 |
| HOME getting there faqs HOBIE PAGES news VOLCANO TRIPS Learn to sail <>FACILITIES daytrip f&b/lodging camping sail rentals rowing kayaks storage rates PROGRAMS
FOR SALE Other
|
|
|
Mobile 1 Philippines sponsored the 2006 Philippine Hobie National Championship. The event consisted of 4 divisions, Open, National, Masters and Novice.
Congratulations are in order for Charlie Clement and Norman "Noki" Jaravata , who won both the Nationals and the Open divisions, besting world class competition from Hong Kong and Saipan.
Strong and gusty conditions prevailed at the event, which is purposely scheduled at the windiest time of the year. This year, gusts of 25 knots were commonplace, and boats had to wind their way through the carnage that littered the course.
For the first time in 9 years, only one race was held on the first day due to the overwhelming winds. After the race committee declared racing cancelled for the day, the club went out to pick up the bouys. While trying to pick up the buoys, the club actually lost one of the support boats. The huge military bouy held the capsized support banca afloat, and in place, for awhile, but the boat broke up in the big waves, and went to its final resting place, in about 250 feet of water.
Mobie 1, which retails high end products like Palm, HP Ipaq, Macs and iPod sprung for a great evening dinner and open bar under the stars, with competitors being serenaded with music from a Steiway concert Grand piano. I just can't believe we dont have pics of that! Special thanks also to Rudy Project for donating the raffle prizes at the evening party.
Day 2 had the staff out at dawn laying the course in the hope that races could get going before the wind velocity increased to the levels of Saturday afternoon.
It paid off. An early start enabled PRO Jerry Rollin to get one race going before the waves built up and the wind got into the 20s.
By the end of the race
however, it was decided that conditions were too much to handle
safely, and further racing was postponed. 
Crews went back to the
beach, and many heaved sighs of relief. Even first
race winners Rex Puentespina and Erin Prelypchan decided that sanity
was the better part of valor, and packed it in. The picture sequence
above is of
Erin and Rex going downwind. Notice the capsized boat on the horizon in
the last pic.
there is another one about 20 meters to the right of the one in the pic.The Race Committee was not giving up that easily however. Jerry decided to try to set up a windward/ leeward course close to shore. He and his core team of David Wheeler, Stef Sano, Boyet Mendoza and Ramon Dala, sucessfully moved the course in time to get in 2 more races before the 2PM "last warning signal at" deadline.
The more hardcore sailors went out again and battled it out.
At the end of the 4 race reagatta, Hobie Director for Asia and the Pacific, Tony Stearns, and his wife Janet Mculough, sailed their boat into a second place in the Open, and took First in the Masters Class. Tony and Janet live in Saipan, but the sailing is so good here, that they keep a boat at TLYC to use in the Hobie Challenge every year.
The National Division was created in 2002 as an incentive for local crews of Philippine nationality to get more recognition. Eric Tomacruz sailed a great series, trading his regular crew, his wife Sheli, for his "Hobie Challenge" crew , Mike Ngu, in the last 3 races. They took a provisional third in the Open, and second in the National Division
. Unfortunately, they were
disqualified later because they failed to follow the class rules and
Sailing Instructions guidelines for changing crew.
This put the
Philippine Sailing association team of Rafael Buitre and Richly
Magsanay into third in the
Open, and Second in the National Division. 
Third Place in the
National division was taken by Art Pascua and Junie Dolina. They
raced every race, never gave up, and sailed very well. They work
hard at the sport and its nice to see them pick up some of the trophies
once in awhile. They came 4th in the Open, a very positive
finish. 
Second in the
Masters went to veteran sailor Luigi Manzi, and his 14 year old
daughter Yvonne. They placed 4th in the Open. Its great to see Faher/
Daughter teams like Luigi and Yvonne, and Ed Gallego and his daughter
Mirella. Third went to Californian John Baron and Paul Stearns
who flew in from Alaska.
The Novice division,
or B-Fleet, is reserved for new sailors, or sailors who dont sail that
often. Renie Ticzon and George Wang ruled conclusively
with 3 firsts and a retirement in this division. This
knocks Rene out of the Novice division and into A-fleet. Renie
came 8th out of 19 in the final rankings for the Open.    |
Ed and daughter Mirella Gallego came to Manila from Cebu to compete in the regatta. They wound up with a second in the Novice division. Dr. Mike Ngu and Germaine Pacheco came in third. |
There are Sooo many good pics of this regatta. I will post some below as I go thru the files and reduce them. Below are some samples. Almost all the files on this page are reduced to around 10 % of their actual size. I might take requests for photos at some point.
There are more pics at:
http://homepage.mac.com/junvillanueva/
Congratulations everyone.
COMPETITORS LIST
|
Monchu Garcia |
Diego Garcia |
|
Mark Haswell |
Andrea Levinge |
|
Ton van Hierden |
Mina T. |
|
Rex Puentespina |
Erin Prelypchan |
|
John Baron |
Paul Stearns |
|
|
Gia Veloso |
|
Neil Bernardo |
Melanie Moya |
|
Ed Galego |
Mikella Gallego |
|
Jun Villanueva |
Nestor Soriano |
|
Rafael Buitre |
Richly Magsanay |
|
Tony Stearns |
Janet McCullough |
|
Dennis Cruz |
Iking Paterno |
|
Renie Ticzon |
George Wang |
|
Charlie Clement |
Norman Jaravata |
|
Luigi Manzi |
Yvonne Manzi |
|
Mike Ngu |
Germaine Pacheco |
|
Tong Shing |
Danny Lima |
|
Eric Tomacruz |
Shelli Tomacruz |
|
Art Pascua |
Junie Dolina |
|
Maria Vidoeira |
Fernando Munoz |
|
Christian Wright |
Susan McDonald |
|
Peter Capotosto |
Amalyn Capotosto |
|
JB Dimayuga |
Gia Veloso |
| |
Hopefully I'll be able to finish it soon after the Philippine Hobie Challenge.
