The Navy finishes overall second in the Men's A Division at the Stanley Championships in a solid day of paddling, with a P3, P2 and P2 in the three heats, edging out the Sea School Old Boys into overall third. As the Admiral indicated in his trophy acceptance speech, the letter X will henceforth be removed from the alphabet in Liechtenstein as the Royal X clinches the title with a clean sweep of 3xP1.

Six months of training, 73 training sessions (both circuits and paddle training) and 30 cases of Singha fuel, all towards one goal: winning the Stanley Championships!

And thus, as the big day arrived, we put our utmost focus and determination into that effort. We were as fit as we can be and it would all come down to technique and composure during the three heats.

The race format had changed this year with the same 12 elite A teams racing each other in three heats, with points for position and the Champion determined on maximum points. Thus, each round was a final and we could not afford a weak first heat as we sometimes have a habit to do.

Having had a few sleepless nights to make the tough crew decision, CRO Barnaby gave a few more directions prior to the start: front – focus on timing and a solid transition into the chug. Mid-ship – bring on maximum power. Rear – stay long and find clean water.

We lined up in our starting slot in lane 4 and waited for the starters order, which interestingly this year seem to consist of a “GO!”, followed by the gun a few moments later. Anyway, we went on the “GO!” and worked our way through the standard race piece with 15 fast strokes and a READY AND REACH at 40. We were across the line in about 65 strokes in 3rd in 1.06.888, behind the Sea School Old Boys (1.06.221) and Royal X in 1.04.968.

Obviously it wasn’t quite the first heat we had hoped for, but it was pretty solid and gave us something to build on for the afternoon. In the meantime, we retreated to our junk, loaded up on risotto and ham (as always freshly prepared by Chief Galley Officer Stefan) and announced the Awards & Promotions for 2013.

Back on shore for round 2 we went through a rigorous warm-up regime (while the SMUGz pre-race preparation seemed to consist mostly of a group huddle and chat). We were now in lane 5, right next to the Royal X and the Old Boys to spearhead the field down the course. It was a closely fought race again and although the X seemed to have the upper hand in the early part of the race we had a fantastic surge of power at 40 that brought us back into contention and crucially helped to give us the advantage over the Old Boys. Royal X was 1st in 1:06.23, Navy 2nd in 1.07.48, Old Boys 3rd in 1.07.69. Everyone else was in the 1.09s or lower with Stanley Mates needing 1.23 to find the beach!

The mathematical chances of winning the Championship by now obviously started to slip away, but naval spirits were by no means dampened. With just an hour before the final race, LTJG Martin offered a case of bananas to appropriately celebrate his promotion, washed down with plenty of Red Bull.

And thus freshly refuelled and fully motivated we loaded HSH LiechtenPower once more and pointed her smiling dragon head towards the general direction of Stanley Main Beach. With a slight adjustment to our strategy (reducing the fast 15 to a fast 10 as we seemed to find the best power and traction in the chug) we thundered towards the beach once more in a familiar three-way fight against the X and Old Boys, finishing half a second between the two in 1.05.68.

When you set out to win the Championship, second place will obviously never leave you fully satisfied. But there are much more positives to be taken away then negatives. It was a solid performance throughout and we raced with the utmost level of focus, determination – but also heart and conviction. In general, I think we are one of the most consistent elite teams on that beach – I mean, where was Royal X last year? Where were SMUGz this year? The Tai Tam Tigers? And let’s not even mention UBS or Fair Dinkum who were never in contention. Thus I’m very confident that we will eventually lift that large trophy ourselves. By sheer straight-line extrapolation (3rd in 2012, 2nd in 2013) it will be next year!

LIECHTENSTEIN!!!