21 June 2008 - Found the elusive groove.

What can I say - it took us some time to get it. But when it arrived, it was SWEET. After weeks and weeks of tweaking and finetuning, we have finally discovered our very own Papillon... pace!

The day began with our usual warm up and the familiar sight of a frantic Joe bursting into the scene. Somehow, he always manages not to miss the boat - talk about uncanny timing. With Joe, we had a perfect 10 lineup for today's training in preparation for next week's 800m race.

Apparently, there were 战书s* issued among Paps, Vets and Lilies, to do pacing. There was some miscomm. about timing, so Paps set off to find and update the Vets. But, they were nowhere to be found. Conspiracy theorists speculated that it was a ploy to tire us out with an extended warm-up row. (Not true - they were just secretly practising in Cosy Bay - fair enough.)

*战书 = noun. 'written challenge to war', or, 'letter to challenge'

Just as well - in the distance covered to find the Vets, we practised our special-30 start introduced by Coach Patrick just the previous session - looking good. But the test of the mettle came during the 800m pace with Vets and Lilies...

Conclusion: It's good. We made our best timing and were way way ahead in the finish. (To be fair, our boat was at full strength while our worthy opponents were missing a few.) MOST importantly, we didn't collapse and die at the end of it.

Ever the thorough coach, Patrick wanted to double-confirm the 30-start's effectiveness, so made us do two 300m race sets with different starts, to compare. Again, 30-start showed an advantage. So... I guess - this is it! We have found our groove. Well, at least for the coming 800m race.

In such a long race, we need to stay fresh - the 30-start gives a steady and powerful start and allows us to breathe and recover well during maintenance in order to charge again near the end. Also, unlike with fast-short strokes, the chance of incoordination is lower.

The key lies in maintaining focus and keeping to our own pace with long, strong pulls, even if other boats press ahead at the start. We will definitely catch up - seat by seat, stroke by stroke - that's for sure. So Paps, just be cool, stick to our game plan - and things will pan out fine.

It's going to be one hard race... but when we hear that 'ARE YOU READY' next week - you can betcha we are.

= Chief Editor signing off =