Jason Wang
Hello People reading this blog. Today is Saturday August 13,2011. Well today we woke up at 7 o'clock AM which sucked because I was looking forward to a long rest. Well then... When we finished packing up at the apartment we went to the Monticle HQ. Since our group (the group with Steve) got there before Billy we went do swep/wash the place up. After sweeping we went to eat breakfast and pack up/load up the gear we needed for the kayaking Jennifer and Michelle were going to do today. After arriving at Cherry Beach we unloaded everything and sent Billy, Micheal, Michelle and Jennifer on their way. The guys left (Vingi, both Edwins and me) sat their for a while untill some other guys came, we talked to them for a while then went to the park. After coming back from the park the 2 Edwins went to play with sand while I went to sleep. When I woke up I could see the 2 kayaks already and Big Edwin was in a Super Deep Sleep, well when the kayaks got back I got to go on a Center Island tour with Billy, Michael, and Vingi. It was awesome! After paching up we went to eat dinner. We went to a HotPot place. So much food! Well I'm so tired right now, good night people.
Edwin Cheung
Today I am doing a kayaking Cherry beah for support. I learn a lot. I learn that Losting stuff is not a good thiny. Today is the only day a Lost he key. I feel sad. When Jennifer and Rechell (Michelle) when to kayaka me and Edwin Lou make sand castle and space war with rock. Today is quiet interesting. I just need to be keep. And I have to change a lot of bad habit for school and furture survial. Tday I learn not to pucket a key in a not so deep pocket. We play with worms and ant when they are away.
Edwin Lo
Today I woke up at seven o'clock. I ate my breakfast at eight o'clock on Monticle. After finish, I cleaned up the thing. Then, I parked up the thing for going kayak. After, we went to Cherry Beach to play kayak. After, some people went to play the kayak. (Michelle, Jennifer, Billy Michael, Jason to play the kayak, me, big Edwin, Jason and Vingi to do the support.) In the time, me Big Edwin, Jason and a children is ten already to go to play the soccer at the park near the beach. At twelve o'clock went back to the beach. After half hour, I went out to build the sandcastle with Big Edwin, and Jason are slelt at the chair. After we finish to build the sandcastle, Big Edwin sltl at the table. After Billy came, Billy woke up Big Edwin and we could see some water on the table and that was Big Edwin trool, so Billy take the picture for him. Then I went to eat the dinner at Half past six. And I ate hotpot for my dinner. After I finish the dinner, I went back to Monticle to clean the kayak things and the K2 kayyak for two. Then, I went back to apartment to sletl.
Michelle Tien
Yesterday was my first time at Monticle. I was kind of nervous after hearing crazy stories from Jenn. There was a lot to learn and everyone was really helpful so I relaxed after a while. Billy went over the equipment quickly and then we assembled the two kayaks we would be using over the next few days. Jenn, Alastair, Michael and I built the K1 first, then the K2. The K2 was a lot easier, since some of it was the same as the K1. The ribs of the kayak were really hard to put in and took a lot of patience and effort. The most exciting part of the day was setting up the sail for the K2 without an instruction manual. We searched for instructions on the manufacturer's website, Google, and how-to videos on Youtube. The only thing we found were pictures, so we used those and Jenn's sailboat t-shirt as a guide to build a functional yet flawed sail boat. Unfortunately, we had to take it down after all our hard work and store it away until Monday.
Today after meeting at HQ, we checked over the K2s and packed everything into the cars. We drove to Cherry Beach to start our kayaking trip for the day. After changing into uncomfortable wetsuits and taking a swim test, we launched the kayaks. Billy and I took one while Michael and Jenn took the other. We took a tour around the shores of Toronto and the inlets of Centre Island. The scenery was amazing; I had never seen Toronto from this perspective before. The Toronto Channel was harder and definitely more tiring because of the waves pushing against the kayak. It always felt like it was going to tip over and rocked from side to side. I can still feel the rocking motion while sitting in a solid chair, but it wasn't as difficult as I'd expected. When we were near the beach we were going to rest at, Jenn and I learned re-entries by jumping out of the kayaks (with our lifejackets on) and climbing into the other kayak. I had a hard time getting into Michael's kayak but managed after recieving some help. After our break, we switched places. Jenn and I paddled our own kayak with me in the front, The waves were really choppy and we had to paddle against the wind so it pretty much felt like we weren't moving. Billy and Michael towed us for a while until Cherry Beach was in sight and we paddled ourselves the rest of the waym turning in and out along the beach since the rudder was kind of messed up. All in all, it was a very tiring but memorable experience.
Jennifer Wang
"A picture is worth a thousand words." Remember that quote. ON Friday Michael, Alastair, Michelle and I assembled both a K1 and K2 kayak. In short, it was an arduous task. It was definitely worth it, though, seeing the finished product. Now, still remember that quote? Try setting up a sail on the K2 (transform it into a fully functional sailboat)... without an instruction manual. So, armed with the mighty tough book and the glorious Google, we began setting it up based on a few pictures that we found. We weren't able to fully assemble it, but we can at least say that it resembles it. We had a scrumptious Japanese BUFFET <3 We've been staying at Billy's apartment, and *insert whistle here* it's NICE. Anyway, we woke early on Saturday morning and after eating breakfast at HQ. After doing some inspections on the kayaks, we headed out to the lake. It was a really nice day, a bit windy, but nothing like the rolling thunder and towering cumulonimbus clouds that I was expecting. With our wetsuits on, the water didn't feel as cold it actually felt rather refreshing. The water was a lot deeper than I thought, and it really surprised / scared me when I could no longer touch the bottom. When we launched the kayaks, I felt a sense of elation - I was in the kayak that we had assembled just yesterday! :) The view of the CN Tower could be seen from just about every angle that can't be seen from the shore (COUGH. Those landlubbers... ARRR :)) The waves in the channels were pretty rough and harder to paddle through, but they were definitely fun to go over! (I can still feel the waves rolling beneath my chair as I write this... ^__^"). For comparison in the harbour and inlet in Centre Island, the water is as still as a rippling plane mirroring the sky. There were plenty of waterfowl - like ducks, geese, and even some swans. I didn't see any fish, though. After taking a break, Michelle and I got into the same kayak. I was in the back, steering. I was pretty...fail at that. -__-" But I enjoyed it anyway. We were towed along by Billy and Michael (in the other kayak) through the channel, and that was a very interesting experience indeed - cutting through the waves, like awesomely epic people... yet doing nothing at all except for enjoying the view. There were many other boats out on the lake today; I guess we were all making the best of the favourable weather. We encountered many different kinds of them : canoes, sailboats (I'm really starting to pay more attention to the design and make up of these sails), other kayaks, motor boats, and at one point, these was even a ferry headed for us!
We were pretty tired and hungry, seeing as we skipped lunch. And because Billy, Vingi, Hazel (with her special doggy lifejacket), Jason and Michael went sightseeing on the kayaks we just decided to go for dinner - HOT POT HOT POT HOTPOT~!
Now, we're going to sleep and because I feel bad for Michael who's typing all of this up (SORRY!!!) I'll end it here! See you all later!
Michael
Hi everybody! Good morning! Excuse me... Because we spent too much time kayaking yesterday, therefore every thing was delayed, including typing and editing the blogs, therefore last night, after I had finished typing Jennifer's blog, I almost passed out =.= I could not go on, then I woke up early this morning (Day 27) to finish my blog.
Well, for Day 25, the day when I received my life achievement certificate and help teaching Jenn and Michelle the assembly of K1 and K2, as you could notice that I am somehow a bit busy. Therefore, I didn't finish my 'Feedback blog' of the Trek Challenge. Luckily, I finally finished typing it last night at 1:00 :)
Anyway, let's talk about Day 26 then, one of my biggest challenge on the kayak. Once we got onto the water and took off, the water started to be so rough like up and down and up and down for 1 to 2 meters. Ah... Can you imagine how we survived from getting up and down by sidewaves, headwind and wakes for a continuous 30 minutes? Well, probably that's why I felt floating on the water right now. (up and down......) Seriously, for first time experience kayak person, this has already reached his or her limit, but however, Jennifer and Michelle seemed to want more!!! The first time, you fear it; The second time, you will like it; The third time, you will want it for sure :).
Though... it's not the biggest challenge of the day. We came across the biggest biggest challenge soon after a break at a beach in Center Island. As the girls kept paddling and paddling for 2 hours already, they seemed to be exhausted. Me and Billy got experienced (K2: Boat 003 = Jenn and Michelle; 004 = Billy and Michael), therefore we paddled quite far from them. So we waited them for a bit time, at the same time relaxed ourselves a bit... We thought we could easily finish it through back to the destination, but however, Billy decided to tow them back after the channel, and as soon as he opened the hook and grasped the other K2, this was the challenge. Jenn and Michelle could now relax a bit, as what we did before, and now me and Billy needed to paddle against the water, headwind and extra weight back to the channel to set them free. Ah... the boats seemed not moving at all, but guess what? We just kept paddling and paddling with a constant pace and nice momentum, we finally surpassed the water and not letting ourselves give up!!!! (Once Billy got the hook and made us tow, I was imagining if God tended to give us a challenge - 'Getting so relaxed? Guess what, make the hell for you to tow back another boat, making you carry double weight of yourselves and let you suffer!! See if you dare to say that it's relaxing?')
P.S. We skipped our lunch and had our hefty hot pot at night. If I didn't eat a hot dog before I took off, I might already have passed out! Anyway, to conclude, this day was tough, but it also showed that the girls are tough too! Hopefully, they could enjoy kayaking in the coming days~
Recent news: August 14th - Just heard from Billy and the news, Tornado warning was activated right now, and probably we couldn't get into the water today. So probably, we would get alternative exercises or lectures for today.
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