204nm racing, thru wild Verde Passage seas...Dececember 2008

fter a successful 2008 President’s Cup Regatta

in Subic Bay where about 30 foreign and local racing yachts competed in perfect sailing con-ditions, the country’s premier yachting regatta returns to the idyllic island of Boracay.

This is the second time the Manila to Boracay Race and President’s Cup Regatta will be combined. The back to back events of the Manila Yacht Club start 14 February 2009 racing on the waters fronting Manila’s Roxas Boulevard and will finish in front of Boracay’s fine powdered Long Beach.

The President’s Cup Regatta follows the day after all boats have finished on 18 to 21 Febru-ary which will be sailed in the waters around Boracay and Tablas Islands.

Boracay Island waters have a reputation as an excellent yacht racing destination because of its strong and consistent winds. These conditions when combined with beautiful islands and tropical waters result in exhilarating sailing not commonly seen in the region. The regatta’s parties combined with Boracay’s famous beach front watering holes have also enhanced the regatta’s reputation as the place to be.

The 7th Manila to Boracay Race and 17th

President’s Cup Regatta are sponsored by Standard Insurance Co. Inc. and Smart Infinity and are chaired by the owner-skipper of Subic

Centennial of Mr. Ernesto “Judes” Echauz. Judes’ many sailing accomplishments include recent

first place finishes at the Rolex China Sea Race 2008 and the 16th President’s Cup Regatta.

Last March 2007, Frank Pong’s 75 feet Rachel-Pugh, Jelik won the 15th Presi-dent’s Cup IRC Racing Division, Judes Echauz’s Subic Centennial came in second and 3rd was Australian Ray Roberts’ Quantum Racing.

Other local boats expected to add spice to the Boracay compe-tition include: Manila Yacht Club’s Racing Committee Chairman

George Hackett on his J-35, Jo de Ros; MYC Past-Commodore Ray Ordoveza on his 53-foot Karakoa and MYC Past-Commodore Claudio Altura’s J-35 Vivaldi.

There will be 15-20 foreign-based yachts expected to complement the 15 or so local yachts participating in this annual event.

For more information please call the President’s Cup Regatta Secretariat: Tel: (632) 526-7868 email: race@manilayachtclub.org www: www.manilayachtclub.org/

www.standard-insurance/sailing/

http://www.sailing.org/rrs

The 13th Asian Sailing ChampionshipBy Medy Fidel, PSA Coach

rganized by the Indonesia Sailing Federation, the event was held 7-13 October 2008 in Turtle Island, Ser-angan, Sanur Bali, Indonesia. The PHI Sailing Team’s participation was excellent competition exposure, with sailors from China, Chinese Taipei, Hong Kong, India, Indonesia, Malaysia, Thailand, Singapore, UAEand Kazakhstan. Governed by ISAF rules, Asian Sailing Federation (ASAF) rules and participating class rules covered these events:

✦ MEN: Optimist, Laser 4.7, Laser Standard, RSX, Mistral OD LW & Mistral OD HW.

✦ WOMEN: Optimist, Laser 4.7, Laser Radial, RSX & Mistral OD.

✦ OPEN: Hobie 16, Int’l 470 & 420.

PHI sailors who performed well in previous SEA Games were entered in the International 470, Interna-tional 420 and Hobie 16 events. Joining Laser 4.7 and Optimist events were sailors born on/after 1991, part of PSA’s preparation for the 2009 Asian Youth Games and the 2010 Youth Olympic Games, both to be held in Singapore. As extra exposure to help Youth Team preparation, a sailor was entered in the Laser Standard.

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t h e m a n i l a y a c h t c l u b 2 3 5 1 r o x a s b l v d . m a n i l a p h i l i p p i n e s p . o . b o x 1 0 8 5w w w . m a n i l a y a c h t c l u b . o r g

BARNACLEM a n i l a Y a c h t C l u b

2009 President’s Cup Regatta Returns to Boracay

©2008 Bernard Destrubé

AThe 13th Asian Sailing

O

continued aft

Verde Passage seas...

and will

racing

Roxas Boulevard and will finish in front of Boracay’s fine powdered

first place finishes at the Rolex China Sea Race 2008 and the 16Cup Regatta.

Last March 2007, Frank Pong’s 75 feet Rachel-Pugh, Jelik won the 15dent’s Cup IRC Racing Division, Judes Echauz’s Subic Centennialin second and 3Australian Ray Roberts’ Quantum Racing

Other local boats expected to add spice to the Boracay competition include: Manila Yacht Club’s Racing Committee Chairman

George Hackett on his J-35, Jo de Ros; MYC Past-Commodore Ray

Team Events. Previous Hong Kong competi-tion warm-up bore fruit as Int’l 420 PHI Team 1’s Emerson Villena and Lester Troy Tayong’s sterling performance won the championship, scoring 13 points after 12 races and placing 2nd

overall. PHI 420 Team 2’s Emanuel Amadeo and Ashly Escalante did not perform well. The team’s first international exposure included a distress-ing practice session incident when they got too close to the reef, went out of control and were capsized by large waves, breaking mast and ripping sails. Unfamiliarity with strong current and wave also took its toll.

Outnumbered in the Int’l 470 Class by archrival Singapore Teams 1 and 2, a ferocious battle awaited PHI 470 Team’s Ridgely Balladares

and Rommel Chavez. The 470 Team used past experience tactics to run the Singapo-rean gauntlet, while maintaining the lead. The PHI 470 Team won the championship by 5 points over the SIN Men’s Team and 7 points over the SIN Women’s Team.

Meanwhile, the new Hobie 16 arrived too late in Bali. This left PHI Hobie team’s Rafael Buitre and Richly Magsanay barely a full day for boat set up, testing and adjustment The practice race was the only time they could observe boat speed versus competition, with no time to re-test adjustments. Boat tuning continued daily post-race. By the conclusion of 12 races, optimal tuning was still not quite satisfactory.

Single-handed Events. Competitors were as good or more experienced in the single-handed boat classes. Junior PHI sailors needed time to adjust to different conditions, learning new things everyday. Adding difficulty to the course were big waves and strong current. The more inexperienced PHI sailors were dismayed when overtaken by boats riding following waves, and were perplexed at how to harness the same techniques. Others were frustrated after leading in rounding the windward mark, then losing the lead on the downwind leg or losing places in the beat to windward from selecting the less favored side of the course.

Conclusion. Team Philippines’ performance in the 13th Asian Sailing Championship was a big success for the Philippine Sailing Asso-ciation; the first time we’ve reached this position. Awarded3rd Best Team overall and beating powerhouse Singapore was indeed a wonderful achievement!

Baby Steps: the PHI SKUD 18 team in the 2008 ParalympicsBy Cherrie Pinpin, PHI SKUD crew

ense and alert, Pedro and I aboard the PHI SKUD tested the start with 10 other SKUDs in the pre-start swarm of 60+ boats on Paralym-pic Sailing Course A, a huge change from Manila Bay solo practice on Judes Echauz’ customized Flying 15. The 2.4mRs, coach boats, Race Com-mittee yacht, spectator ferry, technical director, race management, medical classifiers, rescue and media boats milled about pre-countdown. SKUDs took off first, then the 2.4mR fleet after.

Pedro and I qualified the Philippines for the Paralympic SKUD event during the March 2008 IFDS 2-Person Keelboat World Championships, Singapore. Coach Rico Albeso, PSA Nat’l Coach and Claudio Altura, Sailability Philippines Presi-dent completed the team. Warm welcome 2nd

Sept. by officials from the International Founda-tion for Disabled Sailing, ISAF, Sailability and friends helped boost morale. Paraw fisherman and severely disabled sailor Pedro Sollique was helm. Least disabled sailor and female crew, I trimmed 3 sails from the forward seat. SKUD class rules required an SDS and 1 female.

The SKUD 18, the 2-person keelboat made its 2008 Paralympic debut joining 2 other keel-boats–the 2.4mR single-person and Sonar 3-person keelboat, all 3 classes sailed in 41 boats by 80 sailors from 25 countries in the biggest Paralympic Sailing competition ever held. The only Paralympic-class keelboat with a spinnaker, organizers opted for national flag spinnakers with cost mostly subsidized by China. SKUD teams covered their $1000 balance. The PHI team were in a bind though. How to request funds when the Philip-pines didn’t own a SKUD?

An anonymous Australian had heard about our urgent need, and generously donated the Philippine SKUD spinnaker. Bless the man! He saved the PHI team entry, without which we were barred from competi-tion. IFDS Technical and organizers expedited details of SKUD and coach boat chartered from the Chinese team, to get us into the water faster. Chris Mitchell, SKUD 18 designer, taught how to properly prepare our SKUD. We had 3 days practice on Fushan Bay, with 11 races in 5 days planned for the SKUD fleet.

Despite all our effort, the competition showed why they were the crème de la crème. These fellow disabled sailors’ resolve, sacrifice plus time on water–sailing from childhood, comprehensive elite SKUD training with able bodied national teams and consistent perform-ance in key worldwide Paralympic-class keel-

boat competitions, tune-ups in the quest for Paralympic Gold. USA SKUD helm Nick Scandone* with ALS, a progressive neurodegenera-tive disease and weakest sailor of the entire fleet won the Gold, proving sailors with severe disabili-ties can compete on a level playing field. Crew Maureen McKinnon-Tucker became the first woman to win a Paralympic Sailing Gold. We were honored to represent the country in this amazing drama-filled, historic race.

Though our performance still needed vast improvement, officials, coaches and the competition had noted our earnestness, tenacity, gains made and told us not be disheartened. We were encouraged to spend more time on the SKUD. Everyone started at the bottom, but with diligence, support and determination our stars would rise too. “We’re delighted the Philippines joined us here and we expect to see you in the next Paralympics.”“Take baby steps before you can run,”I noted. Sailing in the 2008 Beijing Paralympics was a fantastic oppor-tunity as springboard into elite-level racing in preparation for the London 2012 Paralympics.

Our heartfelt thank you to everyone for believing in our dream: MYC and Sailability PHI board mem-bers, staff and boatyard folk, for body/mind/soul nourish-ment plus fueling develop-ment of Philippine disabled sailing • Judes Echauz for lending customized Bam-bino, the Flying Fifteen • Our AUS donor, whose timely

and compassionate spinnaker dona-tion allowed the PHI team to compete • Coach Rico Albeso, for patient coaching • Claudio Altura, team enabler/manager • George Hackett, for much appreciated UK Halsey Sailing gear and for excellent Rudy Project polarized lenses. Also access to Rudy Project, technical sunglass spon-sor • PHILSPADA-NPC Phils., for Para-lympic support • Swordfish, for UV-protected rashguards that made us feel like winners • James and Fifi, our wonderful resourceful Qingdao liaison officers • Lastly, our families who kept things real.

2 0 0 8 H o l i d a y I s s u e

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F I R S T H A N D

battle awaited PHI 470 Team’s Ridgely Balladares and Rommel Chavez. The 470 Team used past experience tactics to run the Singaporean gauntlet, while maintaining the lead. The PHI 470 Team won the championship by 5 points over the SIN Men’s Team and 7 points over the SIN Women’s Team.

Meanwhile, the new Hobie 16 arrived too

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Asian Sailing Champs...