Aguirre-Graf: Making big splash for RP windsurfing

The long sandy stretch of White Beach on Boracay Island has long been one of the great escapes of the Philippines. Its glistening shores, fine white sand and festive markets, eateries and resorts have welcomed and entertained guests for many decades. And yet, the last decade and a half have seen White Beach sharing international attention with another, if less populated — no less popular, beach on the other end of the Island — gusty Bulabog Beach: site of the annual Boracay International Funboard Cup.

The Boracay International Funboard Cup is a windsurfing tournament held on Bulabog Beach every first month of the year, assuming that winds are strong and funds are sufficient. It is the fourth leg of the five-legged Adecco Asian Windsurfing Tour and considered by many to be the best. (The first three are held in Taiwan, Malaysia and Indonesia and the fifth, in Micronesia.) This year, despite modest funds and inconsistent winds, the 15th Boracay International Funboard Cup carried on as usual from last January.

Disappointingly, three of the five racing days were cancelled due to lack of strong winds — very uncommon for Bulabog Beach, which is one of the best sites for windsurfing in the world.

But the first day’s winds were strong enough for a full day’s racing. So was the last day’s. And by the end of the lack of strong, a set of champions was proclaimed. Among these champions was No.1 female windsurfer of the Philippines — leading the Ladies Class for the 8th year — Nenette Aguirre-Graf: philstar.com-sponsored windsurfer and mother of the Cup, herself.

Boracay local Nenette Aguirre-Graf founded the Boracay International Funboard Cup in 1989 in celebration of her second wedding anniversary with then husband, Robbie Graf. "Windsurfing was a passion to us both, so what better way to celebrate our anniversary than to invite all our friends and do what we loved best?", she said

Fifteen years since, Nenette is still doing what she loves best. And not only is she doing it; she’s doing it darned well! Aside from bagging the highest female spot at the Funboard Cup every year — besting top female windsurfers from Japan, Korea, Hong Kong, Singapore and Taiwan (except in 2000 when she tied with the top Japanese woman sailor) — she has tried her luck and skill off her familiar home island.

Last October, Nenette won gold and bronze at the Jeju International Windsurfing Festival in Korea. The winds and waters were so bitingly cold that she came away with a serious complication of physical numbness in addition to her wins.

"It was probably because of the cold that I raced so fast. I just wanted to finish, get out of the water and thaw!", she said in jest.

Besides racing, Nenette keeps herself busy with her nine-year-old daughter Leonae and her wind sport school, the Green Yard Funboard and Hangin Kite Boarding School.

At Green Yard and Hangin, Nenette gives windsurfing and kite boarding lessons along with a team of multi-lingual (English, Filipino, Korean, Japanese and German) instructors from all over the world. They train everyone from hopeless beginners to daunting professionals. And Nenette absolutely guarantees sailing within five to fifteen minutes for windsurfing students and boarding within one to two days for kite boarding students!

Asked why she enjoys wind sports so much, Nenette explains, "I loved them because they are such pure sports. It’s only you and nature out there. No machines, no intrusions." She goes on to compare windsurfing and kite boarding to boat-driven sports like jet skiing.

"With wind sports, you don’t get any help from machines. You have to learn to play and use the wind to control your board. If you do not control the wind, the wind will control you." And this is especially true for kite boarding, where you can fly into leaps and somersaults in the air if you know what you’re doing, and fly straight away and into the rocky face of boulder if you don’t. No great wonder that Nenette is at pains to make sure all the right safety measures are in place for her new kite boarding school, Hangin.

Hangin is one of the first kite boarding schools in Asia and the very first in the Philippines. Kite boarding, itself, is a very new sport. But Nenette hopes to team up with the Caliraya windsurfing organizers to setup kite-boarding clinics near Metro Manila and eventually found an international kite boarding competition similar to the Funboard Cup by 2004. Yet another competition to mother and lord over!

Till then, Nenette will be busy. She plans to return to Korea to defend her gold and trade in her bronze at the next Jeju International Windsurfing Festival and hopes to compete in Taiwan at the Penghu Pro-Am Cup. The winds are higher and tougher in Taiwan, but apparently, "That’s just what I want! Sarap!" She also recently opened a new Chinese restaurant on the island named Mrs. Moon after the fashionable Chinese aristocrat of the 17th century. Besides all this, Nenette designs travel packages for windsurfers visiting Boracay, offering rates only a sunbathed local — well loved and well supported by the community — can manage. And then, of course, there is Leonae and Green Yard and Hangin.

Nenette admits she may eventually have to move elsewhere for practical parenting reasons. She may have to move to the city for Leonae’s schooling, for instance. "But if I had my choice, I would stay right here. I love windsurfing. I want to be doing it for the rest of my life!"

For more information on Nenette Aguirre-Graf, her packages and her lessons, please call Green Yard Funboard at (036) 288-3663 or e-mail [email protected]