They're yachting's odd couple and they have a date with destiny at midnight they wouldn't dream of missing.
Tauranga's Peter Burling and Blair Tuke from Kerikeri only have to show up, suit up and hoist the sail up in Weymouth to secure New Zealand's first Olympic sailing medal in a non-board class in 20 years.
Burling and Tuke are yin and yang off the water but in just over three short years together, have developed a synchronicity in their high-speed 49er skiff that has carried them to Olympic silver behind unbeatable Aussies and training partners Nathan Outteridge and Iain Jensen.
It was fitting Burling's ultra-supportive parents, Richard and Heather, were in Weymouth to watch their 21-year-old son compete over the last week. Now it's Peter and Rosemary Saunders from Tauranga who face a nervous couple of days as Burling's former Tauranga Boys' College schoolmate Jason Saunders scraps it out for bronze in the men's 470, with just a point separating Saunders and the Italian and Argentinian crews in third.
On the water, Tuke and Burling might throw themselves around with reckless abandon, but off it the pair couldn't be more different - Burling a calm, shy engineering student who is reluctant in front of a microphone and Tuke more naturally engaging and effusive with the quotes.
Burling, though, is light years ahead of where he was four years ago when he was New Zealand's youngest sailing Olympian, debuting in Beijing in the 470 class at the age of 17. At a Boys' College assembly to welcome him home he was asked to get up in front of 1000 students and say a few words. He did just that, mumbling a couple of sentences before quickly discarding the microphone and shuffling into the background, preferring to do his talking with a tiller in his hand.
Now he's New Zealand's second youngest sailing medallist at the age of 21, and Boys' College's second medallist after Mahe Drysdale's gold. Here's hoping Saunders can make it three.
As the Black Sticks have reached the women's Olympic field hockey semifinals for the first time, let's hope the sport's power-brokers have a contract ready and waiting for coach Mark Hager to sign ... win, lose or draw in post-section.
Hager inherited a rabble four years ago after unproductive stints from Ian Rutledge and Kevin Towns took the team backwards and has worked wonders with our women's team, who you feel have always had talent but not the mental toughness or belief to perform at a consistently high level.
Hager, or "Horri" to his players, has the total backing of his squad but he's also relatable. He demanded a result from his players against Germany, even if it was ugly, and they duly delivered. There'd be a few All Black coaches who'd be wishing they'd passed on that sort of advice when it mattered.
Hockey NZ cannot afford to dither over Hager. Take a leaf out of the Warriors' how-not-to book, make a decent offer and lock Hager in, preferably through to Rio. If they don't, someone else will.
How appropriate that Ben Fouhy has quit his sport (not for the first time) with a typically foul-mouthed rant that in a few short sentences told you everything you needed to know about him.
I've got mates who've trained with Fouhy who swear public perception of the former world champion as an arrogant, self-centred sulker couldn't be further from who he actually is. Driven, yes, but a sulky, bratty narcissist? Nope, they say.
Whoever the real Ben Fouhy is, Canoe Racing NZ and, presumably, Sport NZ after yesterday's public, invective-laden farewell will be glad to be shot of the deeply bitter paddler.
Silver medallist in Athens in 2004, the same year he won his world title, Fouhy's actions are of a sportsman who doesn't know when his time is up. He quit the sport two years ago after an ugly and very public falling-out with national coach Ian Ferguson. That should have been where it finished but Fouhy had a change of heart and was allowed back in on his terms, which was to work outside of Canoe Racing NZ's high performance system.
That's fine if it works but his disappointing sixth in the semifinal of the K1 1000m is all the evidence needed that it didn't.
And speaking of wasted high performance funding, how much longer will High Performance Sport NZ keep chucking fistfuls of dollars at swimming in this country for nil return?
As one of six targeted sports in the Olympic cycle, Swimming NZ got nearly $7.5 million from HPSNZ, with the expectation a medal and five finals would be the minimum return required in London to get a ticket back on to the taxpayer gravy train.
Only there were no medals and only Lauren Boyle (twice) got anywhere near a final - and, ironically, she did most of her preparation for London away from Swimming NZ's protective North Shore bubble, abroad in the US.
No one is doubting the 16-strong swim team's commitment or dedication - swimming, like rowing, is a tough, lonely sport. But if it's results that get funding then another failed campaign should see the money tap reduced to a dribble and the sport given a reality check.
Out of the pool, Swimming NZ have been the subject of three reviews in four years. The latest, by former NZ rugby boss Chris Moller, has recommended sweeping changes to the way the sport is administered and governed in this country. It's time for change, in and out of the pool, and if swimming has to face financial reality through continued non-performance for a year or three, then so be it.