SAFSA Day 2

SAFSA Day 2

There seems to be many SAF affiliated organizations related to archery lolz. There was also another competition organized by SAFRA a few months back which was quite fun as well. That competition was held somewhere in the far east but now this one is held at the muddy plains at the western bastion of civilization. Its so **%#^@*^@ west that it is on page 78 of the street directory (Mighty Minds) near the Joo Koon MRT (planned, haven’t start construction ) MRT station 2 stations away from Boon Lay MRT. Another alternative would be to take bus 182 which has the frequency of 2 buses/ hour.

Perhaps SAF decides to have such camps in MAN far places to prevent infiltration and leak of information. However, this caused the journey we took to be a looooong one, causing the mental faculty to slacken and ultimately miss out some details. This is exemplified by Ji Kwang whose definition of “nearly there” is 7 MRT stops away and Ongnardo who happily left his bag with his Republic of Indonesia passport in the taxi as he left happily with the bowcase.

Finally after a long and ardous journey through the highways and MRT tracks of Singapore, we have finally reached the top-secret Jurong camp. There were guards carrying rifles that can own the weapons tt we were carrying anytime due to the high RPM (Rounds per minute) and firepower.

Hence we merely complied and went on to the fields which is still F far away, the true military style that demands physical endurance. After some walking we finally reached the SAF tents, made of high-grade canvas designed to repel all forms of UV and infrared radiation to prevent enemy detection ( but apparently not designed to repel water).

Yeah and since everyone here seems to carry guns, we quickly set up our bows to fit in the crowd, must make sure that everyone is armed. The skies… were sort of…black, not the usual blue and cumulonimbus clouds were covering the sky and soon all that’s left of daylight is gone.

The lane allocations were a little funny though, usually they don’t put people from the same club together but by some random permutation there are lots of similarities in terms of jerseys and this trend can be seen in many lanes (Kim Heidi, Chris AsWiN etc.) Even my lane has the TP-Krazee team with Kenny and Kenneth and some guy with G3 limbs. Seems coincidental isn’t it.

Half an hour later and after some long toilet breaks since the toilet seems to be located 280m 230degrees from the competition venue, the sighter rounds started and so does the trickling of water from the heavens above. A couple of drops of water… in the flight of the arrow… by the concepts of physics would push down the arrow due to increased friction as there is water resistance that is not negligible. Nothing much about the sighters other than the fact that most sights have to be shifted due to the difference in temperature, humidity and weather.

Two whistles was blown and the scoring round commences immediately. It seems that the organizers did not take into consideration the -80% movement speed DEGEN AURA that is somehow omnipresent throughout the shooting range and so decided that there will only be one detail and it is now a major squeeze.

Nothing much about the first round, just that the clouds seem to be in a mood swing as it brought down torrents of rain in between short pauses to keep the field moist and green. Personally the round was not that good as I shot my first M and then decrepified for the rest. Overall the team were still living up to the name of the MAN RJClass team with Mr Aswin K shooting up to 295, and Ji Kwang with 292.

The second round of the competition and the rains continued as the whistle was blown and another swathe of rain descended upon the earth, this time bringing the water level to the toenails. There are some disadvantages of shooting in the rain:
· The specs get blurred due to refraction of light as drops of water settle on the lens.
· There is increased resistance at the boards due to the increased friction as water is polar and thus exerts a force of attraction on the arrows and the arrows are now %&%*@ing hard to pull.
· Can’t see where the arrow go as well. Look at point 1
· DAMN COLD

Yeah and so the second round was held in the above conditions. Another point that was not mentioned is that rainwater seems to have the chemical property to negate all effects of super glue and its variants and it was a good thing that Annalyn was there to fletch the arrows to restore aerodynamic balance. There were others doing likewise as well and to quote BennyTan:

“The back there is like a factory”

Finally we weathered through the round and the rain. Personally was much better and as a team the scores were pretty MAN as well considering the above conditions. Not bad.

When it’s cold lunch seems to be the best thing ever, never mind that it’s the type of army food rations that siangaporeans XY chromosomes have to go through or is going through now ( Mwahahahaha ). However, perhaps this is already the souped up version of the food since there’s the story that the army usually serve zai food on the first day of NS. Let me now share a song that you all may know:

They say in the army, the food is very nice
You ask for curry chicken
They give you chao tar rice
I don’t wanna lead an army life

Haiz… Army life… Good thing that there’s still 1.1 more year for YOU all. Now we lead the slack life as we played blackjack with the bet of 1 bubble tea each hand. Ji Kwang was owning Ongnardo 4-0 but soon got re-owned to 0-0. After that its dai dee/bridge in which the hypothesis that “One who knows bridge but not dai dee sucks at bridge” was well proven. Annalyn however, was in deep thought on the time wasted by reading some book about time. There really is a lot of time and we went on to watch the OPEN MEN shooting happily.

After a long long time, the rain once again descends upon the bountiful earth and this frame in time coincides with the start of the C-class team event. As the organizers do not believe in upsets, they have decided to heck the bottom 4 teams and only 4 teams will have fun in the semi finals. RJ bee was ranked 2nd and thus would play with TP Krazee ( pronounced as krA-zee).

The first round went well for RJ…and so is TP. They were even in terms of scores. Not badz. The fengshui was merciful but not the weather and the
Ds-1m-2 (drops/second/metre sq) increased at an exponential amount to torrential levels. The second round went on well for TP… and so is RJ and once again the two teams were level. Moving on to the third round... Christopher the first shooter went on fine... quite MaN. Aswin then fires his first arrow… at this point it is seemingly impossible to tell where the arrow flies to. He then shoots his 2nd arrow and I noticed that it was a little…high….white perhaps. “I think it’s just the pin” –Heidi. Apparently, it was not the pin after all…

The team rebounded in the fourth round with a stunning 57/60 which was still 3 points short of winning TP as the team lost 193-195, a very close margin.

“Even a black can win”
-Neo Ji Kwang

Following the torrential rains, the organizers decided to switch to the sudden death mode where everyone shoots 1 arrow each within 60s and that will determine the winner. RJ bee against Potong Pasir Community Centre Bois. The rains were really bad and in the end it was 8 4 2 to 8 7 2… 4th place for RJ Class team. The SAF tents can’t seem to weather anymore of the dogs and cats that came raining down and we hastily paked up all equipment and personal effects to leave the field was water level was above ankle level. The judge came in a MAN umbrella to transport all of us to the canteen but was there was not much point as the shirts are all soaked through liaoz.

Prize Presentation was mostly a simple affair with the some major guy giving out the prizes. Yeah and they are as follows:

*Standard MAN Individual 4th – Tan Kang Rui
*Standard Ladies Individual 2nd – Ng Li-Ting Annalyn
*Standard MAN “Team Event” 4th – Daniel Seow Wei Jin, Teo Si Rui, Tan Kang Rui
*Standard Ladies “Team Event” 2nd – Ang Mann Shing, Chin Xin Yun Jasmine, Lee Hwee Juin, Ng Li-Ting Annalyn.
C Class (neither MAN nor Ladies) Team Event 4th – Han Ting Hui Christopher, Kothandaramaraju Aswin, Neo Ji Kwang, Ongnardo Wirateja Andreas.
*Means that the organizers forgot to give out

Yepp tts all the prizes. Not to mention Si Rui, Mann Shing and Ji Kwang for getting 7th place in all the categories that RJ took part in. I can’t overlook this trend. Somehow when there are 3 prizes to be won, some RJ archer would be 4th, then when there are 6 prizes to be won, some RJ archer would get 7th. This also happens in the previous competitions such as SAFRA indoor where Lynette and me was 4th for standard ladies and MAN respectively and me in that NJ comp as well and now in this competition the trend repeats again. ALWAYS liddat. Lets hope that it would not happen in future comps lolz ( doesn’t mean to slip down ^-^).

With that, we were all shivering by the end, not to mention the flawed intelligence network of Annalyn that Mann Shing was 4th and causing a confusion as Heidi calmly stood up to have a better look at the prizes. The buffet in the end was quite zai and we lubbed most of it and finally went home.

The competition would not be possible without:

Mr. Ang Cee Wei
The school establishment
Hoyt, Samick, Beiter, Easton, Shibuya, Cartel etc etc.

THE SINGAPORE ARMED FORCES, the decisive force. Wow, this competition has really shown the jambi man the pride of the Republic of Singapore – The Singapore Armed Forces. At this point I would really like to commend the SAF if I haven’t done so already. Their rigorous mental and physical training really shone out in the organization of this competition and every minute detail was taken care of.

In terms of logistics, all was carefully prepared. Just look at what they have prepared - the tough, durable and anti-UV anti-Infrared anti-bacteria tents ( not anti-water) tents, the solid hard target boards, the advanced computer systems that is able to print out the scoresheet at an amazing speed, the huge impenetrable gunny sacks ( think used to be sandbags) which they placed behind the target boards and not forgetting the infinite supply of umbrellas at the end of the competition which was initially meant for the National Day parade 07 but the decisive force decided to use for the competition as the rain came relentlessly.

At the same time, in terms of MANpower, they were real good as well with the infinitely many MEN with grey shirts bearing the word “ARMY” with great pride. Whenever some guy shooting XX lbs bow shoots through the board, they were mobilized swiftly, at least 8 of them at a time. 2 would move gunny sacks, 2 would tie them, 2 would provide entertainment and the last 2 would help using the powers of telekinesis honed after years in the Singapore Army. Medics were also present should some loser get shot and suffer mortal wounds.

Overall, they were really zai. Scores were out within 45mins, a record time ( there were some negligible errors) and even the mee goring was zai enough to feed the extremely hungry people. A true decisive force that is decisive enough to decide to have a sudden death as well. SAF is really DA BOMB.

Annalyn, for the fletching factory
Taxi Driver who returned my bag for me
J2s for coming back after their As J
And all the words of encouragement!

Photos will come once Aswin returns from the Indian subcontinent, he got my memory stick.