08 March 2008 - a water training without coach.

This Sat was very special - in more ways than one:

First of all, it was William's big day! - Which was certainly a good enough reason to be exempted from training. Afterall, Papillons like their grooms (and brides) to look good.

Second of all... Captain Jon was super early for two weeks in a row! Everyone was impressed with his newfound punctuality which could be attributed to the weather forecast-cum-alarm clock-cum-missile detector(?) that Pierre brilliantly suggested for Jon's birthday present this year.

Thirdly - Coach Patrick was MIA! Woh - how the mice danced with glee when they learnt the cat was away coaching NYP in the MR500 race.

ANYWAY. Training still did go on... sans the warm up press-ups and chin-ups (better discounts than the IT show.)

Joined by our lovely Papillumni - Sam and Freddy - Papillon boasted depth in strength as we managed to rotate FIVE coxswains and row without crashing into the wall and exploding into flames. WHAT a feat.

And the kopi-licence coxswains are (in no particular order of improficiency):
- Ah Ben
- Freddy
- Joe
- Jon
- Dawn
(All were granted licences for the sheer garang-ness exhibited.)

Special mention to the "utterance of the day":
With Dawn at the rudder, Papillon rowed like an army possessed and were finally stopped in their tracks by a mindblowing:

"Where are we going arh?" - Woh. Classic.

Putting that aside - oh, how we rowed! We dutifully practised the new rowing style that Patrick taught the week before - considering nobody paddle-smacked anybody in the face while executing that, I conclude it was a good session.

Towards the end, Capt Jon showed good initiative in rousing his troops to do some race sets. Coach would have been proud of the good coordination in spite of the still-unfamiliar stroke. The starting acceleration was also significantly faster than before. However, overall, more work has to be done on improving fitness so that the rapid strokes can be sustained for the entire race.. something that we struggled with, as fatigue set in with each race set.

No fear! As long as we keep our eye on the ball (ie. JI gold, and whatever other golds along the path to glory) - do our gym work (at this point in time -still Work in Progress for HBF folks) - practise as one during Sat water trainings - the championship is well within our sight.

Keep up the Papillon spirit and let's go for gold this season.

Go go go. Papillonnnn... GO!

PS: For closure and completeness - yes, we returned safely at the pontoon, washed up and were dismissed.

= Chief Editor signing off =