AKE Prep 05 (20060401)

The 5th prep for AKE was held on Apr 01, 2006 (Saturday) at Sembawang STC.

AKE Prep for the Land and Air Districts included:
1. Fuhua Sec Sch
2. Raffles Girls Sch
3. Singapore Chinese Girls Sch
4. Cedar Girls Sch
5. Cresent Girls Sch

This 2nd round of prep training saw the reduction in the cadets coming after the weaker ones were eliminated from the selection.

The objective of the day was to have the cadets canoe to Pasir Ris for lunch and head back by 1630hrs.
With some experience under their belt, the cadet were able to launch off and get organized quicker.

With four safety boats and teachers from different schools/districts as observers, the cadets headed out to their objective.

The overall performance of the cadets for the first half was satisfactory with some "casualties".
The first occured even before launch - a cadet had a laceration on his leg while transporting his canoe which had to be attended to while his partner headed out to Pasir Ris.

On the way to Pasir Ris, the weather was fine with temperatures slowly rising. Many cadets who did not have a good breakfast started to suffer the consequences of low energy and were seen struggling halfway through to the destination.
Due to the progress made by the cadets a new destination was selected for the lunch point, slightly closer than the original Pasir Ris beach - it was decided that lunch would be served at Punggol Point.

While the safety boats were anchored offshore, the cadets hungrily devoured their lunch. At this point, cadets who felt that they could not continue on the return trip - due to a number of reasons - were given the opportunity to return to SSTC via a mini-bus.

The rest of the cadets - refreshed after lunch - turned to the task of returning to SSTC.
The second leg turned out to be an adventure ride for the cadets as they were in the vicinity of Seletar Reservoir.

The sky started turning grey in the distance and it was clear to the safety boats that rain was heading towards the group.
While the group had started to spread out a bit, efforts was made to gather them closer.
However, the rain caught up with the group and the safety boats acted as an anchor for a raft for the canoes.

It was clearly an experience that many of the cadets will not soon forget as it gave them an idea of what they could possibly encounter while going for the actual AKE Mini-Expedition and the AKE Expedition.
The rain clouds passed quickly. The cadets were shaken but not deterred. They pressed on after all participants were accounted for and headed back to SSTC.

After all the stores were properly stowed, the names of the final selected were read out and were given a short talk by experienced officers on what are good ideas for the actual expedition. These included:
1. Get a big sponge as a bailer
2. SPF 50 Sun Block
3. Big hats/caps
4. Big waterbottle
5. Sandals for footwear (not flipflops)

All in all, it was an exciting day with the final group of students being made ready for the AKE Mini-Expedition.

Here is a snapshot of the activity from that day.

Here is the link to the photos from that day:
AKE Prep 05 Photo Set Link

Cheers!