The Liechtenstein Princely Navy entered its first race of the 2006 season full of confidence, following an excellent training program since February. The date was May 1st and the event the “Stanley Dragon Boat Association New Boats Launching Ceremony cum Warm-up Races”. Definitely the longest name of any race we ever participated in!!!

The purpose of the race, as its big title suggests, was to launch a set of new boats in Stanley. It was a small event with 9 Men’s Teams, 13 Mixed Teams and 5 Women’s Teams. However, although the field was small, the competition was formidable, with only top name teams participating, such as last year’s winner in Stanley – the BUZZ, arch rivals AIA Southside Massive and Tai Tam Tigers as well as Chinese heavyweights such as Stanley Fishermen and the Windsurfing Association of Hong Kong.

However, the Navy is not easily intimidated by such formidable competition – especially when our base camp was the best equipped, most heavily sponsored and best supplied in terms of Foster’s and food (thanks to the Chief Galley Officer, who has recently promoted).

But a heavy presence onshore is not worth anything without the paddle action to back it up. The Navy was scheduled in the first race at 0945hrs, directly after the eye dotting ceremony and the traditional launch of the new boats. We were lined up in boat 5 next to HSBC, Barracuda, Tai Tam Tigers and AIA Southside Massive. Despite plenty of practice in previous weeks, our start lacked the punch and power we needed in the first ten strokes and as a result we were trying to catch-up for most of the distance. We eventually came fourth, after Tai Tam Tigers went almost straight into the concrete wall of the nearby pier.

After some serious strategic discussion and minor adjustments to the boat line-up, we were confident on a better result for round two at 1110hrs. This time the race was against the Stanley Fishermen, Barracuda, Stanley Dragon Boat Team and AIA Southside Massive. The Navy was lined up in row three, right in the middle of the pack. The start was beautifully executed this time with three deep long strokes followed by a rapid increase in pace leading to our “chug piece”. And chug we did. It was a dead heat all through the 60 seconds of racing with a neck-to-neck race down to the finish line. The Navy showed its strongest side and finished an impressive third, behind the Stanley Fishermen and Barracuda, but – crucially – 4/100 of a second ahead of arch-rivals AIA Southside Massive. A sweet victory indeed.

Following a power lunch supplied by Chief Galley Officer Stefan the Navy proceeded to the starting line once more at 1330hrs for the Men’s Plate Final. The competition – HSBC, Tai Tam Tigers and Stanley Dragon Boat Team – was technically beatable, but we had the disadvantage of a far out lane (4). Despite having instructed our helmsman to keep a course close to our competitors on the left, he chose a far-out route down the right-hand side of the course. Thus, despite an excellent start and good pace throughout the short race, we only managed a third-place finish behind the Tai Tam Tigers and HSBC.

While the event will not go in history as the greatest victory of the Navy, it is still early days in the 2006 season. Our team was pitted against some heavyweight competition and managed to hold its own. It also provides crucial motivation to improve performance and better our results for the major events ahead in the coming month.