Competitive Sailing In Puerto Galera

Image Courtesy: Girlie Cervantes

For the first time in the club's history, the Puerto Galera Yacht Club will host a Chinese New Year sailing regatta with courses set across the Verde Island Passage. This new sailing event is designed to provide an alternative for both local and international yachtswo/men who would like to enjoy their vacation while sailing in the warm spring breezes along the Verde Island Passage, instead of in February's frigid waters around Hong Kong.

One of the challenges with gaining support from yacht and crews from outside the Philippines is the three to four day sail required to get here from Borneo, Taiwan or Hong Kong (longer from Singapore and Malaysia). In order to allow more sailors to join in the fun, local yacht owners are being encouraged to offer their boats for use during the Chinese New Year Regatta. This will be a first in the Philippines and, if it proves successful, will be repeated for other events in Puerto

Image courtesy John Smart

The Puerto Galera Yacht Club Easter Regatta is one of the great traditions of Philippine sailing. For more than twenty years, sailing yachts have been celebrating the natural beauty and breezes of Puerto Galera and the Verde Island Passage, and gatherings of up to twenty boats enjoy an Easter weekend of awfully civilized sailing and parties.

In 2011 the PGYC Easter Regatta will also feature a two-day, competitive dinghy sailing event, concurrent with the three-day, yacht racing event. Dinghy sailors will have a choice of two-person Lawin dinghies and the single-seat Optimist di

Image courtesy Martyn Willes

The Puerto Galera Yacht Club (the Cruising Yacht Club of the Philippines) has announced the first of a new Cruising Yacht Race Series aimed at stimulating more, competitive sailing in the Philippines. The new Cruising Yacht Race Series will comprise twelve nominated races throughout the year, with the best seven results counting towards the overall championship (Did Not Start a race can be a discarded result).

Designed primarily to attract all those who enjoy "cruising with intent" but who are not equipped with high-tech racing sails and fanatical crew, the Cruising Yacht Race Series will follow the pursuit-racing rules format that has made the Puerto Galera Yacht Club famous around Asia for fun

Image courtesy Martyn Willes

The All Souls Regatta 2010 in Puerto Galera will be the largest All Souls Regatta yet organized, the news that the Philippine Hobie 16 fleet (from Taal Lake Yacht Club) will be joining the racing & cruising keelboats and multihulls is a guarantee of extra color and fun during this legendary sailing event.

The All Souls Regatta was first held in Puerto Galera, in 2004. It was specifically designed to be the first sailing regatta of each Philippine racing season. The Philippine racing season starts with the arrival of the drier northeast monsoon in October and runs until the following May, when the wetter southwest monsoon blows in . . . competitive sailing still continues throughout the year around the Philippines but the southwest monsoon weather keeps some of the less hardy sailors

Image courtesy Asiapix

Ever since the Puerto Galera Yacht Club was founded, in 1991, there has been an Easter Regatta held every year whereas the America's Cup is only held once the current America's Cup holder has deigned to offer it up for competition.

The PGYC Easter Regatta is unique in that it actually extols the virtues of the sport of sailing and leaves hundreds of sailors and as many spectators wishing the America's Cup could be so friendly and civilised. Unlike the America's Cup, where every recent event has featured lengthy and costly court cases, the Puerto Galera Yacht Club Easter Regatta in 2010 will be no different from last year except it will mark the event's 20th anniversary,making it even m

Photo courtesy Peter Stevens

The Lawin Regatta 2009 at the Puerto Galera Yacht Club on 31st October and 1st November, 2009, is the best fun kids and kids-at-heart can have in a sailing dinghy. Organized in conjunction with the Royal Heavylift All Souls Regatta, the Lawin Regatta is for two-person dinghy enthusiasts who want to test their mettle against the creme-de-la-creme of Puerto Galera's past and present sailing champions.

The Lawin sailing dinghy is built in Puerto Galera to a secret design that has a striking resemblance to the famous European, Mirror dinghy, except that the Puerto Galera Lawin sailing dinghy is virtually coral-reef-proof and far more comfortable on one's po

Photo courtesy Terry Duckham - Asiapix

The Royal Heavylift All Souls Regatta in Puerto Galera marks the start of the Philippine sailing regatta season. The cooler northeast monsoon brings excellent sailing breezes and the waters off Puerto Galera's famous beaches are cut by the hulls of racing yachts, cruising yachts and sports boats of all shapes and sizes.

From 31st October to 2nd November, 2009, the Puerto Galera Yacht Club opens its doors to sailing enthusiasts of every age and from across the sev