Like a good book that you just can’t put down, Chris P (aka Crispy) gives us a bit by bit rundown of his days at AusChamps2017. From breakfast of coffee and raisin toast at home to sweeping for Team Victoria on State vs State competition day (Part 1 of 2).

Day 0 - Fri 21 Apr 2017

0700h; Wake up, make a coffee and raisin toast. Thank past Crispy for packing bags. Curse him for not packing the car.

0900h; Leave house, pick up squirrel, drop mum off at dancing hall and drive to Benny's.

1030h; Throw gear into van, leave Benny's. Benny looks confident behind the wheel.

1230h; Turns out Benny is pretty good driver, but we did miss the Sydney Rd exit. Crispy is not a great navigator. Lost 15 min to detour =(

1345h; Arrive at Friar's Cafe, Shepparton for lunch. Rendezvous with Thi, Eric and Alethea for lunch. Steak sandwich is not bad. Alethea is cramming an assignment due in 3 h, needs to be fed by Eric lol.

1700h; Arrive at Hume Inn. Driving in the rain is a pain but Thi is happy for me driving. Van arrives shortly after. Boyce had taken over as driver, is good at wet weather driving.

1830h; Eat dinner at Italian restaurant at the front of the inn. Carb loading with pizza and pasta =)

2100h; Sue calls me out to audit BBQ gear in van. Tina makes shopping list.

2200h; Nothing on local TV. Gear is prepped for tomorrow. Time to hit the sack.

Day 1 - Sat 22 Apr 2017

0515h; Alarm goes off. Thi not pleased at early morning wake-up, but is happy there is toasted hot cross buns and coffee prepared. Put on the navy blue and whites, eat food and pack van for 0630h departure. Is pretty cold out.

0640h; Arrive at AusChamps. Took less than 5 min to get to regatta site, remember for tomorrow. Parking guy almost triple parks cars, Carlos has word to him.

0700h; Vic Prems huddle to marshal. Eddie is late again... (running joke =p) Don't walk off by yourself, keep warm and dry, listen to captains for races. Pretty standard regatta stuff. Still very cold. Muddy too, people are losing shoes and thongs to the mud. Thi heads out to Bunnings for gumboots, is trip 1 of 100 for the day.

0745h; Called to warm up. Sky opens up as we're warming up. Everyone is drenched =( Eliza pulls me aside and gives me a list of races I'm sweeping for the Juniors. Gonna be a busy day, I wander over and say hello. They look keen, great to see young paddlers =)

0800h; Go for a short walk, try not to psych myself out. First time sweeping at AusChamps, brand new crew. Can't let the state down, not in the navy blue and whites. My palms are sweaty, knees weak, arms spaghetti. Deep breathe. Let's do this.

0830h; U18 Mixed 500m Small Boat Heat 1. Vic White's first race. Good start and the kids held it together and make it down the lane. Lane official comes up to the boat, asks if one of the girls is ok. She's a bit tired but smiles and waves him off. Three cheers for the other crews and we head back to the pontoon. Have a word with team manager about formations, and a quick pep talk with the crew. We're off just in time to watch the Mixed Prems come screaming down the course. Looking good, they smash their heat and come first.

0910h; U18 Mixed 500m Small Boat Finals. The kids have locked themselves in and we're keeping up with the other crews until the 200m mark. The crew is tired but keep on going and no mishaps across the line. I'm impressed with these kids, first AusChamps for all of them and a lot of them have only just started paddling. They all get a high five and clap on the back. Eliza is heaps happy, and Vic Navy scored a silver =) We all watch as the Prems come down in the next race and win by a good margin. Gold!

1010h; First of the big ones, Premier Open 500m Standard Boat. Pretty nervous with so much power, hope I don't fluff up the start or go off-course. NSW is next to us, overhear the coach say something about going 80% because its only a heat. Pffft, can't win with that attitude. The girls are the race before us. Big cheers from the boys as they make their way down. Good timing and lots of power, first all the way!

1045h; Big start from the boys, we jumped out of the blocks and I nearly lost my balance. Didn't lose it though, and everything falls into place. Steal a quick look at NSW and call the boys up. Smash them by half a boat =D

1210h; Premier Open 500m Standard Boat Finals! NSW and QLD look a bit grim after their previous lose, looking for blood. The girls are ripping down the line and the boys cheer for them even louder. Miss out of the end of race as we get called up the start line. ARE YOU READY? ATTENTION! GO! Not sure how but the boys make an even bigger jump off the line and we've left the other boats in our wake. 2, 1, REACH! POWER, 2, 1, POWER! REACH, 2, 1, REACH! REACH, 2, 1, REACH! LIFT, 2, 1, LIFT! POWER, 2, 1, POWER! REACH, 2, 1, REACH! GO NOW! GO GO GO! GO GO GO! EASY! (Or something like that) No questions about this race, we're well in front. The boys made it look easy. 02m00s97ms.

David and Jarrod are all smiles as we pull in. The Prems all come in and David for once is almost speechless. Jarrod is smiles too, and tells us how proud the coaches are. High fives and claps all round. But we still have relays in the afternoon to go, so get warm and have some food. So proud of everyone, and can only smile. Heart is still thumping and legs are shaky.

1300h; Sweeps and team managers called up for 100m Relays briefing. Two boats per team, Women's first leg, Men's second leg. Men start when their Women's boat passes and the flag drops. They've decided to keep us on the water for Heats 1 and 2, and then we can swap crews for the Final. Sounds like fun.

1400h; I'm on duty for the U18 100m Relay Vic M. Good mix of experienced and new paddlers. Quick prep talk to the boys about what the calls will be, and everyone looks confident. Big start, big catch, big pull, keep it in control. We head to the start line for our race and there is mass confusion as we line up. The Senior A are called back to the pontoon for some reason. We shrug it off and line up. The girls get a pretty good start and its close as they approach us. The flag goes down and we're off. We get off to a good start but the stroke rate is a bit high and the boys gas a bit early. We head around for Heat 2 but then get sent back to beach. The others sweeps are a bit confused. Turns out they're doing the races in order, not like the brief. Meh. The boys gather around and we have a quick talk about the race. Good start, slow down the rate and stay in control. The girls have their debrief and we wait on the beach for Heat 2.

1430h; U18 100m Relay Heat 2. We quickly go over the new plan and head to the start line. The girls are neck and neck again, and we're off at the same time as NSW and QLD/ACT. The boys keep it steady this time and we come in a close third. The boys look pleased and we all agree that was a winning strategy. We all get a quick look as the Prems team do their relay too. The boys definitely admire the Prems as they scream past the line and win their heat.

1500h; U18 100m Relay Heat 3. Last round. We can still nab 1st place if we lock it 100% and win it big. The boys are all pumped to make this their big play. We watch the girls race up and we start off second. They look tired and hold it to the end and we do our best to try and catch NSW. It's strong and steady all the way and the boys give me a surge on every call. We cross the line 3rd and they're spent. Three cheers for the other crews, three cheers for the girls and three cheers for ourselves. We're done for the day. Erin and I debrief the crew and we're really happy with how they went. There is lots to take away from the races and everyone is super pumped for next year.

1515h; The Prems 100m Relay Finals is off! The Women have a big jump off the line and they power away from QLD and NSW. NSW catches them close to the line and the Men are off to a close start. The Men make the most of the lead the girls gave them and give it their everything. Finishing time of 00m59s77ms and FIRST! The Juniors form up a line and high fives and cheers as the Prems come past.

1600h; Medal ceremony and big cheers as every crew is called out and presented with medals. The Vic Prems make a clean sweep of their categories, and the Juniors have come away with some Silvers and Bronzes.

1700h; Each of the crews is handed their medals. Everyone walks away with their bling bling.

1710h; One last photo with the Vic Prems, and Jarrod is off to put on his Sea Horse costume =D Is quite classy as a brown sea horse with big black wellingtons lol.

1730h; Back to the inn and BBQ time! The non-State Sea Dragons are all busy around the tables prepping food. I find a big knife and begin dissection of a watermelon. Chef Crispy prepares watermelon sashimi (no, is just normal watermelon). Boyce is on chopping duties, Tina is coordinating the BBQ tenderers (including Fung and Karen). Sui, Oana and Squirrel are busy taping up and stickering the paddles for Club day tomorrow and Monday.

1800h; Hamzah is busy setting up his little BBQ and cooking his lamb. No one realises we've eaten his halal lamb but Tina flies to the rescue and offers up some beef steak. Everyone is happy and the BBQ is back on track.

1930h; Carlos and Cathy call us all together to brief us for two big days. We go over the plan for the day, and what the coaches and captains expect from everyone. Water conditions, weather, race schedule. Joe gives us his prep talk, and I get called up to explain pontoon starts, and then ask the sweeps to see me afterwards for a quick chat.

2030h; The food is eaten, we're all cleaning up and taking note of formations. Sweeps are briefed and we all head back to our rooms for some rest and sleep. What a big day, and we still have two more =|

To be continued...