The repechage promised a more balanced contest and a crucial challenge for the Navy as we were lined up next to SNP Fair Dinkum Shakers, previously known as Viva Macau Fair Dinkum. Whatever their name and its undecipherable meaning, they currently rank as Arch Enemy Number One due to the fact that they stole the Navy’s victory in Stanley last year. Thus the objective was made very plain and simple to each and every Sailor: paddle your heart out and extract revenge!

Apprentice Sailor Fred, on his first mission with the Navy but who thanks to his extensive experience was put in charge of the ship, executed a flawless start and settled into a long, powerful chug. We powered up at 30 and again at 60 and raced the ‘Dinkies’ to the line which – most importantly – we crossed eight tenth of a second ahead of them in third. Although we were both out of the competition, it was the sweetest of victories for the Navy and the day could not have ended any better. Spirits were high and case load after case load of San Miguel (Boracay faces an acute Foster’s drought) was emptied in rapid succession as we watched the remaining teams battle it out to the finals.

The Admiralty ordered an early night’s sleep so as for the crew to be fresh and rested for the 500m races.

After an early morning downpour on Saturday, racing went underway in calm waters under sunny skies. At the team manager meeting the previous night (which we failed to attend yet again), the Navy was drawn alongside the Boracay Guardians Rowing Team (a division of the Coast Guard), the Rowers Club Philippines and the Singapore Barbarians. Our obvious goal was to beat the latter, a bunch or large hairy paddlers befitting their name. The organizers opted for rolling starts today, i.e. no holding of any ropes at the stern. Apprentice Sailor Fred expertly led us to a perfect gliding start that gave us a good early advantage. We settled into a decent chug, but the Singaporeans kept breathing down our neck. There was some confusion with the “power up” call which had not been properly coordinated with the drummer. Able Seaman Frauenfelder kept shouting “slow down!” when in fact we clearly should have sped up on the last forty strokes. In the end, the Singaporeans beat us with a time of 2:19.66 vs. our 2:21.06.

Since it was a battle for second place, not first, it didn’t matter much strategically. However, the lesson was clear: we needed far less shouting on the boat and far more timing and coordination. For the repechage, therefore, we agreed on a pre-defined “power up” routine at 50 and again at 100 strokes. Also, a strict Shut-Up-And-Paddle-Policy was introduced all the way down the ranks.

The repechage was a three boat race against Sun Paddlers and Blue Phoenix. The former, based in Boracay, were the clear favorites but the latter were an unknown quantity. Despite the keen rivalry, spirits were high in the loading area at the beach with both competitors enthusiastically singing the Liechtenstein team song as well as versions adapted to their own team names. Liechtenstein, in fact, is so well known up and down Boracay’s famous White Beach and its Sailors so easily and readily identified by spontaneous outbursts of “LIECHTENSTEIN!” that Boracay island is unofficially recognized as a sovereign part of the Principality.

Our friendly rivals kept singing our anthem all the way to the starting line while the Navy’s strategy was to save our breath for the race. The start was again flawlessly executed but the Sun Paddlers vanished quickly into the distance. But we focused on our own race piece and Apprentice Sailor Fred settled the boat into a beautiful rhythm – long and powerful. Stoke by stroke we edged away from the Blue Phoenix until we were well and clear ahead. But despite the obvious advantage we wouldn’t dream of slowing to a cruise and instead powered up at 100 for a sprint across the line in great style!

It was a glorious second place finish, but it had one major flaw in Lt Cmdr Streun who, against all Navy rules and regulations, decided to stop paddling before the Lead Pacer. He was immediately court-martialed and sentenced by an ad-hoc Navy Tribunal to provide an endless supply of San Miguel for the afternoon.

All in all, despite never advancing beyond the repechage, Operation White Beach was a great success in terms of conditioning the crew for the 500m races ahead in Hong Kong. And aside from a few minor incidents, the crew worked well as a team and fully lived up to the Navy’s unique reputation of serious paddling combined with Liechtenstein partying.

In a shock upset for the local pride, the 500m Men’s event was eventually won by a German team from Berlin, leading the Navy to boycott the award ceremony and head straight for the after party where sweaty Sailors were seen gyrating on the bar long into the night.

The return journey to Hong Kong was a final test of patience and endurance for our crew, as a delay of our domestic flights resulted in us missing a hopelessly overbooked connection in Manila. Arguing as determined and hard as they paddle, our advance party of four fought its way onto a flight to Macau while the rest of the expedition enjoyed another night in Manila followed by an 0445hrs wake-up call for an early morning flight back to base.

Such is life in the Navy: to get to Paradise (and back), you have to go through Hell!

Quotes of the Mission #1 Waitress to Cpt Widmer: "Sir, where is your hair?" #2 Waitress to Lt Cmdr Streun: "Sir, would you like your shake with milk?" Lt Cmdr Streun: "What is the other choice?" Waitress: "Without milk!"