Racing on the Brunei River on St David’s Day

Sunday 1st March – St David’s Day – and I am taking part, with other Ambassadors, in an afternoon race with 7 other boats including one captained by His Majesty The Sultan. To bring luck to our team, we posed with the Welsh Flag, it being a little known fact that the Brunei crocodile’s only natural predator is the Welsh dragon.

But to get to that point, we had first had some rowing practice. Firefighters in Brunei – the Bomba – are highly regarded. Apart from putting out fires and helping with disaster relief, they are also called upon to remove snakes from people’s gardens. But a third role they play, in their spare time, is to help drill Ambassadors and High Commissioners for the annual Brunei Regatta Race.

Sunday was a hot afternoon, with the Brunei River glinting in the sunshine. This year’s captain, the Australian High Commissioner, had got us kitted out in special team shirts – a bright dragon red. The more pessimistic members of our crew thought we’d at least be easily identifiable should we capsize (and, in a later race, two boats did indeed sink). Looking ahead, not down, seemed to be the best tactic, with the Bomba’s rehearsal cries of “Keep Paddling” still ringing in my ears.

Cheered on by (landlubber) diplomatic colleagues and a crowd enjoying the spectacle, it was an unusual but enjoyable way to spend St David’s Day overseas. A good motto abroad, when faced with the unusual, is “go with the flow.” We did that literally on Sunday, aided of course by some furious paddling. How did we do? Well, another good motto is “it’s not the winning, but the taking part.” There’s always next year.