They say ‘size doesn’t matter’ and we would agree: the shorter, the better and the smaller, the better. Here’s why:

The Stanley Short Course Race (shorter = better) is traditionally the season-ending race for the Navy. Time, therefore, to put our final mark on what can only be described as a Very Interesting and Surprising Season, fresh off our second place finish in the Men’s A at the Stanley Championships.

The day started off in Very Interesting and Surprising manner – with an unnamed Sailor passing out during the warm-up for our first heat! ‘A sudden drop of blood pressure due to a lack of sugar intake’ was the official explanation by the Navy Medical Emergency Team. ‘Too much yoga and not enough Red Bull’ was the verdict among fellow paddlers.

With a single substitute paddler swiftly employed (props to Sailor Joffrey for showing up on time for back-up duty!), we deposited the stricken Sailor at Pacific Command (i.e. Pacific Coffee) and proceeded to the starting line to pull a P3 in 52:93 out of the hat – good enough for the Gold Cup Semi Finals.

Did anybody mention how hot it was? It was hot!

Next up: Small Boats (10 paddlers in a Standard Boat, go figure…). We brought it home in P2 in 56:56, the third fastest time among 19 Small Boats – not too shabby and good enough for the Small Boat Gold Cup Final.

Meanwhile, it got hotter…

Next up: Standard Boat semi final. I can’t recall the actual race except thinking that it felt like a final, rather than a semi. We were 4th in 53:62 while Stanley Market thundered ahead to win in 49:96 – that’s a blistering hot time, even on a hot day like today…

In fact, it was getting so hot that the sea was getting warmer than the air and a splash of water on the face at the starting line offered no cooling effect whatsoever. Actually – and I’m not making this up – as we were lined up for the start of the following race, a fish tried to jump out of the water, seemingly desperate to escape the heat of the ocean in favor of a cool, dry spot on our dragon boat. That’s how hot is was…

Never mind. Back to the Small Boat final. The message was simple: find a second! That’s all we needed to beat the competition. Easy, mathematically, we had ten paddlers, i.e. everyone just had to find 0.1 of a second. That’s what I love about dragon boat racing – it is all so simple.

So we went out there and put the best race piece of the day into the water. 200 meters of pure joy and harmony – I’m exaggerating, but it was close… And so was the result: 56.37 for the Navy over 56.52 for the Chai Wan Fishermen in P2. An amazing result and feeling, especially since we’ve never won the Small Boat Championship outright. But then again, we practiced as a Small Boat for most of the season…!

The day wasn’t over, of course, as we still had the Standard Boat Silver Cup Final to contend with. I’ll keep this short as the memory isn’t as pleasant as the Small Boat final: we had what felt like a competitive race, but ended up last. Dead last. Hard to believe and hard to swallow, but that’s what the scoreboard said. Personally, I blame it on the fact that we were in lane 7, which was the slowest lane for all the final races, but that’s just my excuse…

Never mind. Back to the BBQ! And the Singha beer! And the Promotions & Awards! And the fact that we had an absolutely amazing season, despite the fact that we started the year off with only half a boat. Or shall we say, a Small Boat…

And, by the way, Happy Father’s Day!