A fall from grace done far from gracefully.
by SAILOR KEN LO

The first race of 2015 proved to be a difficult one as the team had to adapt to a relatively new roster, updated seating arrangement, and had to stomach a great big serving of humble pie.

2014 Lamma was a Cinderella story for the Princely Navy. After sweeping the first 2 races, we won a clean and uncontested final giving the Navy its first ever taste of Lamma gold. But, with the rebirth of the VRC and a veritably stacked X-men (they wanted revenge and brought their biggest guns) 2015 Lamma would take on a David vs GOLIATHS storyline, but where David gets the beating of a lifetime.

The Liechtenstein Princely Navy prides itself on a few things. 1) Looks. 2) Amazing sportswear. 3) Keeping current with what’s cool. LCDR Barnaby decided to make Meghan Trainor’s All About That Bass as the seating motto, putting all the voluptious men in the back and the slender toyboys up front. The back boat acted as the heavy motor propelling the boat with great power while the front kept everyone on course.

Side note: As as part of the Backboat Boys, this author must say: “We are pretty PHAT indeed.”

Now let’s get down to business.

0910 hours. The Navy was 60 seconds from getting a dishonorable discharge for being late. Not the best start to the day. After an intensive warm-up, the mad rush to board the boat, and the fast dash to the starting line, composure (which LCDR Barnaby has always stressed) was probably not at its best. With the starting gun, the Navy kept up for a while before starting to trail. The lighter boat had all sailors coming up short on the catch, with every stroke wasting precious energy with paddles out of the water. 2:03.810 for P4. 1150 hours. We had learned our lesson from the first race – dig deep, keep composure, and get into the boat on time. With this in our mind, we placed 3rd.

Side note: To claim 2nd place, one of the stroke setters on Buzz finished the race by throwing-up, showing just how serious about winning everyone was.

The 1KM race is usually a fun race for the Navy. And unlike the X-Men, which decided not to participate in order to save their strength for the final, we still enjoy a bit of fun in the Navy. We got off to a slow start as we fought against the incoming tide and pushed the slowly filling boat forward. The turn was tight and clean. However, the team took it a little easy on the way in. Instead of using the tide to sprint to the finish, it was more a leisurely paddle in. 6th place.

1730 hours. P4 in the first race. P3 in the second. The Navy squeaked into the finals. The air was filled with hope that momentum would land us on the podium. At the command of the Admiralty, sailors were to give their all and bring the glory back to Liechtenstein. BANG! The Navy started strong, keeping up with our neighbour lane and even the Goliaths. A strong 20 start, smooth transition, and into a nice chug. A quarter of the way through, while the Navy kept chuggin, our neighbour made a power move and got ahead of us by a quarter boat length. Further down field, Buzz t-bones the X-men which in turn nicks the VRC. Buzz didn’t have a chance after that. However, showing incredible composure, the VRC and the X-men, regrouped within milliseconds and regained the lead in seconds. In the end, the battered VRC and X-men came in 1st and 2nd respectively. Lamma Dragons 3rd. Chai Wan Fishermen 4th. Navy 5th. Stormies 6th. Buzz DQ.

The Navy was beaten, but we’ll only have more reason to practice longer and paddle harder. We’ll need to get cleaner with our catches, gain greater composure when we tire, and work better as a unit. But, we’ll be back and next year we’ll be the vengeful ones.