Some of you may not know that we have a serving Second Lieutenant in the team. Chan Jun Shen serves in the Royal Malaysian Navy and currently on a Tour of Duty at Jervis Bay for the Sydney Internatioal Fleet Review. At 24, he has sailed 7-seas and not many can claim to have done that. This is his update, and the challenges of staying fit on-board a floating vessel known as KD Jebat, A Lekiu-class Frigate with guided missiles. He is preparing for Penang Brigde International Marathon while sailing. We salute you.
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| Photo from Jun Shen's Album. Sydney Harbour Bridge in the backgroun |
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Sydney
International Fleet Review Diary
My decision to
pursue my training on board KD JEBAT was a tough call for me. It is hard to
describe the pride of every men serving on board the best ship in Malaysia, all
of us just strive so hard to keep up with the Commanding Officer’s demand. I did my Midshipmen training here before I
was commissioned, the routine was so hectic that my training hours plunged
down, and so does my fitness. I will be missing so many races during the voyage
with JEBAT to Sydney International Fleet Review, but I guess it is worth the
experience. If a footballer’s biggest dream is to participate in World Cup, a
sailor’s dream will be representing the nation for International Fleet Review.
To date, I have earned myself the Crossing Equator’s certificate, endured the
rough weather and raging sea before I can call myself a 7 seas sailor at the
age of 24. Although nowadays we don’t really practice the privileges given to
the 7 seas sailors, but it is a lifetime achievement to be told to the younger
generation in times to come.
Basically, Royal
Malaysian Navy patrols and defends the Exclusive Economic Zone of Malaysia. To
ensure our readiness, everyone has to play their part in achieving the mission
of a warship which is TO FLOAT, TO MOVE, and TO FIGHT. Generally all the crews
are segregated into 3 main branches which are the Seamen who manoeuvres and man
the combat system, the Engineers who ensures the ship’s propulsion and weaponry
is functional, and the Supplies who takes care of the stores and galley. I
being a young engineer serving under the marine engineering department am very
lucky to have a Head of Department who is an avid cyclist.
Every evening,
all the crews who are not on duty will do their evening sports on the
helicopter deck, or play ping pong inside the helicopter hangar. We also have a
treadmill and cross trainer, if the sea condition permits, most likely both
machines will be occupied. Keeping fit on board the ship is a tough challenge.
There’re so many uncertainties that can cancel your plan, the only option I
have is to maximize my time on the cross trainer or treadmill every time I get
to use it. When JEBAT sails in Malaysia’s territorial water, I can only do 5km
on a treadmill. The hangar becomes like an oven, 5 minutes of not doing
anything can make me sweat.
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| In The Oven |
Now that my ship
is in Australia, the chilly weather helps a lot in making me last longer. I’ll
put on my Kraftfit compression shorts and 2ndSkin shirt with Skechers GoMeb,
then start my work out session. I’ll try to maintain in the targeted HeartRate
with the help of Garmin 910xt, but this is all subjected to the people queuing
for the treadmill. If the queue gets long, I will increase the resistance and
finish off the workout within 20 minutes. Everyone is given a very limited
personal space, and I do not have the luxury of bringing my racing bike with a
trainer to be carried aboard. I have Hammer Endurolytes and Perpetuem Solid
with me, 2 most compact forms of supplements to save my space. I would have
brought the Hammer Gels and Recoverite if I have more space. When the ship
alongside Darwin, all ship crews went jogging along the Esplanade till
Aquascene which hits total distance of 8km, we did the morning run for 3 days
before departed for Cairns. That week alone, we hit 24km excluding our walking
mileage in Darwin.
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| Every opportunity for firm ground are used for speedwork |
When I feel dizzy working out in rough
sea condition, I will just play a few movies to keep me distracted from the
annoying motion sickness. Either I do an hour of cross trainer with resistance
15 or treadmill at speed 12-14. Enjoying the awesome sunset is what I normally
do while cooling myself down, sometimes it gets more exciting seeing dolphins
jump out right next to our ship. After the sun sets, I do not have much time to
linger around; I will have to rush to the bathroom before they shut the water
supply. Hell yeah, the water supply need to be controlled to lengthen our
ship’s endurance, freshwater supply for the galley is primary, shower was never
the priority. Sometimes before I rinse my body, the water supply gets cut off
=p hahaha. One thing for sure, I will definitely shower. I keep bottles of
freshwater in my luggage just in case of “emergency”. So please don’t have the
impression that sailors don’t shower=p
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| On board the ship watching sunset after working out |
I have to wear
base layers to keep me warm, just so you know my body has only 4% of fat, I
cannot stand even 20 degrees. I have brought all of the compression wears to be
worn underneath my uniform! Thanks to Kraftfit for providing me the compression
wear, and also to keep me warm=p Furthermore, I get to change my clothes
quicker without have to worry exposing too much of skins when the ship conducts
simulations for firefighting, flooding, chemical attack and so on=p
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| We, in the team are envious that the GoMeb went to Aussie |
My International Fleet Review is just half way
through; I hope I can maintain the discipline of working out despite all the
challenges of keeping fit at sea. By the time I come back to home port Lumut, I
have only 5 days left before Penang Bridge International Marathon. Haha. Let
see how it goes. I have no high expectation; I just wanna finish the race with
the best timing I can possibly hit, no more than 4 hours though.
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| Men in Uniform. KD Jebat represented |
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