Laurent from Singapore
Hello everybody,
I have been lurking long enough, sometimes even adding a quick comment, without introducing myself.
So let me repair that.
I have been messing about with proas on my own and with a few friends in Texas, where I spent a good chunck of my time in the past few years.
I am an engineer by trade (even if I went to the dark side - management) so I like to tinker and modify/improve, etc… I guess the work in the shop time vs. sailing time must be around a 100 to 1 ratio right now…. Not very good.
I have tried mainly 3 different rigs on my proa and I also tried some other people’s creation, namely Skip (part of this forum) and Kevin (the creator/owner of wikiproa, a nice wiki page on proa; visit it here! http://wikiproa.pbworks.com/w/page/14592450/FrontPage ).
- a kite (12M2 kitesurfing kite)
- a A Class catamaran rig (30 ft old aluminum mast)
- a shooner rig made of 2 modified Moth International rigs (Moth dinghies are those crazy foiling beasts that top 25+ knots. DISCLAIMER; my proa does not foil and will NEVER hit 25 knots….)
I will post separately on the different contraptions…. eerrrrr designs and their pros and cons.
I will try to keep the spirit of this forum and stay polite ;o)
but I have to admit that I think that a bit of controversy or disagreement is sometimes necessary to make things improve/evolve; the goal is to challenge the value of the idea/concept, not the value of its creator…
Cheers,
Laurent
PS: after many years in Texas, I am now based in Singapore. Any member in the area?...
Hi Laurent, and welcome to the forum. Greatly looking forward to hearing about your rigs and boats.
Hi Laurent!
Thanks for posting. I’m really interested in what you’ve figured out.
all the best,
Chris
Hi Laurent,
I don’t live in sg any more, I did previously. I hope you will enjoy living there, which district are you staying in? Do you have a car? And where are you keeping your proa? I ask as thinking back to my unit in pasir ris, I would have been flat out keeping a kayak. I can suggest some launching points, though some will need a car.
Dave.
Hi Laurent,
I don’t live in sg any more, I did previously. I hope you will enjoy living there, which district are you staying in? Do you have a car? And where are you keeping your proa? I ask as thinking back to my unit in pasir ris, I would have been flat out keeping a kayak. I can suggest some launching points, though some will need a car.
Dave.
Hi Dave,
I live at the West end of Est Coast Park ECP (if that makes sense…) between Mountbatten and Meyer Road, close to Fort Road.
My boat is staying at the Changi Sailing Club, close to work, but not close to home… but nothing is really very far in Singapore. It cost me an arm and a leg as you have to be a member… but it is a nice place with friendly, no fuss people; and a large fleet of beach cats and dinghies.
No I do not have a car, all by taxi, bus and MRT (subway); cars are just too bloody expensive and public transportation is great.
For those who don’t know, the Singaporean government is controlling the number of cars in Singapore; anything more than 10 years old must be re-exported. You have to buy the right to own a car, the attribution of the licence to own a car (called COE) is done on a monthly basis; the number of new licences awarded at any given month is equal to the number of expiring licences. It is basically an auction process with a trade rate for the licences…
The cost depends on the size of the engine; for what would be a compact car in the US (Honda Civic), the current “trading” of the licence is about SGD 70,000 or USD 56,000 or 50,000 euros!!!
And after that, you have to buy the car!!! With 100% taxes on top of the “normal” price!!!
Singapore has the most expensive cars in the world (or close to).
On the other hand, I have never seen so many Maseratis, Ferraris, etc…
Rich country…
Enough non proa stuff, sorry.
Cheers,
Laurent
Sounds like you have the important bits sorted (Boat and launch site).
About cars, some jobs include them, I had a van for my first job there (cause I was the only employee with a drivers licence) but driving at 50km/h is really frustrating. Apparently Feb is the best month to bid on a COE, my brother in law was lucky and got his for SG$800! (yes less than 1000) but took a couple of years of trying. My first impression was ‘are Mercedes-Benz’s really cheap?’ because it seemed like every second car was a Merc, their not. You’ll also soon realise how much of a consumerist society Singapore is, why shopping really is their national sport (they take it very seriously).
You live nice an close to East Coast Park, I have many happy of cycling there, never lost any weight cycling though, kept stopping and eating at hawker stalls 😊 yuuummm… But when I was in Singapore earlier this year there was a lot of construction so they may not be there any more. Having a bicycle with a basket is useful in Singapore for getting to and from the MRT, Grocery store etc but a good lock is essential.
Back to Proa related stuff, If I remember correctly bus 6 from Pasir Ris MRT runs to Changi about every 1/2 hour, cant remember if it goes to the sailing club though.
I look forward to some photo’s / video of your sailing around Singapore waters, I never got out on the waters around Singapore except for a ferry ride to Kusu Island (A bit far from Changi).
Edit: This might be useful: http://library.thinkquest.org/04apr/00793/Islandtext/Island Facts.htm
Feel free to PM me if you want to chat about life in Singapore.
Dave.