BPI Busuanga Cup 2024 - a part of the BPI Signature Yacht Race Series
by Guy Nowell 28 Jan 2024 11:03 AEDT
24-29 January 2024
BPI Busuanga Cup 2024. Punta Fuego to Busuanga race © Guy Nowell
The BPI (Bank of the Philippine Islands) Signature Yacht Race Series is an idea whose time has come. In fact, it was probably lurking around for quite a long while, but it took someone with a little imagination to make it fly. The Philippines is an archipelago nation, sporting some of the more glorious tropical island scenery anywhere on the planet. The actual number of islands is somewhere north of 7,400, and depends on the state of the tide, but the short answer to the question of is 'lots'. Put together a small collection of existing events, call it a 'series', and hey presto you've got yourself a title event.
Over the years, the Philippines has sported a number of first class regattas and events. Internationally, the China Sea Race has been running since the 1960s, and the HK-San Fernando Race followed shortly afterwards, but the Philippines has never produced a signature sailing event of its own - until now.
First item on the menu is (was) the Corregidor Cup, in November 2023, sailed out of Caylabne Bay Resort and Marina, and taking the historic wartime defence islands of Corregidor, La Monja, Fort Drum and Carabao as the racing marks. Racing in historic waters, indeed. Yesterday saw the launch of the 8th Busuanga Cup, now the BPI Busuanga Cup, with a 128nm passage race from Puerto Fuego to Busuanga. Two more days of islands races now follow among the impossibly picturesque scenery of the northern Palawan Islands, and the series continues with the Boracay 180 in February and concludes with the Subic Regatta in April.
Yesterday's Busuanga opener out of Puerto Fuego looks uncomplicated on the chart. 31nms to Golo Pass, a squeaky little strait between Golo and Lubang Islands, and then a straight line course south west towards Busuanga and the finish line at Black Island. This year organisers split the race into four scoring segments, with points for each stage - Punto Fuego to Golo, a scoring gate abeam Calavite (line of latitude), another at Apo Reef, and then the finish. "You never get breeze all the way," said RO Jerry Rollin, confidently. "Correct', agreed Peter Baird owner and skipper of Lost in Asia, (mothership, RO's retreat, start and finish boat, general respository of wisdom). Baird has been cruising these waters for almost two decades, and has covered this part of the chart, in both directions, more often than he can remember. This year was going to be different.
At 0750 there was zero breeze. 0755 produced 8 knots, and the fleet was away at 0800 in bright sunshine with spinnakers hoisted. Some might have wished for a little more pressure, but when at sea it is prudent to wish carefully. In short order the wind built to 20+ knots from the northeast, and very soon the fleet was tearing towards Golo Island with the pressure coming over the port quarter from 130 degrees degrees. Spinnakers, or maybe a genoa with an outboard sheet for the timid, but it was fast sailing for all.
Karakoa (Ray Ordoveza) and Belatrix (Jun Villanueva) took off like a pair of whippets, and that was (almost) the last we saw of them - they were launched, and running at the top of the green. "Sheet on and send it" was the order of the day. Lost in Asia steered a straight line towards Golo Pass at a steady 8 knots, watching the occasional antics of the sailing boats, and wondering why one crew chose to fly a masthead pennant instead of a spinnaker, or why someone else's sailplan had been reduced to white sails. The breeze continued to build. 25 kts and off the breeze is sterling stuff as long as you keep everything under control, but it can turn against you very quickly.
Immediately south of the Golo Pass is Calavite Point to the east, and the moody mountain behind it. This is no more nor less than a very nasty piece of water. "I've been through here at all states of the tide, in all wind strengths, and in all different directions" said Baird, "and it is always, without exception, thoroughly unpleasant." The breeze was now up to 30kts and some, and just a little further down the track we saw 46kts on the dial. Always from 130 degrees. This gave us - and the racing fleet - rollers on the port quarter, and made for a very uncomfortable stop-and-go ride, but good surfing conditions if the helmsman was up for it. Poco Loco, following Lost in Asia through the brutal wind-against-tide chop, was amazed at how far the mother ship could roll - and recover. (Those on board here equally amazed - 'Rock n Roll' was a substantial understatement). But eventually it was over. Beyond Calavite and into deeper water (except for a shallow patch near Apo Reef) the sea state abated and the fleet fanned out east and west of the rhumbline, each boat looking for that elusive fast passage route to the finish.
All the way down to the finish line off the northeast corner of Black Island, the wind eased and the sea abated. By the time Lost in Asia laid the finish at a few minutes past midnight, and with fleet leader Karakoa just yards away and looking for a line on which to finish, it was a flat sea and a mere 10kts of breeze. Belatrix followed suit just a couple of minutes later. Hurricane Hunter and Selma Star finished in the dark, and the first boat home in the dawn was Monchu Garcia's Cariño. The 'B' Team took over finishing duties, and the Race Officer retired for the gentle cruise into Busuanga Bay and the wriggle to the anchorage in front of the Marina del Sol.
This is a nice place. It's a twisty route through a scatter of islands protecting the anchorage, and you'd probably rather do it with an electronic chart than on paper, so to speak. Marina del Sol is perched on a small headland, and has a distinctly rustic feel to it. There are swing moorings, a pier accessible at all states of the tide, a waterside (almost) pool and a restaurant under a thatched roof that serves an excellent chicken curry and properly cold beer. Welcome to the backways and byways of the Philippine archipelago.