Round Ubin turned out quite Ok this year. The weather conditions were near ideal.
The day started with mixed feelings, as there was heavy rain through the night. However, the rained stopped just before morning, and I got a lift to PRSSC via Jori's sportscar (wow). It was due to my extreme tiredness the day before, a friend advising me against that I finally dispelled the idea of cycling there. Seriously, given the condition I was in, I might have been done for by the time I reached...

Interesting things to note was that my body positively ached as I moved off to the start line.
The start was expectedly a mess, and we had a little fratricide with our T2s. Well, I did a decent start, but soon found myself going left and right once the T2s passed me. Weili was well ahead and in a safe zone. On my left though I saw another T1 creeping past. I couldn't do anything but just continue paddling. The T2 washes were too chaotic to ride.

Once past the channel crossing Weili was a few hundred meters ahead. The T1 that sneaked past was about maybe 7 boat lengths in front. By this time I was behind all the NUS boats except the girls T1s and K1. Most of my effort was spent controlling direction and moving in the desired direction. I was simply maintaining the distance with that T1. Around me were some K1 guys in Nelos, who prob started conservatively in fear of capsizing. Soon enough the K1 guys were ahead, and I was still chasing the T1 to no avail. A girl K1 was slightly ahead, and I thought of using her wash to catch up, but in the end it turned out that she was drifting back a bit. Finally some help came when belle came past. I struggled to keep on her wash, and she pulled me on par with the T. It was then that we saw dom and derwin enjoying a cool dip in the sea. In the end I was sort of thrown off belle's wash. I was too tired to struggle back onto it anyway, probably as her wash wasn't that big to start with. Yup, and that's where I started losing ground. Simply put, I realised my maintenance pace was just not up to par, and the weather was too warm to put up a fight all the way to the line. Going at my own pace, I was soon 150m behind. What came next changed my race.

A mixed T2 was creeping up behind me, and was I glad. I was soon on some good steady wash. Except for some directional problems, I was soon paddling with lower effort, but moving at higher speed. Before I knew it I had caught up with the T1 ahead. The water conditions changed once round the reverse straight of Ubin, and I as thrown off the wash, never to regain it (although I made a few attempts). But anyway the tide was now in favour, and I had regained my strength. Bar the one time I thought I might capsize, the rest of the race was just a controlled hard paddle back.

Recovery was a 13hr sleep.