ABW Dec-1

Celebrated as the largest sailing event in the
Philippines, the Royal Cargo All Souls Regatta,
conducted by the Puerto Galera Yacht Club has
been yet another victim of
Covid 19. The event was canceled last
year, a real blow to the Filipino sailing
community.
With uncertain travel and social
gathering restrictions being placed,
reduced, and increased again, the
future of the event was dubious. The
leadership of the Puerto Galera Yacht
Club took the risk and once again decided to host the event
in 2021, the Show Must Go On.
Preceding the event in anticipation of the All Souls holiday,
the powers that be put science first and allowed the entrance
of all fully vaccinated tourists to enter the island community.
This enabled yachts from Subic Bay, Punta Fuego, and
Manila to come down for the event, the race was on.
The leadership of the
Puerto Galera Yacht
Club took the risk and
once again decided to
host the event in 2021,
the Show Must Go On.
The Friday Night meets and greets social event saw the
reuniting of many old sailing friends separated by the virus.
The skippers’ meeting on Saturday morning, conducted by
Race Director Terry McMan showed
the various courses on a large tablesized
chart. Cruising, racing, and
multi-hull yachts would take out in
the brisk Saturday breeze to sail their
perspective courses.
The Saturday night social event started
with the daily awards; First in the
Cruising division: the sturdy Columbus,
skippered by the intrepid John Quirk, Racing division the
elegant Emocean 2 with Michael Raeuber together with
Philipp Schlohsnagel leading the large crew. Always in the
ribbons, Sonija wins the daily award for Multihull, manned
by Karim and an enthusiastic crew. Following the awards,
a simple, quite downsized buffet fed the crews while they
swung to the tunes of the local band. The Happy Hour
preceding the awards was sponsored by Asia Yachts.
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