Updated: 26 Oct 2005 by Yiling
We were watching the Men?s repecharge event from the shore and congratulating ourselves that, for the 1st time Safra didn?t mess up during a race. Ha ha. We said it too early. For the men?s boat promptly bumped into another boat while inches away from the finishing line and got disqualified. It was a race they would have clearly won if not for a real mishap. Haiz. So jinxed. Understandably, some of the rowers were upset, but then, how could a race event be memorable without some drama? Like the time our coxswain fell off the boat 25m from the finishing line. That was quite funny (with due respect to the coxswain) and I wouldn?t have remembered the race if not for that ?mishap?. Anyway, there?ll be many more races in future. So there will always be opportunity to race.
What?s more important is the Safra spirit that (I believe) set us apart from the other teams: Never say die, never give up. Even when hopes are dim, you can still enjoy the race, the rowing and cheering! So what if we didn?t win? We can still pat ourselves on the back for finishing the race, for participating, for having a good time.
In any case, short races have never featured very strongly in our repertoire. Guess it?s got to do with the temperament. Look at the way we mo1 here and mo1 there ? everywhere!
But that?s not to say we didn?t try our best lar. Our 杀-rometer just didn?t hit the high notes on Sat. The races were so fast that 1 breath was all you need to get yourself from start to finish. The mixed team breezed into the semi-finals but got outpowered there. The men?s team had to go for repecharge and would have qualified for Plate final if not for the accidental bump.
Sunday we started off a bit apprehensively because of the distance (looked so daunting after the 1st day?s short sprints huh) but the first race got us warmed up and soon Safra was 杀!杀! 杀! all the way. We杀 before heading to the starting point, we杀before launching the boat, we杀 after every race. Initially I was very puzzled why we杀! So often (for what?). But I must concede it?s very good for morale and for waking up those sleepy-heads who had been dozing their necks off while waiting for our turn for the boat. Hmmm maybe that?s what got Jack-哥 so worked up that he broke Miss B?s paddle even at the launching point. Tsk tsk.
And we did very terrific sets. The men came in 1st in their heats narrowly beating Pacific West from M?sia. The mixed got edged out during the heats but did very well during the repecharge, clocking in our best timing for this event at 2:32min. Subsequently the men got edged out during the semi but managed to get 2nd in the Plate finals. The mixed went on to the semis, qualified for the Cup finals, and came in 4th (no mean feat considering it was straight after the men?s event) ahead of Pacific West and the Canadians. So happy that we were not last!
All in all, a pretty fruitful and eventful outing. Safra ? 杀!