Why Do Ultra High Net Worth Individuals Go Sailing
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Photo courtesy: John Smart
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Start of the Subic Boracay Race 2014The amihan winds of Autumn are building around the periphery of a high pressure system that is developing over East Siberia. During the coming three weeks, Philippine sailing enthusiasts will be gearing up for sustained action at the first sailing regatta of the 2014/15 racing season: the All Souls Regatta in Puerto Galera – the largest sailing event in the Philippines for yachts.
Barons of Philippine industry and cruising yachtsmen from around the World will race and voyage to Puerto Galera for three days of serious fun on the water, racing along courses set across the Verde Island Passage, between Mindoro and Batangas. The spectacle of 30 or more elegant and colorful sailing yachts competing for the honor of trophies – bottles of Tanduay rum – is one of the highlights of the racing season and sets the scene for the coming six months of northeast monsoon breezes.
If you know ten ultra high net worth individuals (“UHNW” = assets of US$30 million or more) then chances are that four of the ten could be racing in Puerto Galera at the end of October. An astonishing 38% of UHNW individuals own and or race sailing yachts, apparently for the fun of it. Sailing is the most popular sport amongst UHNW individuals.
The main reason UHNW individuals enjoy the sport of sailing is because sailing offers long periods of contemplation, of the imperative forces of wind, wave and tide (Mother Nature), inter-dispersed with moments of extreme stress related to the presence of humanity (getting the immediate team to work together for the benefit of all) and mastery of the imperatives. It is so opposite to the norm for most UHNW individuals – directing disassociated minions for selfish profit – that they can connect with the extreme sensuality of the alternate challenge: to master the full extent of Mother Nature’s foibles on any given day.
The Philippines has become a center for the rich of Asia (and farther afield) to bring their yachts for refurbishing and out-of-the-water maintenance, because highly-skilled Philippine craftsmen work for less. Subic Bay has become their focus, and at any given moment you will find between two and five of these super expensive racing sleds, each worth US$ millions, in the vicinity of the Subic Bay Yacht Club.
Not that the Subic Bay Yacht Club holds any great attraction for the owners or the crew – the yacht club has not supported a serious sailing event in the Philippines since 2011 – but it is one of the most centrally located, safe-berthing locations capable of accepting a 50 to 80-foot racing yacht . . . while the yacht waits to be lifted out of the water for refurbishing and maintenance at one of the numerous yacht refitting facilities within Subic Bay Freeport.
During the week before the All Souls Regatta in Puerto Galera, a race, known as the Vasco’s Cup Race, is organized by the Saturday Afternoon Gentlemen Sailors (SAGS) of Subic Bay to Puerto Galera. This modest 100-mile race is the warm-up for many, for the three-day racing event in the Verde Passage.
Despite the modest racing distance from Subic Bay to Puerto Galera, in 2013 only one yacht completed the Vasco’s Cup under sail.
The northeast monsoon was late in 2013 and the traditional route from Subic Bay to Puerto Galera – hugging the Batangas coast – proved fruitless if you were looking for the expected offshore breeze. The one yacht – Sorcerer – successfully red the winds and, at the behest of their tactician, ventured farther offshore to catch the last of the southwest monsoon; the yacht arrived in Puerto Galera, at speed, under spinnaker, to find that all other competitors had languished to long along the Batangas coast and had finally forfeited the race by turning on their engines and motoring the last 30-40 miles into Puerto Galera.
Sorcerer is a Ted Irwin design: Irwin 37 Competition. Originally designed/built by/for Ted Irwin himself in the U.S.A. and raced successfully out of Florida; she was launched under the name La Pantera (The Panther). Sorcerer is now owned by businessman Austen Chamberlain (himself the son of a yacht designer/builder), and has been raced in the Philippines for the past seven years, with a volunteer crew of local businessmen and sailing enthusiasts. Sorcerer has achieved podium finishes at almost all of the major regatta events in Subic Bay & Puerto Galera, and has only narrowly missed out on honors at the annual Boracay Race.
There are three big sailing events in the Philippines that attract the elite of the sailing world of Asia and beyond:
All Souls Regatta
The All Souls Regatta is the first major event of the Philippine racing season. The event is considered to be the most fun sailing event and certainly the largest (in terms of number of yachts). The All Souls Regatta is organized by the Puerto Galera Yacht Club and has be held on the All Saints/All Souls weekend holiday at the end of October each year since 2004.
Boracay Race / Boracay Cup Regatta
The 200-mile Boracay Race starts in Subic Bay each year in February and delivers the super fast racing yachts to Boracay Island in time for the Boracay Cup Regatta. Considered to be the Formula One of sailing in Asia, the Boracay Race and the Boracay Cup Regatta attract the most expensive racing yachts in Asia, and from as far South as Australia and New Zealand.
Commodores’ Cup Regatta
The commodore’s Cup Regatta, organized by SAGS, is considered the last major event of the Philippine racing season and takes place during the week following Easter Sunday each year. The number of yachts competing are swelled by the yachts that arrive from the preceding Rolex Race Series from Hong Kong to the Philippines, which takes place every year during Easter week.
If you are interested to learn to sail in the Philippines you can do so easily in: Puerto Galera, Taal Lake, Iloilo and Subic Bay. There is no guarantee that you will be rubbing shoulders with UHNW individuals on your first racing event but if you attend the All Souls Regatta, the Boracay Cup / Regatta and the Commodores’ Cup Regatta then you will surely get to meet the creme de la creme of Asia business and yachting within your first year.
Use this link to get information about learning to sail in the Philippines.