Image courtesy PHINSAF

The Philippine Inter-island Sailing Foundation (PHINSAF) has announced the 11th Philippine Hobie Challenge, that will take Hobie sailors on an island-hopping route from Lucena to Boracay. This event is the highlight of the Hobie 16 sailing year and is open to international and local sailors. So far teams from Australia, Japan and the Philippines have signed up; team numbers are limited there are only 14 two-person-team slots still available at the time of writing.

The Philippine Hobie Challenge was conceived to offer a true challenge to sailors who wanted to spend a thrilling week enjoying the islands of the Philippines. Each year a different start point is used, and the courses are designed to offer a mixture rough-and-tumble and fast-and-flat distance racing, plus conventional in-shore, buoy ra

Image courtesy Martyn Willes

Living Asia, one of Asia's premier travel & tourism promoters, spent a week during May discovering the travel & tourism investment opportunities and activities in the province of Davao Del Norte. Their production will premiere in the Philippines and Asia-wide on cable and television channels during October, 2010 (see bottom of this article for details).

The Living Asia crew traveled throughout Davao Del Norte and: experienced, the beautiful rivers, beaches and waterways; learned the myriad of ways to use bananas (ripe and ruined), grasses and other fruits; explored plantations, factories and ports; and, they discovered the sometimes surprising history of this vibrant and culture-rich corner of the Phil