Now in its twelfth season, the Liechtenstein Princely Navy has been training hard since January. Our first race in Deep Water Bay would answer some important questions: Has all this early morning fitness and paddle training paid off? Where do we stand in relation to our main rivals? And how does the 2011 vintage of our Foster’s fuel supply taste?

Deep Water Bay is a 500 meter race that usually attracts one of the strongest fields of competitors, both Chinese and Expat teams. To add further to the pressure on the Navy, we were looking forward to an inspection of the crews by H.S.H. Prince Philipp of Liechtenstein, in town to celebrate the 25 years anniversary of LGT Bank in Hong Kong.

Having established our base on the beach at 0700hrs, hoisted and saluted the Liechtenstein flag, we proceeded to our first competitive heat of the year. We were in a field of five boats, including the hosts of the event, the Hong Kong Island Paddle Club (HKIPC), Windrider (a bunch of wind surfers) as well as the French boys from SogGen. The goal was to finish first or second to avoid the repechage and head straight into the semi finals. We are the Navy, after all, and we don’t do repechages!

The start here is always tricky, as there are no fixed ropes to hold the boat in position and tides and wind moving boats all over the place. As a result, teams hang back and wait to creep forward at the last minute. Unfortunately the starter was not very effective this year, causing plenty of delay.

But the race did eventually get under way, with 20 highly synchronized paddlers putting the power into the water and getting traction into the boat. 500 meters is a long way, resulting in over two minutes of highly anaerobic exercise. Our strategy was to ‘stay long’, let the boat run and keep a good pace for the whole distance. We crossed the line in second, behind HKIPC. First target achieved!

Later in the morning Prince Philipp arrived at Navy HQ. Affable as always, the Chairman of LGT Group greeted and chatted with the crew and was promptly offered a seat in the boat, which he politely (and wisely, as we will shortly see) declined.

The semis saw us lined up against many of our main rivals including Tai Tam Tigers, SMUGs, the BUZZ, Lamma Dragons, Towngas and the HK Japanese Club. Only first, second and third position would go into the big Cup Final – obviously our target. With Prince Philipp watching from the shore, we headed for the starting line and an endless backing and froing until all the boats were reasonably well lined up.

Off went the hooter and we executed our standard LiechtenStart. The BUZZ on our right had a much shorter, but highly effective start that put them straight ahead. However, we railed them back in shortly after the ‘READY AND REACH’. The helmsman, not familiar with the concept of ‘shortest-distance-between-two-points-is-a-straight-line’ aimed at them in a weird angle. Avoiding a collision, we veered off to the left, the BUZZ charging ahead. Shouts of “STAY WITH THEM!” followed and we did, pulling along in a frantic pace and crossing the line in third (Lamma Dragons managing to squeeze into second on the far lane).

Having crossed the line and done his job, the helmsman must have felt like a cigarette and took a hard left to the shore; so hard in fact that the boat started to list heavy on the starboard side and promptly rolled over, taking twenty breathless Sailors a few uncomfortable seconds under water. Imagine running treadmill at full speed and full incline for two minutes, followed immediately by a session of CIA waterboarding! Having gone through all sorts of torture training in our recent boot camp in Phuket, the crew quickly resurfaced with all Sailors well and accounted for while competitor boats cruised by singing the Liechtenstein anthem.