Race two of the season and the Liechtenstein Princely Navy finds itself yet again in the Cup Final. But there is still plenty of room for improvement.

Having revealed its form over 500 meters a couple of days earlier in Deep Water Bay, it was now time to show what we’ve got over the shorter, 200-250m distance (you can never be sure what the exact racing distance is in Stanley).

Heat one was against a bunch of corporate teams including AIA, HSBC Insurance and banking rivals UBS Blazing Paddles. However, it was the Navy which came out with paddles blazing, as we pulled clear from the start never to be seen or caught up with again. It was all over very quickly, very cleanly and very decisively. It was almost too easy. Our time was a blistering 1.06 something, the third fastest of the first heats, with only two Chinese boats putting down a 1.05.

The semi finals were going to be considerably more competitive. For one, old rivals Tai Tam Tigers were in the mix plus a whole bunch of Chinese teams – all generally very light and very fast. Our plan was a quick start and then just run with it. With boats fixed tightly into position at the starting pontoons, starting procedures were relatively straight-forward. Chief Focus Officer Fred executed a magnificent start (one of those at the click of the gun, not at the actual shot) and we were off cleanly. We must have been ahead, but the Tigers and a Chinese team came chasing after us, finding additional gears as we headed down the course. Toot – toot – toot and the three of us were over the line within seven tenth of a second from each other. We were only third, which hurt our egos a bit, but not our qualification for the Cup Final.

In our Post Race Deconstruction Analysis we found that a) our start is excellent, b) we have good boat speed but c) we miss those extra gears to jump ahead if and when necessary. Thus, for the finals, we would build in two “Power Up!” calls, despite the fact that the races was less than sixty strokes from the ‘Ready and Reach’.

Due to our third place finish in the semis, we ended up in the far lane for the Cup Final – but we were convinced it would be the FAST lane. The other five teams consisted of the Tigers and Fair Dinkum as well as three Chinese teams, including the Federation of Dragon Boat & Water Sports, who to the best of my recollection have won all the Stanley short course races in recent history. Never mind: anything can happen in the final. Especially at the start, with Focused Freddy going not just at the click of the gun, but the thought of the click of the gun. It was ambitious and well executed, but the starter didn’t like it and so we had to do it again. Undeterred, we got away cleanly the second time around, and powered through our LiechtenStart. “Ready and reach” and the drum at twenty (with a Power Up call) meant we were already over a third down the course. The helmsman, powered by Foster’s, was doing his best to edge us along and we all crossed the finish line in rapid succession.

It was impossible to tell who had won. The Fair Dinkies thought they did, but in fact came last! We hoped we did too, but came fifth while Tigers were third. Just 1.6 seconds seperated first (1.05'5) from last (1.07'1). We assume the Federation of DBWS had won, but we had drunk too much Foster’s to remember.

Hence, we take way the following: a) the Navy remains highly competitive as illustrated in all three heats and the fact that we again made the Cup Final (as well as the fact that many rivals were benchmarking their performance against ours – they still hate to lose to the Navy); b) the team works well together with no obvious shortcomings in technique or timing; c) we have to continue to work hard to close the gap to the front, be more aggressive and find those extra gears that will help us to achieve the ultimate goal of the season – winning the Stanley Championships!

Statistically speaking we are on the right track: from 7th in DWB to 5th here means we should be 3rd by Lamma and 1st for Stanley!