing along Kallang River where the accident took place. While the boats were traveling parallel with each other in full-charge ahead to the Benjamin Sheares bridge, another 1/2 filled 40-seater boat was seen paddling forward leisurely from the opposite direction.

As our boats surged forward with adrenaline maxed-out, the other boat took a sudden turn that swiftly lay the bow of their boat heading our direction. Our coxswains, Jalil and Hao Yuan, immediately took their concentration off our boats and directed the other oncoming boat to turn away.

It was all too late as the other on-coming boat was out-of-control and couldn’t turn back around in time. The latter came in swiftly towards the bow of Jalil’s boat, and collided with the pacers and front rowers. Tony, the right pacer for Jalil’s boat, swifly avoided the oncoming bow which cleared a few inches away from his head. Soon Hup, who was sitting behind Tony, met with some tough luck. His forehead took full impact of the blow, and he appeared to have suffered from a slight concussion. Joseph, who was sitting behind Soon Hup, avoided the boat with his matrix-dodge-bullet style, and quickly recovered to aid his unconscious team mate.

Hao Yuan’s boat froze and witnessed the entire accident in horrer. Everyone stared wide-eyed when it all happened, but was quick enough to recover from shock and checked on their team mates who suffered from the collision. We found ourselves up a river without a paddle, and immediately headed back to the pontoon to get Soon Hup up on shore to rest. He was last seen with a noticable buldging bump with slight abrasions and cuts on his fore head.

“Welcome to the  club, Soon hup!”

Asian flowerhorn fish (“Luo Han”) have a common bump located on its’ forehead

Recent Update: It is noted that Soon Hup has seen a doctor and was advised to rest. But the doctor warned that any signs of vomitting should be reported at once. Let’s hope that he will never come to that. The committee is working on seeking a compensation for Soon Hup’s medical fees.

Dear Soon Hup aka (LUO HAN), Do take care and we wish you the speediest rate of recovery. We will look forward to see you soon in training! Rest well!

What actually caused the accident and WHY?

It was observed that the boat that collided with us did not fasten their rudder on to the stern with any rope, which hence caused their boat to swerve out of control in a drift-like fashion. To add on, the coxswain of the boat was new and he was in shock when the collision took place. He defended his actions immediately from his lack of experience, while his team mate stood up and apologized repeatedly.

We would like to remind everyone again that safety should never (Ever!) be compromised in any situation. It is a shared small world and such mistakes must be avoided at all times. We should consider ourselves lucky that the accident left us with no fatality, or else nobody could never have been able to bear the consequence. Nobody.

That leaves the idiom to be changed to up a river without a tied rudder, for the other team’s case. Bah.