The Liechtenstein Princely Navy entered the Open category of the HKIDBR, which essentially is where all the local men’s teams compete (as opposed to the Open International, which features overseas teams – and where we used to compete in the days when the HKDBA was desperate for a European entry.) These days – thanks to generous government funding – the HKDBA and the IDBR are not short of interest or participation, which has also resulted in the event moving from the smelly backwaters of Sha Tin to the smelly TST East water front. But despite the unmistakable stench of Kowloon’s raw sewage, paddling in the harbor with the entire Hong Kong skyline as a backdrop remains a pleasure and a privilege.

Of course, we didn’t get much chance to enjoy the view, as we were there for some very competitive racing over 500m, a distance we’ve happily left behind since the Deep Water Bay regatta back in May. Our first heat would see us up against some familiar – and formidable – opposition. South Eagles, Superwin and the Ngai Muay Thai Association @ Hong Kong Sea School Old Boys Dragon (or NMTA@HKSSOBD in short) were instantly identified as a CLEAR AND PRESENT DANGER to the naval security of Liechtenstein. Right next to us were old rivals Buzz, who we last raced in Deep Water Bay over the same distance.

As usual – and this has been long identified as a major weakness of our team – we didn’t have our own helmsman but managed to secure the services of an old Stanley friend. In fact, he was so keen to give us a helping hand that he pushed us off the starting pontoon as the gun went off, which promptly resulted in a false start. Nice try!

The restart went without a hitch and after our usual LiechtenFast start we were into a fast and furious chug. And while we had a clear advantage over the Buzz in the neighboring lane, the team was unable to keep up with the pace. Thus, by about halfway we could feel them coming back at us and were unable to put in the extra effort to pull away. It resulted in a sixth place finish, with the top three in a league of their own (sub 2 minute times) and the next three in close contention.

Since only the first three would go straight to the semis, we found ourselves in a repechage from where only the winner would progress. Everything or nothing!

We obviously had to adjust our race strategy, going for a slower, but more powerful and steady chug that would see us all pull through the 130-140 strokes required to the finish line.

We were up against a mixed bag of teams, including Fair Dinkum who had four girls onboard and thus did not pose a serious threat. Our strategy worked well and we finished the race in a solid first place (2:02.97 versus 2:03.67 for Artland in second; Fair Dinkum was 4th in 2.10.87).

Although some paddlers may have hoped we could adjourn early to the beerfest, we reassembled at our underground base in the car park of the Empire Centre (much cleaner than Stanley Main Beach…) to re-fuel and prepare for the semi finals.

Over salad and pizza, we strategized over our semi final line-up. Three of the teams were in the sub 2 minute league and hence favorites. But a total of four would make it through to the final. Hence, realistically, we were in a fight for fourth place. Having come though the repechage meant we were in the far lane eight, which had the benefit that we didn’t really see what’s going on around us and allowed us to fully focus on OUR boat, which was all that mattered.

When they finally called “The Liechtenstein Princely Naval” to the start, we put our heads down, trusted the team, focused on Barnaby and went for it. The main tactical reminder was to KICK THE BOAT and our call at 50 and 100 was changed to a READY AND KICK. It felt good and worked well. Again, sitting on the right and thus having no view whatsoever of the rest of the field, it was hard to tell what was going on, but as we finally reached those white buoys far down the course, it was a series of TOOTs in very quick succession that indicated a close race. And indeed, all eight boats were close together and it was impossible to tell who had made it through.

Due to a protest by one of the teams for reasons unbeknownst to us, it took forever until the results were announced. In the end, we were eighth and last, which doesn’t sound impressive, but second (Tai O – 1:57.40) and eighth (us in 1:58.43) were separated by a single second while the cut-off for the final at fourth (Superwin – 1:57.73) was only 0.7 of a second away. That’s how close this race was and how competitive the Navy has become!

Also, since the Buzz was unable to win their own repechage and was thus out of the running, we were the only ‘gweilo’ boat among a sea of Chinese. And a sub-2 minute result for 500m is a good time on any given day!

Hence, all in all, a great day of paddling with a very solid result.