ABW March 2024
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z Goose<br />
ampionships<br />
Champion<br />
Other than new sailing<br />
clubs, new boats and<br />
new sailors, even older<br />
semi-retired sailors<br />
have come out to enjoy<br />
the community and<br />
camaraderie that usually<br />
comes with one design<br />
sailboat racing.<br />
Words by ROY ESPIRITU<br />
Photographs by LORE JEAN ALBO<br />
A total of 25 Oz Geese were brought over from Taal lake<br />
Yacht Club (TLYC) to Lighthouse Marina and Resort in Subic<br />
Bay Freeport, home base of the Subic Sailing Club. 24 of<br />
the boats were for competitors, while the one extra boat<br />
was Pong’s, he brought a spare because he didn’t want a<br />
repeat of the disaster that happened in Albay wherein they<br />
suffered a hull breach on the first race that pretty much<br />
ended nationals for them.<br />
The weather for this year cooperated with the organizers.<br />
Unlike last year where the race committee raised the “S”<br />
flag indicating strong winds, reefing was made mandatory to<br />
ensure the safety of participants as well as boats in the fleet.<br />
This year, all the boats were flying their full sail. Standouts<br />
in the fleet were boats Ginny who was flying a rainbow<br />
colored sublimation printed sail and Mang Thomas with his<br />
boat show ready, brightwork finished hull numbered 117,<br />
the newest boat in the fleet. Oz Goose sailboats are assigned<br />
a sequential sail/hull number as soon as they hit the water.<br />
There are a total of 117 boats (so far) built in the Philippines.<br />
Participation in this year’s nationals brought an assortment<br />
of teams from active sailing clubs; three teams joined from<br />
the Albay Yacht Club (AYC), they were chaperoned by AYC’s<br />
Tom and Pinky who had a long 19 hour drive pulling a Tom’s<br />
rigid inflatable boat (RIB) all the way from Bicol. Tom’s RIB<br />
was utilized as a safety boat during the regatta. Last year’s<br />
champions from Puerto Galera Yacht Club (PGYC) were<br />
there to defend their title, along with Peter Stevens who<br />
heads PGYC small boat program, and their coach, Marvic<br />
also helped man the rescue boat and media boat during the<br />
regatta. PGYC team mother Lore Jean snapped most of the<br />
photos you see in this story.<br />
Three teams from Subic Sailing participated, several of them<br />
having had experience sailing in the Oz Goose Nationals<br />
previously. The one with the most Nationals experience<br />
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