April 2008
BARNACLE
Manila Yacht Club
Subic Centennial Wins 2008
Rolex China Sea Race and
President’s Cup Regatta
Photo: Cristina Defensor Subic Centennial, a Sydney
Subic Centennial emerges
as IRC Overall winner of
the Rolex China Sea Race
Source: www.regattanews.com
March 24, 2008
The land-sea breeze off the Phil-
ippine coast made and lost fortunes
for the potential handicap winners
in this 565-nautical mile offshore Asian
classic. At the Philippine finish of the
the manila y acht club 2351 roxas blvd.manila philippines p.o.box 1085
www.manilayachtclub.org
Rolex China Sea Race, local
enthusiasm and passion for
sailing is evident, so it seemed
fitting that the overall handi-
cap winner was Philippine
entry, Subic Centennial, co-
skippered by Judes Echauz,
Vince Perez and their young
Filipino crew. Echauz and
Perez won the China Sea Race
in 1998 with the same boat,
and ten years later decided it
was time to try again. Echauz,
President of the Philippine
Sailing Association, head of
the Philippine Sailing Team;
likewise was involved in the
ASEAN Games in Manila.
46 from the Manila Yacht
Club, is mostly composed of
young Philippine Team sailors,
training under Australian senior
coach Jamie Wilmot.
Perez commented, “Judes really
does a good job trying to involve
young Filipinos who otherwise
wouldn't enjoy the sport of sailing.
He's provided scholarships for the
Philippine Sailing Association sailors,
plus sent them to the Southeast Asia
Games, so this is a great experience for
them. Some of them haven’t been to
1
Rolex/Carlo Borlenghi
 Congratulations Winners!
16th President’s Cup Regatta
IRC RACING
1st – Subic Centennial, E.Echauz
2nd – Quantum Racing, R.Roberts
3rd – Fullmetal Jacket, C.Meads
4th – Jelik, F.Pong
5th – Hi-Fi, N.Pryde
IRC CRUISER RACER
1st – Jo de Ros, G.Hackett
2nd – Strewth, G.Hill
3rd – Challenge, M.Tanco
4th – Selma Star, J.Avecilla Jr.
5th – Rags, A.Burrell
• • • • • • • • • •
Performance Handicap
1st – Rapparee XXX, D.McKenna
2nd – Adec Solution, J.Donovan
3rd – Punta De Uian, R.Gipulan
4th – Sorcerer, A.Chamberlain
5th – Fast Exit, Yamamoto /Nishi
• • • • • • • • • •
President’s Cup Series 2008
IRC RACING
1st – Subic Centennial, E.Echauz
2nd – Full Metal Jacket, C.Meads
3rd – Hi-Fi, N. Pryde
IRC CRUISER RACER
1st – Challenge, M.Tanco
2nd – Stella, R.Buser
3rd – Jaywalker, P.Bankowski
• • • • • • • • • •
Rolex China Sea Race 2008
IRC Racing A
Subic Centennial, E.Echauz
IRC Racing Division B
Jaywalker, P.Bankowski
IRC Performance Cruising
Dream, M.Thornburrow
Hong Kong before, so it's a
wonderful ocean race for them
to participate in.”
April 2008 2

Once again tactics played as "Fortis Mandrake

much a part as luck. Echauz said, across the start line"
crackled out over the
“We were trying to be close to the
radio as the hooter
rhumb line – we did not want to go sounded. The long
south, as we might have been stuck. The windward beat to
way we looked at it was to be on the the weather mark
rhumb line, or eventually trying to go sorted out boats in
north of the rhumb line, so that when order of size, IRC
rating and relative
we got further down (the course) and boat speed. As they
the wind conditions were northeast as sped on, separation
forecast, on the last day it would be grew and without
favoring us.” He continued, “The taking mark round-
northeast was supposedly forecast for ing times, it was
very hard to visually
the last two days, but I guess in terms
IRC Cruiser Racer Fleet. Photo: Capt. Marty
determine the han-
of weather prediction there was a big dicap leader. After
hole. Yesterday, true enough we got whipping around the course in
Subic Centennial, Jo De 2hrs 21mins Frank Pong's 76ft
• • • • • • • • • • • • • •

Ros TEAM Windshear R/P Jelik took line honors but

finished 34 minutes later at the
and Rapparee XXX – rear of the fleet. Judes Echauz
winners of the 16th Sydney 46 Subic Centennial cor-
rected out a mere six seconds
President’s Cup Regatta faster than Jelik to continue win-
Summary: www.asianyachting.com ning. Neil Pryde's Welbourne 52
Hi Fi finished strong to secure
S ubic Bay turns it on... the sea
b breeze arrived early, right on cue for the
3rd place, only 18 seconds adrift
of the leader. All boats corrected
Centennial in Hong Kong. Rolex /Carlo Borlenghi 10:30am start. As the breeze continued build- out within three minutes from
ing strength, the opening event for this year’s first to last place. Chris Mead’s
caught up for four hours and were
President’s Cup developed into a Corby 43 Full Metal Jacket tied
not moving. It was very calm, 2 magnificent day for racing sail- for 4th place with exactly the
or 3 knots, up until about four boats. PRO Gerry Rollin same time as Ray Roberts’ DK46
in the afternoon.” Echauz sent the IRC Racing Quantum Racing, showing just
added, “We've seen Rolex and the Cruiser/ how close the racing was.
as a sponsor in interna- Racer classes IRC Cruiser Racer: Unde-
i
gh

tional regattas and their off on a 22 nau- terred after losing the keel on
en

being the sponsor for tical mile passage his new TP52 Strewth during the
orl

China Sea Race, Geoff Hill and

oB

the Rolex China Sea race, while the Per-

arl

formance Handicap crew showed their true mettle

Race will really
x/C

class went on a 14nm by firing up Hill’s recently re-

give it a big boost
ole

point to point course tired Lyons 49 Strewth, which

.R

and a lot of luckily happened to be berthed

ge

which took the yachts to

prestige.” in Subic Bay. Almost a faultless
en

the extremities of Subic Bay.

all

performance except being

A total
Ch

They had it all – long

of 23 entries windward beats, square
entered runs, beam spinnaker
the Rolex reaches and close reaches
China Sea that soon sorted crew work.
Race, which
This proved a good test of the
started in Hong Kong on
effectivity of the IRC handicap
Thursday 20 March 2008. The
system, estimating boat speeds
biennial 565-nautical mile race,
when calculating the results for such
organized by the Royal Hong Kong
a diverse range of boat sizes, racing
Yacht Club with Manila Yacht Club Co-
• • • • • • • •

Organizer, run under the auspices of the under similar conditions. At day’s end,
Royal Ocean Racing Club (RORC), is con- crew who made the least mistakes
sidered to be the ultimate Asian blue-water and the boat which sailed their allot- Jo De Ros. Photo: Capt. Marty
offshore sailing event. The 24th China Sea ted handicap should be among the winners.
beaten for Handicap Honors by
Race finished in Subic Bay, northwest of DAY 1, IRC Racing Class: After quite a a mere 37 seconds by George
Manila, the Philippines. bit of jockeying around during pre-start, Hackett's J-35 Jo De Ros Team

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A p r i l 2 0 0 8!
B A R N A C L E!
Photo: Capt. Marty
Windshear. They last won this class in Subic
two years ago. Boats in the 36ft range
staged a good battle around the course with
Jun Avecilla's Beneteau First 36.7 Selma Star
coming out best to score 3rd place. Only 12
seconds separated third to fifth places.
Performance Handicap Class: A slight
misinterpretation of the sailing instructions
saw three boats sail the wrong course and
regretfully score Did Not Finish. With the
crew happy that “... the fridge is now work-
ing”, David McKenna's Sun Odyssey 42
Rapparee XXX sailed the correct course
and scored the daily double of Line and
Handicap honors. By finishing five min-
utes behind Rapparee XXX, Jeremy Simp-
son's Warwick 42 Shibumi slotted into sec-
ond place. Austin Chamberlain's Irwin 37
Sorcerer managed third spot.
" DAY 2, IRC Racing Class:
This time it was Neil
Pryde's Hi Fi and Ray
Ordoveza's Karakoa
turn to be over the
start line. As these
yachts are crewed by
highly skilled racing
teams, mistakes no
matter how small,
will heavily penalized
position-wise, need-
ing a miracle to re-
cover during the race. Ray Roberts
took advantage of every windshift, gybing
his DK46 Quantum Racing numerous times
downwind to finally put one over Jamie
Wilmot, his former sailing master who
helmed Judes Echauz’ race winning Sydney
46 Subic Centennial this time around. Ray
Ordoveza's Andrews/Excel 53 Karakoa ex-
pertly helmed by Steve Benjamin managed
to sneak into third place, only two minutes
separating first and third places in race two.
Frank Pong's 76ft R/P Jelik led the fleet at
every mark, constantly sniffing around the
podium places, floored the accelerator on
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3
Manila Yacht Club
race three to take the daily dou- two races left. Chris Meads
ble of line and handicap honors. Corby 43 Full Metal Jacket made
Once again, Judes Echauz's Subic second place 24 seconds from
Centennial claimed second place. Quantum Racing’s third. This
Scoring podium places in every may have spoiled Ray Roberts’
race so far, they clearly lead in chances of keeping up with
the overall point score. overall leader Subic Centennial
who dominated the series so
IRC Cruiser/Racer Class:
far. Unfortunately Frank Pong's
George Hackett's J-35 Jo De Ros
Jelik line honors transformed
Team Windshear stayed on the
into seventh place on corrected
pace to claim their second handi-
time, as the jury upheld the re-
cap victory. Jun Avecilla picked
quest for redress.
the right downwind lane for his
Beneteau First 36.7 Selma Star to IRC Cruiser/Racer Class:
slot into second place. Dick Allan Burrell's vintage Farr 1104
Morris shocked quite a
few when Salina
scored third place in
race two was announced. The
bigger boats seemed to benefit
when the wind increased for
race three. Geoff Hill's Lyons
49 Strewth rebounded in the
best possible way by posting a
first and fastest. Twelve sec-
onds latter, Martin Tanco's X-
452 Challenge took second
place. Talk about close racing, IRC Racing Class. Photo: Capt. Marty
the second hand on the watch
had barely completed another beat when Rags won this class in the past
Roland Buser's Swiss Team on the Syd- and still manages to win at least
ney 38 captured the third place. one race each year against the
newer, lighter and faster yacht
Performance Handicap Class:
designs. Today was that day.
After sailing the wrong course on Day 1,
Dick Morris Shock 35 Salina did
James Donovan's very slippery Beneteau
one better than yesterday to
First 47.7 Adec Solution made amends by
secure second place. The un-
posting the daily double (First and fastest)
flappable George Hackett's J-35
on the score sheets.
Jo De Ros Team Windshear man-
Even the PH yachts
aged to dig their way out of the
caught the racing spirit
hole and won third place.
and posted close results
when David McKenna's Performance Handicap
race one winner Rap- Class: Japanese sailors Nishi
paree XXX corrected and Yamamoto’s turn on the
out in second place by X-99 Fast Exit helped score first
a mere four seconds. place. That made three different
The ink on the paper winners for the three races held
had barely dried when so far. Rolly Gipulan's Yamaha
Rolly Gipulan's 36 Punta De Uian made it back
Photo: Capt. Marty Yamaha 36 Punta De on the podium this time for sec-
Uian claimed third ond place. James Donovan's
place only 19 seconds later. Beneteau First 47.7 Adec Solution
led the fleet by the proverbial
" DAY 3, IRC Racing Class:
mile until the transitional zone
Judes Echauz Sydney 46 Subic Centennial
landed them on third place.
having the lowest IRC handicap rating in
Race 5 started with Jun Ave-
the racing fleet meant, if they were ahead
cilla's Beneteau First 36.7 Selma
of any boats, then Centennial beat them on
Star called over the line and as
corrected time. Having caught up with the
they failed to return, dropped
fleet, then picked their way through the
to fourth overall.
transition zone, Centennial came out in the
lead. A straight forward reach to the short-  DAY 4 – Final Race,
ened finish added another win to their IRC Racing Class: Coming into
score, giving a six point advantage with the final day, Judes Echauz Syd-
April 2008
ney 46 Subic Centennial
held a comfortable 6.5
point lead. When they
corrected out with first
place in race 5, the en-
graver got to work on the
overall trophy. They must
be very happy as it is the
Rapparee XXX. Photo:
second major Asian race
regatta victory for the Philippine boat
in the same week. Ray Roberts crew
on his DK46 Quantum Racing did their
SUBIC CENTENNIAL. Photo: Capt. Marty
damndest to reduce the
deficit with a second in
race 6 and first place in
the last race to end up
with second place in the
overall stakes. Once
again only seconds
separated the 7 racing
boats on corrected time
to show just how hard it
is to win a race, let
alone the series in this
class. Two third places
for Chris Meads Corby
43 Full Metal Jacket lifted
them to third overall
after a very up and
down regatta and
no doubt with more
fine tuning to do.
IRC Cruiser/Racer
Class: A similar fate awaited 16th President’s Cup Regatta
the eleven IRC 1 class yachts
when George Hackett's J-35 Jo De Ros Rudy
Project once again sailed above their handi-
cap rating to score first place in race five
and seal the deal on first overall. In the
fresh breeze, Geoff Hill's Lyons 49 Strewth
climbed back into contention with a third
and first place plus after the dropping 1
race, they ended up second overall. Not
bad considering they lost the keel on the
new boat, had the sheer tenacity to turn up
at Subic plus perform so well, all in the
space of a week. From near disaster to hap-
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4
piness. Martin Tanco's X 452 pushing us onwards. We even
Challenge started the regatta caught a big fish! After 78
in fourth place but improved hours, we arrived at the Royal
as the event wore on, espe- Hong Kong Yacht Club, in
cially in the fresh breeze Causeway Bay.
where the longer waterline
After preparing a few days
came into play, to take a well
in Hong Kong, the time that
earned 3rd place overall. At
we’ve waiting for...THE RACE!!!
the start of race five Jun
Capt. Marty But before the race started, Kuya
Avecilla's Beneteau First 36.7
Selma Star was called over Balting asked me to dive to check
the line. As they the propeller,
failed to return which he usually
dropped down to takes care of. I
4th overall. was very nerv-
Performance ous because that
Handicap Class: was my first
After winning race time to dive,
three yesterday also, in the cold,
Japanese sailors strong current of
Yamamoto and
Hong Kong’s
Nishi on the char- Fast Exit. Photo: Capt.Marty
Victoria Harbor.
tered X - 99 Fast
Exit, continued having the good fortune to After that, I had to concentrate
win today's final race. Unfortunately the 9, on the race, especially pay atten-
6 finish in the first two races sent them to tion when trimming the main sail,
5th overall. James Donovan's Beneteau First which was my assignment. The
47.7 Adec Solution led by the proverbial mile first gun went off, the prepara-
but lost some min- tory signal! All of the boats join-
utes with a bad spin- ing this race started to get ag-
naker drop which left gressive at the starting line, 5
them with second
minutes later the final gun fired
place in the final race
and second overall. and the race started.
Although David Jamie Wilmott, our senior
McKenna's Sun coach advised us to keep focused
Odyssey 42 Rapparee on the race. We changed sails a
XXX could only lot. During the approach to Phil-
manage third place
ippine waters, we encountered
today he survived
very light wind, so we were not
the onslaught to
claim victory in the moving for almost 4 hours. Al-
overall class title. most two days passed of not see-
ing a single sailboat also. On the
Thank you to last race day, one of the yachts of
the all partici- our class was ahead of us. Very
pants for sup- light wind got us again before we
porting the 16th crossed the finish line. As the
Principal sponsor, President’s Cup breeze came in, a speedboat ap-
Regatta 2008! proached, and took pictures! We
heard the gun while crossing the
F I R S T H A N D finish line. At last!! Later on, we
found out that the speedboat was
My 1st China Sea Race taking lots of pictures of us be-
by: Lester Troy Tayong cause we had won the race!!!
L ast 6 March 2008, we delivered the
Subic Centennial a Sydney 46 yacht
I'm very happy because we
won the first place and it was a
from Manila to Hong Kong. This was my first great experience for me, espe-
time to cross the South China Sea on a sail- cially because it was only my
boat. I got to do big boat sailor duties and first time to join this kind of
responsibilities which I’ve only heard of be- race. And I'm very proud
fore. The big waves made the ride exciting, to be part of this team!! 
team!!