Location : Blue Lake, Bau District, Kuching Division, Sarawak, Malaysia.
Did the 30 minutes drive to Tasik Biru Bau town for the annual miniature boat race on a cloudy Saturday afternoon.
Without a program schedule as in the form of flyers or notice board we were clueless as to what to expect from this year’s event. Noticeably though was the increased number of participants by the number of ‘jongs’ on display.
It was a disappointing afternoon for competitors as well as spectators as we waited for the race that did not or rather could not happen as it was a breezeless day. Impatience turned into loud yellings but nothing the organiser can do about. Such is the undependable force of nature which is quite abnormal as most afternoons we do get reasonably strong winds, strong enough to drive these sail boats.
I suggest that next year competitors be allowed to mount miniature fans on the stern (powered by batteries, of course) to drive the sail from behind. Organiser should make this bold step to bring this event to new heights and not allow nature to take the wind out of this colourful event. Tradition maybe good but innovation can prevent unnecessary frustrations as we witnessed yesterday when all participants grew restless, booed, packed and left.
While the jong regatta maybe a no show we bumped into someone with a passion for heliphotography. His name is Norman Raymond, a school teacher.
He built his own 4 propeller miniature helicopter for the purpose of taking videos. He kindly explained the technicalities of his creation which he put together with all materials he sourced locally. He successfully demonstrated his expertise with the remote control hovering the helicam over the lake, freezing it as it recorded the only event of the afternoon-the 4X4 bamboo raft tug of war. And bringing it home like as if there was a leash, landing it softly near his feet. The helicam was a lot more fun than the jong, sadly.
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