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Philippines Excels At Mirror World Championships 2011

Mirror World Championships 2011 Australia
Image courtesy Peter Stevens

The Philippine Sailing Team may have been the smallest team at the Mirror Class World Championships 2011, (held in Albany, Western Australia, over the New Year period) but they put on the biggest show and outperformed almost all others in the Overall, Youth and Silver Fleet divisions.

Ridgely Balladares and Rommel Chavez, previous participants in Albany, fought fearlessly for the Philippine Sailing Team. For much of the event they were in third place overall but on the final day inched ahead of rivals to finish in second place, with a total points score better than the first place finishers from Ireland. Scoring no less than three 1st place finishes out of fifteen races they flew the Philippine flag proudly.

Don Jhon “DJ” Cabaries and Gabriel “Gabby” Fetizanan, first-timers in a World championship, finally placed 21st overall, out of a fleet of 61 of the World’s best Mirror dinghy sailors. By virtue of their tender ages, the official results show that they finished third in the Youth division, being beaten by two teams from Great Britain. However, in the Silver Fleet – the “best of the rest”, determined by performances during the first day of racing – DJ and Gabby were outright winners.

A total of 61 teams, from Great Britain, Australia, South Africa, Ireland and the Philippines were present in the Mirror Worlds 2011, with Great Britain being favorites to win because of their greater experience of sailing the Mirror dinghy.

The Mirror dinghy is a one-design, class sailing dinghy that was the winning entry in a 1962 competition sponsored by the UK Mirror newspaper – the objective was to design a low cost sailing dinghy that could be made at home from plans, using basic materials and methods. More than 70,000 Mirror dinghies have been officially built since 1962 and many thousands more have been unofficially built and modified around the World. Mirror dinghies are used, primarily by people learning to sail, in Australia, Ireland, Sweden, Canada, the Netherlands, South Africa, New Zealand, the Philippines and the United States. The international Mirror World Championships are held biennially, alternating between venues in the northern and southern hemispheres.

DJ and Gabby are graduates of the Puerto Galera Yacht Club Small Boat Program, which started in 2004 with ten Lawin dinghies (similar in many respects to the Mirror dinghy). They have progressed to being permanent members of the Philippine Sailing Team under the Philippine Sailing Association (“PSA”), and train in Manila under the watchful eye of Ms. Medy Fidel. Both are expected to continue to improve their sailing skills and will no doubt one-day win gold for the Philippines.

The Puerto Galera Yacht Club Small Boat Program is a Corporate Social Responsibility (“CSR”) project funded by donations from yacht club members and local & international corporations and institutions. The current, second-generation Puerto Galera fleet of Lawin and Optimist sailing dinghies has been largely funded by Hong Kong’s Round Table 10. Similar corporate social responsibility projects, centered on youth sailing programs, are promoted in Iloilo and Puerto Princesa. The Philippine Sailing Team was able to participate in the Mirror World Championships in Albany by virtue of funding from Australian mining companies, Red 5 Limited and CGA Mining Limited.

If your company is interested in participating in youth oriented, environmentally friendly corporate social responsibility programs, that can place the Philippines in the spotlight of international sports, then contact the Puerto Galera Yacht Club, the Iloilo Sailing Club or the Abanico Yacht Club (Puerto Princesa) to discuss the available opportunities.

Links:

The Puerto Galera Yacht Club website

The Iloilo Sailing Club website

The Abanico Yacht Club email address

The Philippine Sailing Associaton website

The Mirror World Championships 2011 website

 

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