Water Sports News Philippines - Puerto Galera, Subic Bay, Boracay, Siargao, Taal Lake, Manila Bay

COMMODORE’S AND CLUB NEWS

We're back with our second issue of the E-Newsletter from Puerto Galera and in spite of the low season, things happen. The yacht club has introduced some initiatives that are now being implemented:

The Yacht Club

During the period between August and the end of December 2009 we have reduced our membership joining fee from fifteen thousand pesos to five thousand pesos. Upon application submit the joining fee amount. Upon approval of one's application you will be invoiced for a pro rata member dues for the balance of our fiscal year. Our fiscal year ends in September so you can join us as a member now for less than seven thousand pesos. This program has made a difference for people on fixed income who wish to actively support our club.

Three weeks ago we introduced a curry night at the club. Our chef, Harold, and a number of our member, particularly Peter Stevens, are curry masters. We expect our Saturday nite currys and some concurrent friendly pool competition to become a welcome fixture in the fabric of PG activities. Come to the club about 5-6pm for good eats and fun - all you can eat for P199.

Donna Penman will be returning to the yacht club as club manager and replacement for Steve Lada. Donna, who had personally run our Small Boat Program and our F&B, has the experience and knowledge of our organization to make a valuable contribution. Welcome back Donna!

A friendly inter-pub 8 ball pool competition has been underway for three weeks. The standings are Happy Sams – 1, Rock N Roll Bar – 0, and PGYC -1.

Small Boat Program
Peter Stevens, Vice Commodore

It seems ages ago since our team headed up to Subic Bay for the Independence Day Regatta. Apart from four sailors, there was our trainer, Jojo and a reserve/assistant. The trip went smoothly and they arrived to practice the day preceding the event. This had been put together by Paul Symes from Taal who very kindly volunteered to run the dinghy show while I was out playing on RAGS.

He had also brought the only other young sailor as competition for our lads and lassies, his daughter, with her very own, customized, Optimist dinghy. One look at it and our youngsters know that they were in trouble. Lighter, inherently faster and more hi- tech than the ones loaned to us by the SBYC it looked almost impossible to beat. So it proved. She took first place in every race on day 1, with a frustrated DJ trailing in her wake by a leg or so. At the end of the day he threw down a challenge to her that he could beat her sailing her boat if she sailed his. She accepted (for the last race of the regatta) and, sure enough, he was so far ahead that he had time to do a 360 round the last mark just to show off. Also needless to say, he took the honours from within the PGYC team, ahead of his younger brother, King, Lovely and Ronald.

It was a great experience for the team, some of whom had not been further than Batangas before. They were at all the post-race parties and were made to feel part of the main event. Many thanks to Peter Sharpe, Jun Avencilla and everybody in Subic who made them so welcome, and everybody who contributed cash and services to make the whole trip possible.

Russ Hughes, myself, Geoff Cannell and Jojo got together the other day to try to look ahead into the future of the SBP. Questions posed included how to make the program more interesting and meaningful for the kids? How to improve their skills and racing techniques? How to involve them with the national team activities? Where do we want to be in 1 year/5years/10 years? How do we upgrade the fleet, and with what? How to market the program locally, nationally and overseas and, essentially, how do we ensure the financial stability and security of the program.

As a first step we decided to have a dinghy regatta on the last Sunday afternoon of each month. This will probably alternate as an individual event and an inter-school competition. We hope to encourage local support from government, members, parents, schools etc to make it a fun event. Small prizes will be awarded each month. It is also hoped that members of the club will join in and sail with, or against, the children. Any idea or help with trophies will be welcome. I also hope to solicit help from the PSA for some proper racing coaching, either by sending Jojo to them, or by inviting one of their coaches here.

As for the other objectives and goals I'm throwing it open to our members and supporters for ideas and suggestions and am inviting you all to let me know your views or ideas. The essential ingredient, without which we can do little else, is long-term financial support. A corporate supporter is needed.

In the meantime I will be exploring local, regional and national sources of funds, either from government or NGO's. If anybody reading this has any information about groups that might be interested in supporting a community-based scheme such as ours, please let me know.

Finally, I have recently written to all of our reciprocal clubs advising them of the program and inviting them to send teams to us for our regattas, and for us to send a team to them. If you are a member of one or more of the clubs, please ask the officers or admin office to confirm receipt and that some action is taken on it. Thanks. Pete

Movie Night

Every Wednesday at 7:00 pm we are showing a variety of classic films, recent releases and old favorites. We have a projector (LCD) for a big screen experience and a dedicated core group of movie lovers. Make it a point to visit the club to watch your favorite films. They are pre announced via posters and email notices.

Activities

"All Souls Regatta" will be held October 30 – November 2nd. It will be a three day weekend which helps the feeder races from Taal Lake, Subic Bay Yacht Club and Manila Yacht Club. The dice roll is now over on the palace call for Friday or Monday, as the holiday. The outcome is Monday as holiday. Bill Moore, Commodore and Race Committee Chairman, will issue the Notice of Race shortly.

Yacht Delivery – Two of our members, Russ Hughes and Peter Stevens, recently assisted a new club member, Rob Belcher, delivering his recently acquired yacht from KK, Malaysia to Puerto Galera. They had a relatively uneventful passage (mostly motoring) up the east coast of Palawan and Mindoro, until, that is, they hit the familiar grounds of the Verde Island Passage. In Peters' words "it was the worst conditions he has experienced as a cruising sailor". Our V.I.P. gateway to Puerto Galera has earned similar comments over the years from many world cruisers. Its no wonder many sunken treasures have been discovered on wrecks in the nearby area, no doubt, many still remain to be found.

Other News

We would like to welcome our new members to the club:

Mark Vieux
Martin Gummert
Michael J. Barker
Ian J. Goff
John N.F. Davenport
Rob G. Belcher

Well, time to sign off for this issue. Next month well have an update on our "All Souls Regatta" plans. Hope to see you then.

Fair winds,
CHARLIE ROMIG

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Fair winds !