Deep Water Bay - the first race of the season - is always a big question mark. Who's competitive and who’s not? Who’s fit and hungry and who’s fat and hung-over? And will the drummer of the Firemen finally reveal it all? So many questions, and only 500m to find out!

Having trained harder, deeper, longer than ever before, the Navy felt confident about its prospects for the day. On the upside, we were lean and mean and rearing to go after a long training season. On the downside, we had picked the Draw from Hell for our first heat: HKIPC (the home team); Stormy Dragons (almost as dangerous as their women's team) and two Chinese teams that don’t have an English name (those are the worst!). At least we were in lane 1, closest to the shore and hopefully the fast lane.

Loading the boat with 1.639 tons of paddle power displacement (if the elephant scale is to be trusted), we lined up for the first heat. With no bow nor stern line, the start is always a lottery (“Lane one back! Lane six come forward!”) and the Chinese teams tend to ignore the calls completely. They also ignored the horn and went on the “READY!” call, putting the Navy instantly on the back foot. We executed our standard starting sequence, which in hindsight was too slow and too deep, given that these fiberglass boats fly like the wind (unlike the heavy Stanley boats – which need to be lifted out of the water first). We powered down the course and finished only in fifth, not enough to qualify for the semi finals, instead putting us into the dreaded repechage which we thought we had left behind for good last year.

Looking at the time (2:05.32) our performance was actually very respectable and would have won us first place in the other Open Heat (which was won by the SMUGs in 2:06.26). But with such a formidable field, we were left to prove ourselves in the repechage.

And we did. Lining up in lane three this time we found ourselves next to our old friends from the BUZZ. The rest of the competition was less to worry about. We decided to shorten and quicken our start in order to get ahead – and stay ahead. This worked out pretty well and we led the field from the start, resulting in a convincing and important morale-boosting victory.

We were now back in the game – slotting into the first semi final with another strong field – our two Chinese friends from the first heat as well as the Firemen, which despite (or maybe because of) their seriously underdressed male drummer, are contender never to be underestimated (even though the Tai Tam Tigers beat them in the first heat, which came as a surprise).

This time, our start was perfect. So powerful, in fact, that Able Seaman Frauenfelder broke his carbon fiber paddle into two pieces on the first stroke! That is quite an achievement in itself. While the other 19 Sailors powered down the course with the front of the field, Seaman Frauenfelder desperately looked for a spare paddle before deciding on “short digging” the race with half a paddle.

500m may not sound like much, but sometimes it feels like eternity – 20, 30, 40 strokes – drum! – 50, 60, - Seaman Frauenfelder now paddling frantically with his little stick (like a hamster on Red Bull!) - 70, 80 – does this thing ever end? – POWER UP NOW! – 90 – f*** we’re still not there – 100 – COME ON! – 110 – onehundredandfrickintwenty! We had thrown in the kitchen sink and then some! It was a top race and we stayed in contention, finishing a closely fought fourth – behind the usual suspects but way ahead of everyone else.

Coming fourth meant that we would end up in the Plate Final, together with the Firemen who came third, the Buzz, Windrider, Towngas, FVI and the Architects. We fancied our chances for a strong finish despite the fact that unlike some of the other teams we had one additional race under our belt. Lining up for the start again took forever and when the “READY!” call finally came, our boat was pointing some 30 degrees off course. Chief Focus Officer Fred slightly hesitated at the start, then went for it and we were gone – into the general direction of the Philippines! The helmsman – probably not having his passport on him – made a feeble attempt to keep us in Hong Kong waters, but we still ended up on a big circular route. Disciplined as they are, our Sailors powered on regardless, disregarding the well known fact that the shortest distance between two points is a straight line.

Once again, we gave it all but the combination of a long day and a long route meant it was only good enough for fourth, in 2:05.79. With first, second and third all coming in between 2:02 and 2:04 we were again not much off the pace, but unfortunately off the podium and thus deprived of any silverware. But as always, we had plenty of Foster’s to cheer us up instead.

And to the chagrin of our competitors, it was the Liechtenstein Princely Navy that was featured prominently in the sports pages of next morning’s SCMP – proving again that you don’t have to be first to be most visible!