Coming up short on a long weekend - Part 2
by SAILOR KEN LO

Day 2. Deep Water Bay 500m race. The Firemen were no-shows, but they weren't saving lives or fighting fires, they were instead at a fisherman race. With the 2014 Champion gone, all eyes were set on the Royal X. But like a hydra, if you cut one Chinese team, 2... or 1... will take its place.

The first mens' race of the day. The usual teams were present. Royal X was in lane, UBS was there, and Mr. Dragon of course. Mr. Who? Think: 20 in-their-prime Chinese built of the same lean muscle mass and of the same height. This author is full-blooded Chinese, and still had to say, "All y'all look alike". They blew past Royal X at the gate. The Navy's slow start put us out of contention immediately, but our classic chug brought us into a somewhat respectable 3rd.

The Navy fell apart in Race 2. The start was satisfactory, but the transition was rushed and the Navy couldn't get into a comfortable chug, rating too high for the entire length. Ready-and-reach calls, compression calls, timing calls, and a bunch of other calls by one chatty sailor, couldn't fix it. To make things worse, many sailors went into self-preservation mode. There was no cohesion, no camaraderie, no technique. Only pure aggression put us into a disappointing P3, a few milliseconds behind Stormies. It should be noted that for the last 1/3 of the race our steersman took us on a veering scenic route to show us the true beauty of Deep Water Bay.

The total points from the two heats were sufficient to squeeze us into the Open Cup Final with the big boys. A saving grace after being humiliatingly dumped into the B Cup final at the Stanley Warm Up the previous day. LCDR Barnaby's pep talk brought us back from the dead. The plan was simple: Slow the chug, trust the boat.

Lane 1 - Navy. Lane 2 - VRC. Lane 3 - Royal X. Lane 4 - Mr. Dragon. Lane 5 - Stormies. Lane 6 - Lamma.

At the start Royal X and Mr. Dragon disappeared into the distance. Even the VRC had trouble keeping up. The Navy, Stormies, and Lamma were left behind to their own kiddie race. The Navy lagged in the beginning with our slower chug, but we were together. Ready-and-reach and compression calls this time were effective. By mid-way we had caught up to Lamma and surpassed Stormies. In the end we came in P5. Nothing to be proud of, but trust in the boat revived and the Navy chug paid dividends. As POFC Laurent said, "If we had another 1km we would have beat them all."