BPI Private Wealth Signature Regatta Series 2024-25
by Guy Nowell, Sail-World.com 7 Apr 20:56 PDT
27-30 March 2025
The Lighthouse, Subic Bay, and Grande Island beyond. BPI Subic Regatta 2025 © Guy Nowell / BPI
Back in the 1990s there was the Philippines Easter Regatta. It started in Manila, stopped overnight at Corregidor, and then continued to Subic where it finished with a flourish and three days' inshore racing. This became the President's Cup, which was re-named the Commodore's Cup when Manila Yacht Club got very hot under the collar concerning regatta names and copyright, complaining that "their" regatta had been stolen. Now it's the Subic Regatta which describes it just fine.
It is also the last event of the BPI Private Wealth Signature Yacht Race Series 2024-25 which started with the Corregidor Cup in November 2024, and continued with the Busuanga Cup (January 2025) and the Boracay 200 (February 2025). The Subic Regatta is four days' racing in scenic Subic Bay, with the well-known Lighthouse Resort and Marina as regatta headquarters, and a social programme over five evenings to keep everything humming along.
Sponsor BPI (Bank of the Philippine Islands) is very keen to promote the revitalisation of the Philippines' big boat racing scene Signature Yacht Race Series as a, and to establish the Series as a serious international event. To that end they ship in a full International Jury as well as an IRO - this time it was Simon James, well-known and respected all over Asia.
The programme specified four days' racing for all divisions on the flat waters of Subic Bay. Windward-leewards on days 2 and 4 for the IRC Racing class, and long 'trips round the bay' in between. Four long races for the Cruiser and Multihull classes. Subic is generally fairly reliable for breeze, especially when there's sunshine in the morning to warm up the hills around the bay and get a sea breeze going from the south. Alternatively, the breeze comes down from the hills to the north east, providing shifty breeze with plenty of bullets.
Two starts; one for the seven-boat IRC Racing division, and one for a combined Ocean Multihull / Cruiser fleet of five. Course 9 for all boats; up to Baretto, down to the entrance of the Bay, back up to Mayanga and eventually across to a finish at the Lighthouse. Only 19nm, but after sunshine start in a 10kts breeze, the pressure gradually faded after midday. Karakoa finished first in 3h45m and corrected out just 57 seconds in front of Belatrix to take the 'daily double'. Last boat home in the dying breeze was Alan Chua's J/109 Joyride, more than an hour behind on the water. Martin Tanco's Sydney 46 Centennial II is historically a fast boat, especially in her Subic home waters, but clearly they needed the first race to shake off the cobwebs. There just isn't enough racing in the Philippines (hence the BPI Series), and Centennial was later very happy to drop their first race from their scorecard!
The Cruising and Multihull divisions sailed the same course. The Cruisers all claim that they don't 'do' windward-leeward racing, but any course that goes south past Grande Island and back up to Baretto or Mayanga is in effect a big windward-leeward - just less intense than a race round the cans on a sub-2nm course axis. It was slow going for the tail-enders, but they all came home in the end, with the youth team on board John Quirk's Allusive showing the rest of the fleet their transom all the way round the course, finishing first, and winning - a sign of things to come.
Day 2 opened bright and breezy, and stayed that way. Windward-leeward courses for the IRC Racers, and another expedition to the far corners of the Bay for the rest. Karakoa took the honours for the first race in front of Belatrix, but it was to be her last crack at the top spot for this regatta. The breeze never let up, and the powerful gusts coming out of the north east made picking a route up the beat quite a minefield. James Villareal's Farr 40, Raw Honey, with local legend Alan 'Guilty' Tillyer on board, was still finding her feet, and completed the podium for the first race only 59 seconds behind the winner.
The second race of the day pretty much set the scene for the IRC division for the rest of the regatta: a cat-and-mouse match race between Belatrix and Karakoa, with Centennial getting closer every time. Belatrix took out Karakoa, and never looked back, Centennial in third, and everyone else was there to make up the numbers. Uncharacteristically, Jun Avecilla's Selma Star failed to get on the podium at all in six races of the regatta. "Thanks for keeping us relevant," he said. "There were some great photos!"
Day 3 was grey and uninteresting for visuals, and the sunshine came later, which was annoying. However, for another Bay tour Subic served up 18-20 kts and sometimes more, from the east, making for some spirited spinnaker runs from Vasco's down past the airport and all the way to Mayanga, and a gritty beat back again. Belatrix knew exactly where she was going, and ran away with the race. This time it was Centennial that hung on to the coat-tails for second place, leaving Karakoa in third and the rest as also-rans.
The event closed out with two short windward-leeward races, intended to get everyone back to The Lighthouse for an early prizegiving party, but that didn't make the racing any less intense. Centennial found her top gear to close out the event with a 1, 2 score, while Belatrix put 2, 1 on the card to finish first overall. The four days had been a story of consistency from Belatrix, and continuous improvement from Centennial, with Karakoa filling the gap between.
The Cruising division was completely dominated by Allusive, who walked away (sailed away?) with four wins from four races. Allusive Youth Team is run by John Quirk, with Anthony Evangelista ('Captain Tabo') skippering on board. AYT are all talented young dinghy sailors from Puerto Galera who graduated from the Puerto Galera YC programme, and further trained by James 'Rusty' Russell who runs the RNZYS Youth Development Programme. Clearly, something is working! Alleanda Racing should have followed on with four second places but for a DSQ in race 1 on account of using a spinnaker when ostensibly sailing under a no-spinnaker handicap. The Multihull division was a David-and-Goliath match with the 50ft Maelie (Romain Barberis) winning all her races, and Hans Woldring's diminutive Ikapati trying hard to keep up, on paper at least.
Taken as a whole, the IRC Racing division was a sort of derby match between Centennial, Karakoa, and Belatrix. Centennial literally went from last to first over the four days, finishing only two points behind Karakoa who in turn were a mere three pips behind Belatrix.
The difference between the fleet that started the first BPI Series at the Corregidor Cup in 2023 and the fleet that raced Subic 2025 at the end of the second BPI series is substantial. The starts are on time and the racing is a great deal tighter. Subic Bay, surrounded by sweeping rusty-coloured hills, is a majestic setting for a regatta, and all the other boats resident in the area should be taking note: there's something good going on here. Hopefully, the BPI Private Wealth Signature Regatta Series with its fully-international race management and jury will be back for another round at the end of this year, and hopefully with lots more local support.
This is a regatta series with huge potential and involving a bit of everything - long (overnight) races, sailing in beautiful scenery, and racing in strong breeze. If you are a boat owner in the Philippines, get involved! You are going to enjoy some of the best sailing that Asia has to offer (not to mention some great parties!) right on your doorstep.
Here are the full results for Subic:
IRC Racing
1. Belatrix (2),2,1,1,2,1, total 7
2. Karakoa 1,1,2,3,3,(4), total 10
3. Centennial (7),4,3,2,1,2, total 12
4. Raw Honey (6), 3 5 4,5,3, total 20
5. Hurricane Hunter 3,6,4,5,(7),6, total 24
6. Joyride 5,5,6,(7),6,5, total 27
7. Selma Star 2,7,(7),6,4,7, total 28
Cruising
1. Allusive 1,1,1,1, total 4
2. Alleanda Racing DSQ, 2,2,2,, total 10
3. Papaya 2,3,3,RET, total 12
Multihull
1. Maelie 1,1,1,1 total 4
2. Ikapati DNS,2,2,2 total 9