Wazzup Pilipinas!?
The Municipality of Talisay, Batangas hosted the largest one-design sailing regatta in the Philippines.
On February 25-26, The event, called the “Ala Eh! Oz Goose National Championships” was held on Taal Lake, fronting the province’s most popular sailing club, the Taal Lake Yacht Club (TLYC).
One design sailboat racing involves sailboats that are of the same design competing against each other in a series of races, ensuring that the competitors’ standings are purely because of skill and not the equipment.
The affordable Oz Goose sailboat attracts sailors across socio economic groups, from beginner to advanced, sailors with or without disabilities, men, women, kids and from regions throughout the Philippines -all racing together. And it keeps on growing and spreading throughout the country.
The Oz Goose Nationals, sailing clubs from around the country fielded teams, these are the Puerto Galera Yacht Club from Mindoro, Subic Sailing from Zambales, and Albay Yacht Club from Legazpi. Competed against them were the TLYC based regulars from Metro Manila, Rizal, Cavite, Laguna and Batangas. Sailability Philippines, the Philippine Paralympic sailing team also fielded several participants.
The Oz Goose sailboat was introduced in 2015 to the Philippines by boat building hobbyists of the Philippine Home Boatbuilders Yacht Club (PHBYC). It is designed as an easy to build sailboat using nothing more than marine plywood, lumber and locally sourced materials.
PHBYC executive director Roy Espiritu is enthusiastic of the Oz Goose’s potential to bring recreational boating to the Philippines.
“The Oz Goose sailboat sails really well and makes for an ideal platform to teach people the essential skills involved in sailing, from weather awareness to basic physics,” expressed Mr. Espiritu. “Racing sailboats is the best way to improve one's skill as a sailor, you have a clear objective that you need to complete efficiently, and have other sailors around you that you can learn from.”
Batangas Governor Hermilando Mandanas is optimistic of the regatta’s role in promoting the province as a water sports haven.
“Our province is becoming the Mecca for water sports enthusiasts from Metro Manila and Calabarzon, from canoe, kayak, and dragon boat paddlers, scuba and free divers and, of course, sailors on various forms of watercraft,” said Governor Mandanas. “I was told that the participants will also be treated to the rich flavors of Batangas, and the regatta organizers have gone all out to embrace the Batangas theme, that’s why Ala eh! is in the event name.”
Batangas Vice Governor Mark.Leviste also visited us on site to have dinner with us and expressed his admiration of the event saying the world-class sailing competition is fitting for such a world-class province like Batangas, and is keen on exploring on how to further grow and develop the opportunity to boost tourism in the province and encourage more people to discover and participate in both the boatbuilding and sailing experience.
True also that the sailors who competed on the races got to dine on many Batangas delicacies for their breakfast, snacks, lunch and dinner during the two day sailing competition. From Tamales to Bulalo, Lomi and a lot more dishes that Batangas is well known of were served to the sailors, organizers and everyone else including Wazzup Pilipinas and other media partners covering the event for their respective media outfits.
To date, more than 100 Oz Goose sailboats have been built all over the country. “Recreational sailing is often mistaken to be a rich person’s sport, but with boats that are easily built from local materials like the Oz Goose, one can have a sailboat for less than the price of a Mountain bike, production kayak or paddle board,” Mr. Espiritu added. “In a country with more than 7,000 islands and great sailing weather all year round, sailing is the best way to enjoy the country.”
The Ala Eh! Oz Goose Nationals would not have happened without the generous support of sponsors such as the Batangas Tourism Office, Pioneer Adhesives, Bara-Ko Coffee, Lakan Heritage Liquors and Broadwater Marine.
“It is great that the Province’s tourism industry is recovering well despite the two disasters that came one after the other; first was the Taal Volcano eruption in 2020, then the COVID-19 pandemic,” exclaimed TLYC Commodore Peter Capotosto. “Corporate sponsorships allow organizers like us and PHBYC to go all out to make sure all the participants enjoy a great regatta, and in turn, they bring in more of their friends to enjoy sailing on Taal Lake.”
We would like to thank the organizers of the Ala Eh Oz Goose National Championshi for inviting Wazzup Pilipinas as one of their media partners, and hope to see them again on the next runs.
Ross is known as the Pambansang Blogger ng Pilipinas - An Information and Communication Technology (ICT) Professional by profession and a Social Media Evangelist by heart.
It was a very intersting report. And I can't help but notice that I don't see much of that kind of news lately. People prefer sports that can bring them money, such as football or cricket. Even an ordinary fan can make money on bets - https://melbet.org/ Sea regatta is a pleasure for rich guys. This is my sincere conviction.
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