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Last weekend’s BPI Corregidor Cup started off the new BPI Private Wealth<br />
Signature Yacht Race Series with an almost audible bang! Three days of<br />
20kts breeze, 80% tropical sunshine, and the rich blue waters of the<br />
South China Sea made it a guaranteed success.<br />
It’s been a while since Sail-World Asia was covering a regatta in the Philippines,<br />
and this excursion was welcome was welcome indeed. Certainly the concept<br />
of BPI Series is a no-brainer – four regattas conducted among a small<br />
selection of the 7,000+ islands that make up the Philippines, sponsored<br />
by Bank of the Philippine Islands Private Wealth, the President and<br />
CEO of which is herself a sailor (thank you, Tere Marcial) is a pretty<br />
obvious hook-up as long as someone sees the potential.<br />
The constituent parts of the Series – Corregidor Cup, Busuanga<br />
Cup, Boracay 130 and Subic Bay Regatta – are all well-proven<br />
events in their own right. It’s the putting them together as<br />
a series that is the smart idea. “Over the last few years –<br />
thanks in no small part to the covid thing – we have got<br />
out of the habit of running regattas,” said PRO Jerry<br />
Rollin, who has officiated at all the relevant events<br />
before. “Time to get back on the horse, so to speak.<br />
So thank you to BPI Private Wealth for providing<br />
the leg up.”<br />
Corregidor Island in the gate guardian to<br />
Manila Bay, and has long been home to<br />
military fortifications. These reached a peak<br />
in WW2, with additional gun batteries on<br />
the small nearby islands. The forbidding<br />
bulk of Fort Drum (formerly El Fraile,<br />
but fortified beyond recognition<br />
starting in 1909), craggy Caballo,<br />
and ‘chicken feather’ Carabao<br />
are all now marks of the course<br />
for the Corregidor Cup races.<br />
There is heaps of history here,<br />
not least the fortifications<br />
on Corregidor itself which<br />
are phenomenal.<br />
The BPI Corregidor<br />
Cup is based out<br />
of Caylabne<br />
Bay Resort &<br />
Marina, a<br />
delightful<br />
<strong>2023</strong><br />
BPI Cor<br />
Words by GUY NOWELL<br />
Photographs by GUY NOWELL/BPI<br />
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