The participants and the boats!
RACE VENUE:
The first PRSC regatta was held in Southwaters Marina and Country club in Lucena City, Quezon. Our regatta was held during the Philippine Hobie cat challenge festivities which Southwaters Marina was hosting. The Club was located on an island in between two rivers, the club itself had several saltwater fishponds great for sailing on (some were shallow though).
The participants and the boats!
PRE-RACE:
A pond was chosen by the participants to race in, then the buoys were positioned, but because of the shallow water, the race organizers decided to use long sticks as markers instead, using flags (courtesy of Jollibee Greenhills) on the sticks. After the participants had a very great lunch we the boats were brought out and prepped for the race. Race briefing followed and a quick course on race rules and penalties was discussed by Peter. Rainbow Hackett was race committee chairperson. Because all of the participants had mini soling, we only had to deal with one design class race rules. Right before the race proper, some participants decided to try their boats out on the club pool, which attracted a lot of attention from the members and Hobie Challenge crowd. Some video crew even started filming the trials.
THE RACE:
There were 3 scheduled races for that afternoon, and at 3pm all the participants gathered along the banks of the pond we chose to hold the race. The winds were strong, gusty, which promised an interesting race.
1st Heat:
After all the boats where launched and started fighting for the best position behind the starting line, Tsing-gun's remote control got dropped and the skipper (Patrick) lost control of the boat for a few seconds. The starting whistle went off and the race was on. XP and Peter had a great start, the beat to the first marker saw XP and Peter battling it out, Arvin then Ronan, Patrick was still trying to fix the radio. Tsing-gun was finally under control after the rest of the group were already half way, Arvin's boat ran aground and lost valuable time, then Ronan also run aground, Patrick over took both and was catching up with the leaders. All the boats were fast downwind, during the beat on the hotdog, Peter and XP were still battling it out when right before rounding the mark, XP ran onto Peter's boat and had to do a 720 turn, Peter took the lead while XP lost control of his boat, Patrick was gaining and took 2nd. After Arvin rounded the mark, he tried to ram XP's boat hoping to jar the boat into control, no luck, after a few more collisions (no protests were made by XP of course) the boom of XP's boat got stuck on Kalayaan's shrouds, Ronan was having his own control problems, so Arvin was going for third, slowly going downwind stuck to XP's boat, the boats didn't go over the finish line, so after the boats were untangled by XP on a chase boat, Arvin had to round the starting line and try to finish, Ronan was also on his last down leg run, Arvin had to beat up and it was close, Arvin finally got to round to finish just a few seconds before Ronan went over.
2nd Heat:
After the first heat all the boats were taken in for inspection, tuning
or repairs. XP's boat "All I Can Afford" was found to have suffered
a damaged rudder system, and was out of the race. Ronan with Ed's
boat found that the radio was suffering some sort of problem, thus his
problems with controlling the boat. Xp was able to skipper the Tsing-gun
for the second heat, Patrick retired from the race. Esmeralda was
okay, Kalayaan was also set to go, so there were only 3 boats that was
able to start during the 2nd Heat. On the start, all boats were positioned
well, but after the start, Arvin didn't get to pass through the starting
line, and had to go around the starter buoy and restart. Peter and XP had
a good start. Both were doing tacking battles, XP came out first
on the first downwind run, but he got stuck on shallow water and Peter
took the lead. XP was able to catch up during the beat up for the
hotdog leg, and overtook Peter, XP took first, Peter second and Arvin 3rd.
Downwind leg run!
3rd Heat:
The other boats were still not operating properly, os that 3rd heat was still between 3 boats. At the start all the skippers were getting to know the course well, there was a battle for the start positioning but when the start sounded the race committee declared that everyone had a bad start, so everyone had to round a mark to restart, Xp and Peter rounded the mark quickly, while Arvin had problems tacking and had to jibe and round the other mark instead, putting him in a bad position for the upwind beat. The wind was really blowing and the boats were actually getting hard to tack. Xp led the first leg again and during the downwind run he submarined Tsing-gun for sometime, but the boat was still okay and sailed on to win 3rd heat. Peter came in second and Arvin consistently third.
Tsing-gun rounding a mark towards the last leg!
RACE RESULTS:
1st Race 2nd Race 3rd Race
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SAIL # | POINTS |
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Esmeralda |
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Ed Bonoan |
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AWARDING CEREMONIES:
The Commodore of MYC receiving first price from Rainbow,
accompanying him are Skipper Xp and Boat builder Patrick.
There was a dinner party set for the welcome of the Philippine Hobie Challenge participants, great food by Via Mare, great entertainment and great people. The awarding ceremonies was made during dinner by Peter. The Prizes were awarded by Rainbow Hackett, race comittee chairperson.
First place winner received a gift certificate from Akiga Japanese restaurant. Which was received by the Commodore himself (but was later given to the person who deserved it best, Patrick, who built Tsing Gun), Xp who skippered Tsing Gun to victory accompanied the commodore on the stage!
Second place winner also received a gift certificate from Akiga, located in Shaw blvd. Mandaluyong. Peter handed the prize to Rainbow, which then Rainbow handed it back to Peter, the second place winner and announcer!
Third place winner received a gift certificate from Perk 21 Coffee shop located in Shaw blvd, and the unofficial clubhouse of the PRSC. Arvin received the prize himself.
Dr. Ronan who showed great sailing skills but had 2 DNSs because of
radio control problems was also called to the stage for photos.
ACKNOWLEDGMENTS:
The PRSC would like to thank the following for their support during the first ever PRSC regatta.
Southwaters Marina Country club and Fish farm -
Lucena City Philippines
For the accomodations and providing the venue to hold the regatta.
Not to mention the great food (with Via Mare)
Paul Collignz of PLC HOLDINGS, INC. the exclusive Marketing Managers
of South Waters
313/314 Fairtrade Commercial Center. Ortigas Avenue Ext., Cainta. Metro
Manila. Tel. 656-6803
660-6133/660-6132 and Fax.:660-5983 or e-mail plcholdings@pacific.net.ph
For inviting the PRSC to hold the regatta at Southwaters.
Philippine Hobie Challenge(from
Lucena to Boracay)
The PRSC regatta was part of the opening ceremonies of this event.
Great welcome party.
Perk 21 coffee shop and Akiga Japanese restaurant- 2nd flr. Liberty
center Shaw Blvd. Mandaluyong City Tel. no. 533-09-72
For providing the gift certificate prizes for the regatta
Rainbow Hackett (of Windshear boating Tel. No.: 7220642) and
Bear Lu
The Race committee.
The Commodore of Manila Yacht Club
For lending us his Mini soling and for gracing the occasion.
Ed Bonoan and Bong Salazar-PRSC minisoling fleet members
For lending us their boat even if they couldn't make it themselves
to the regatta.
Comments/Suggestions:
ARVIN
