After testing the waters in Sunday’s official practice, close to 60 funboarders from 10 countries, including the Philippines, will finally show their wares as they vie for top honors in five different divisions.
The top three finishers in each division will then dispute the overall crown at the close of the six-day event on Saturday.
Radiz won the overall crown in the last two stagings of the event and is once again fancied this week. If he wins for the third straight year, Radiz will take home the perpetual Boracay Funboard Cup on top of sailing equipment and giveaways from the sponsors.
But out to foil Radiz’s bid are two other world-ranked foreigners – compatriot Mike Nelson and Italy’s Roberto Hofmann – and a bunch of Filipino bets, including those representing the sponsoring Cutty Sark. Leading the Pinoy charge are former SEA Games medallists Edward Fajermo and German Paz.
Fajermo, who owns a surfing school in Anilao, Batangas, won the windsurfing gold medal in the 1991 Manila SEA Games and is the only Filipino to win the Boracay Funboard Cup overall crown in 1997.
Paz was a silver medallist in the 1995 Chiang Mai SEA Games and won the bronze in the 1997 Jakarta SEAG.
Other Filipinos in the fold are Rico Cumayas, a former hobbyist who works as an area sales manager in the meat division of RFM Corp.; Ian Bautista, a young architect at the Sanchez, Bautista and Associates; and Manny Cabili, a businessman engaged in the selling of top-of-the-line windsurfing equipment.
The event, which also drew entries from Switzerland, Singapore, Denmark, Japan, Guam, Korea, the Netherlands and the US, has Cutty Sark Scots Whisky as major sponsor and is presented by Neilpryde. Other sponsors are Sector Sport Watches, Greenland Funboard, Proteus Sports Limited, Action Asia and the Department of Tourism.
A total of 60 heats in the next six days are expected to determine the champions in the ladies, men’s (29-under), junior masters (30-39), masters (40-above) and open divisions. Action starts daily at 10 a.m. and will last until late in the afternoon, according to chief organizer Vangie Palacios.
"There will be races for as long as there is wind, water and light. If the winds are good and good means 15 to 20 knots, we can even finish the event in four or five days. Otherwise, we might be forced to close the meet without naming an overall champion, just the division champions," said Palacios. — Abac Cordero