Since I’ve already blogged about NTUC and SAFRA memberships, the other membership which I really like is the PAssion card by People’s Association.

Being the cheapo I am, I signed up for the card many years ago even before I got NTUC and SAFRA membership.

It was because every new PAssion card sign up would get a free FILA sling bag. I still have a red and a pink bag which I like using for short trips.

How much is the PAssion card membership fee?

Currently, a PAssion card 5 year membership for a principal card costs:

• 18 to 59 years old: $12 (U.P: $15) or $2.40 a year!
• <18 years & ≥ 60 years old : $10 (U.P: $12) or $2 a year!

Principal Cardholders can tag your children below 18 years old as supplementary members for free.

They can get discounts for CCs courses and programmes. But no cards will be issued to them.

As of today, those who sign up for PAssion POSB Debit card get a 5 year PAssion card membership free.

Why is the PAssion Card membership almost free?

Besides the sign up gift which can be quite good (you’ll have to keep an eye out on their Facebook page or at roadshows), it is easy to find merchants to use your PAssion card at.

Last time, we used to get $7 movie tickets at Cathay cinemas with a free mini popcorn the size of your hand, but sadly this promotion ended quite some time ago.

Nowadays I tend to use the PAssion card to get discounts at various stores like Dessert Hut which sells yummy desserts, just flash your card before making payment.

Discounts off Arts and Sports with PAssion Card

Besides the usual merchant discounts, what I really really like are the Sistic and Water Venture discounts.

You can check out the latest shows which are supported by PAssion & The Arts, with a 10% discount for certain categories of seats.

If you love water sports like I do, Water Venture is a great PA program that offers a range of land and water sports activities like sports climbing, abseiling, kayaking, sailing, dragon boating, windsurfing and power boating.

Previously I took a Pilates course and a few Wing Chun lessons at various Community Centres with decent trainers, so far the experience has been pleasant but maybe I got lucky.

Learning a skill with PAssion Card

I recently took up a sailing course with Water Venture, and it was totally worth it.

Learning sailing with Water Venture was the most affordable sailing course in Singapore ($290 for 3 days from 10am-5pm).

SAF Yacht Club is actually cheaper, but only if you’re their member (which I wasn’t, so Water Venture was cheaper for me).

The Water Venture laser sailing course automatically includes the sailing certificate that I’ll need to rent a sailboat ($25 for 2 hours, $35 a day) once I’ve passed the course.

Basically, the first part of each day is learning theory, such as:

• technical terms like reach, close-haul, tack, gybe
• parts of the sailboat
• knots that you must know because you’ll rig up the boat yourself
• right of way
• what to do in situations such as capsizing, and rescuing a man overboard

The second half of the day would be rigging your boat up and sailing within the blue barrier zone.

So on each of the 3 days we got to sail!!!

Sailing as a water sport

The feeling of sailing is even better than windsurfing (which sucks on your first day because you spend your energy just trying to balance on the windsurfing board) and driving (because you will stall engine until sian).

Sailing is also less physically-exhausting than windsurfing, which I completely gave up after getting pregnant.

I capsized 6 times on my first day, twice on the second day and none on the third!!

The most shiok feeling is heading out of the barrier zone, sailing towards Pulau Ubin and past the fish farms, where the wind is stronger and the scenery more interesting.

The trainer, Mr Tan Soon Chung, is a seasoned sailor who I think is really good at teaching us how to correct our mistakes, and cheerful enough to encourage us on our good points. So try to learn under him if you can.

A trick which I’ve also learnt is to step on the mainsheet rope while tacking, so the sail doesn’t ease out too much (in case you want to pick up sailing too).

Bring gloves, wear lots of sunblock and cover up (as you can see I burnt my thighs), and wear booties or sports shoes.

After sailing, I stupidly took off my shoes to remove the sand inside, and pushed my boat up the beach barefoot, cutting my foot on a stone or something along the way. So wear your shoes all the way to the toilet!!

What else can you do with PAssion Card?

Bookworms can borrow 2 more library books with the PAssion card, so you aren’t forced to put back the books you really want to borrow but exceed your normal 8 books quota.

You can sign up for their Mangrove Discovery series to kayak through Singapore’s mangroves and learn more about our flora and fauna.

Win prizes by participating in contests here and get updates on deals here.

You can also get discounts off courses by People’s Association, just browse here (but this one.pa.gov.sg website REALLY needs to be more mobile friendly!!).

There are a lot of courses you can choose from, so before you go sign up with an expensive course provider, you can check if PA offers it first.

While you can use your $500 SkillsFuture credits for the SkillsFuture@PA courses, I don’t think you can use the $100 ActiveSG credits for sports-related courses (although I do wonder why since both SportSingapore and PA are under the government…)

If you haven’t already gotten your PAssion Card, you’re missing out on quite a bit so go find out more!