20 May 2012: HKIPC Dragon Boat Races |
The Liechtenstein Princely Navy beats most of its Western counterparts at the HKIPC Deep Water Bay Dragon Boat Race but runs into strong opposition against the entire Chinese fleet.
We thus arrived fairly confidently, yet never underestimating the competition. As always, we only fielded one team in one category (Men’s Open) since there are no women in this Navy (except our highly qualified drummers, of course) and also no ‘mixed’ (although we can’t vouch for the sexual orientation of every single crew member).
And so we lined up against Windrider, Freudenberg & Villene, Shatin A Kung Kok, Tui Min Hoi DB Team and the Royal X Men for our two minute pain-to-glory-ride. A potential danger could be posed by Shatin and Tui Min Hoi – both of which were unknown quantities to our Naval Intelligence and Warfare Institute (NITWITS).
Conditions at the start were pretty good, the sun was out (despite weather forecasts predicting the end of the world) and we were ready to rock n’ roll. HOOT and we were off into what quickly turned into a two horse race – us against Tui Min Hoi – keeping things very close to the finish line which they crossed in 2:10.17 and us in 2:11.91. Everyone else was in the 2:20s and the Royal X-Team even managed a 2:30.65. They must have gotten lost on the way.
Thus we were in the semis and had about four hours to kill. Although it was tempting to break into our Foster’s cache early, we held back and stayed focused.
By definition, the semis would obviously be a bit more difficult. We would have to battle it out against the SMUGz as well as the IPC A and B team, the Tai O Friendship Team, Superwin Dragon Boat Team, and the Architects team (which came into the semis via the Repechage). Here, our NITWITS intelligence was a bit clearer with the obvious threat being IPC who came into the semis on the second fastest time of the day (2:02.17) and Tai O. Only the top two finishers would make it into the Cup Final, which was our destination of choice.
Having only Chinese boats in the final meant the starter didn’t bother with English. “Lok ho, tan hau! Lok ho, tan hau! LOK HO, TAN HAU!” 'Lok ho' (number six) just wouldn’t 'tan hau' (go back). 'Lok ho' also jumped the start and so we all had to ‘tan hau’. But eventually it was “ho!” and then “go!” for the final two minutes of explosive paddle power. It was another tight race, but this time five or six boats were in contention. Sixty strokes and up a gear. One hundred strokes and still no end in sight. 110 – more power – 120 – more – 130 COME ON! – someone tooted across the line but our race wasn’t finished yet – four more TOOTs in rapid succession and that was it.
HK Challenge Club had clinched the Plate in 2:08.26, while Tui Min Hoi (2:11.99), the Sea School Old Boys (2:12.46), us (2:12.87) and Superwin (2:13.00) all arrived within one second from each other.
In conclusion, fourth place in the Plate Cup is less than we had hoped and wished for. But it’s becoming increasingly obvious that the better we get and the more we leave our old rivals behind, the more we run into new ones – mostly Chinese crews which are light and fast. So we simply got to get better, faster and add more power. Or lose some weight!
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Click here for full results.
Click here for more pictures.
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