THE activities for Cherry Mobile Philippine Hobie Challenge 2016 officially fired off yesterday with sailors preparing their equipment at the Cebu Yacht Club in Lapu-Lapu City.
The event hosted by the Philippine Inter-Island Sailing Foundation Inc. (Phinsaf) set on Feb. 20 to 28 is now on its 16th year. For this year, the organizers will bring the seasoned sailors to the alluring seas and scenic views of Central Visayas.
The Philippine Hobie Challenge is an extreme regatta competition staged in different tourist spots in the country, as part of the advocacy of Phinsaf, which is to raise more awareness about eco-friendly sport, especially promoting sports tourism.
Last year, part of the route was Puerto Gallera and it wrapped up in Nasugbo, Batangas.
The activities for this year, such as boat tuning, safety inspections, in-shore races and sailing clinic has started, but the race proper—Leg 1—will kick off tomorrow.
The event will have a total of five legs that will cover all of Central Visayas—Cebu, Bohol and Siquijor.
The sailors will start things off in Mactan Island going to Cabilao Island, Loon, Bohol for the first leg tomorrow; Leg 2 will cover Cabilao Island going to Sumilon Island in Oslob on Tuesday; Leg 3 will be on the waters of Sumilon Island to Balicasag Island, Bohol on Wednesday; Leg 4 starts at Balicasag Island off to San Juan, Siquijor on Friday; and the final and fifth leg will be within the seas of Siquijor on Saturday.
Aside from the competition, there will also be outreach activities—giving of education materials and medical services to the locals of Cabilao Island and Balicasag Island.
The week-long event will be a battle of local and foreign nationalities. Listed as competing duos are Eric Tomacruz and Matthias Geisler of Team TBA; Filipinos Eddie Legarda and Jose Legarda of TBA; Australian Bruce Tardrew and Sarah Turnbull; Australian Andrew Boyd and British Kim Troll of TBA; Australian Will King and Jen O’ Boyle of Team The Good, The Bad & The Ugly; Australian Kerli Corlett and Ali Corlett of Not Dead Yet; Filipinos Andy Aguila and Cons Castaneda; Michael Ngu and Boyet Magsanay of Cherry Mobile; Fish Southwick and Sharon Rayner of Fiji Samaki; David King and Rob Pixley of Hobie Fogies; Alex Chen and Awan Lin of Taiwan HTC; Belgians Carolien Goegebuer and Yves Bastiaens of Sinnerman; Monchu and Diego Garcia of Rayomarine; Doc Dennis Cruz and Arnel Ornales of TBA; Andrew Locke and Denise Celdran of Knot by You; and Geoff Rowdon-Rosie Phelan of Australia.
Listed in the non competing class are David Wheeler, Hector Almario and Ed Gallego.