BPI Signature Yacht Race Series 2026
by Guy Nowell 4 Mar 23:39 PST
20-22 March 2026
BPI COrregidor Cup 2026 © Guy Nowell / BPI
This year's BPI Corregidor Cup, the second leg of the annual BPI Series that joins together the top four big boat events in the country, took place out of Punta Fuego on the beautiful Nasugbu Coast. Three days of moderate breeze and sunshine were ably supported by spectacular coastal scenery, signature Philippines' hospitality, and plenty of cold San Miguel.
Three divisions - IRC, Cruiser, and Multihull - made up the 14-boat fleet, and the regatta fired off with a race from a Punta Fuego start line, 15nm around Fortune Island and back again. With a land breeze from behind the fleet, and Fortune Island at 210 degrees, it was a spinnaker start, laying the island, and a fetch all the way home. Waterline length counts in a drag race, and Belatrix led round the course to take Line Honours in 2h 36m 53s.
There's always a soft patch behind Fortune, and it pays to stay clear, but more remarkable (and indeed surprising!) is the Greek temple facade perched on a cliff at the southern end of the island, making for an interesting racing landmark. Is this the Aegean 600 starting below Cape Sounion?
Pablo Lobregat's Despacito claimed the honours for the Cruiser division, and the diminutive Ikapati beat second-placed Estrelita del Mar by more than an hour on the water but less than three minutes on corrected time for the Multihulls.
RO Peter Capotosto then rounded up the IRC boats for a second race, northwards up the coast to Cutad Island and return. If you have no more than a passing interest in geology, keep your eyes open when racing around here: the coastline is all formed of lava from Mt Batulao, with fingers of pyroclastic flows and volcanic tuff providing the backdrop to the racecourse. Some of us have sailed past here in the dark, en route to Cape Santiago and Puerto Galera, and it was a real eye-opener to see it in daylight.
This race was a starboard reach up to Cutad, a spinnaker run back as far as Fuego Island alongside Punta Fuego, and a two-sail reach to the finish. To all intents and purposes a soldier's course, in world class scenery. Belatrix prevailed again, to take command of the division, but with Raw Honey and Selma Star denying Karakoa a place on the podium for a change.
Day 2: The regatta venue having been moved from Caylabne to Punta Fuego, a race around Corregidor was going to be exceptionally long, so the RO sent IRC to Fort Drum, La Monja, and home, and everyone else to Fort Drum only. From a start line at Cutad Island, it was a reach and a fetch all the way to battle-scarred Drum, a beam reach across to the Nun (La Monja) and a spinnaker leg back for everyone. Starting in 12-15 knots of breeze was just the ticket, and it grew, with the committee boat recording 27 kts on the flybridge in the early afternoon. It was a simply superb day's sailing for everyone (and a good deal more comfortable on the rail than in the camera boat!), but the day ended less well when the IRC race was abandoned on account of a hiccup in the SIs. The finish buoy was also on the wrong side of the finish boat, causing some confusion for the lead boat in the Multihull division, Ikapati.
Day 3 was slated as windward/leeward racing, but the RO decided on more islands races instead. First up: spinnaker reach in the direction of Twin Islands, turn to port and reach for 6 1/2 nm across Nasugbu Bay to the Maligaya mark - and back again. This was made interesting by an offshore breeze line that kept moving out from the shore line and then back again, out and back. It was as if the edge of the land was breathing, and gave rise to a series of drag races among the boats. Who was in the breeze and going, who was out of the breeze and crawling. It was like watching a horse race.
Belatrix was first to the Maligaya mark by less than a minute, with Karakoa hanging on behind, and then it was the same all the way back to Twin Islands - except that Belatrix went straight for the finish, and realised very much too late that she had missed the Twin Islands mark, leaving Karakoa and the diminutive multihull, Ikapati, to argue over the line honours (for the record - Karakoa by 67 seconds, but having started 15 mins before Ikapati).
A second race for the IRC division went to Twin Islands and then straight back to the inshore Terrazas mark, and then back to the start (finish). An option for two laps of the same was cancelled with an 'S' flag on the committee boat, and it was all over bar the shouting. Today was the turn of Joyride, Alan Chua's J/109, to shine on the racecourse, taking two wins ahead of veteran campaigner Selma Star (Jun Avecilla, Beneteau First 36.7). Clearly it was a day for the smaller boats, on flat water, with the big boats being relegated to the bottom of the results sheet.
Lunch at Club Punta Fuego's Il Jardineto was a great way to wrap up the BPI Corregidor Cup. A lavish buffet under the trees and well-stocked bar segued into the Overall Prizegiving, with Selma Star taking top honours in IRC despite not winning any races. Consistency counts. Belatrix slotted into second place just a point behind, and deeply regretting that 'missed mark'.
IRC Results
1. Selma Star 3,3,2,2 (10)
2. Belatrix 1,1,6,3 (11)
3. Joyride 6,5,1,1 (13)
4. Raw Honey 4,2,3,5 (14)
5. Karakoa 2,4,4,4 (14)
6. Centennial 2 5,7,5,6 (23)
Despacito (Pablo Lobregat) won the Cruising division on countback and a prayer. Two bullets before the wheels fell off was just enough.
Cruising Results
1. Despacito 1,1,5 (7)
2. Papaya 1 2,2,3 (7)
3. Dantes 3,4,2 (9)
4. Belle Poule 6,3,1 (10)
5. Neptunus III 4,5,4 (13)
There were only three boats in the Multihull division, and of widely-differering handicaps. The overgrown beach cat Ikapati (Ballistic 31), races off 1.05 with the two cruisers following more sedately behind on 0.72 and 0.73. Ikapati goes everywhere as fast as possible, but it was Andy Aguila's newly-acquired Estelita del Mar that collected the honours without even spilling the gin and tonic.
Multihull Results
1. Estelita del Mar 2,1,1 (4)
2. Ikapati 1,2,2 (5)
3. Tutu Tango 3,3,3 (9)
The BPI Signature Yacht Race Series is a great initiative to resuscitate big boat sailing in the Philippines. With four regattas on the Series card - Corregidor Cup, Busuanga Cup, Boracay 200, and Subic Regatta - it takes fleet of 15 or so boats to some glorious sailing locations among the islands of the vast Philippines archipelago. A partnership with WWF adds an additional dimension of environmental education.
Next up, the Boracay 200, involving a 200nm race from Subic Bay to Boracay, followed by three days of inshore racing in blowy, blustery, Boracay itself. And maybe a trip around Carabao, depending on whether the local coastguard got out of bed on the right side.