ATI fuels young sailors’ aspirations thru All Souls Regatta

November 03, 2017

Asian Terminals Inc. (ATI) is keeping the sailing aspirations of Mindoro’s youth unfurled by supporting the 2017 Royal Cargo All Souls Regatta, the largest yachting event in the country organized yearly by the Puerto Galera Yacht Club (PGYC).

All Souls Regatta, which kicks off the traditional yachting season in the Philippines at the start of the northeast monsoon, is bannered by a yacht race from Puerto Galera in Mindoro to Subic Bay featuring boats from local sailing clubs and visiting yachts from overseas.

This year’s principal regatta sponsor is logistics giant Royal Cargo.

A prelude to the Halloween week race, is the Small Boats Program (SBP) Regatta where children aged 9 years and above coming from underprivileged coastal communities of Puerto Galera and nearby islets are given the opportunity to race using dinghies.

The SBP is PGYC’s social responsibility program which provides free weekend sailing trainings for community-based youngsters in partnership with Stairways Foundation.

ATI supports the SBP seeing this as a great opportunity to encourage Mindoro’s youth in exploring future productive careers in the maritime industry.

ATI’s support for this year’s SBP Regatta benefited nearly 50 local young sailors over the three-day course competition under the Optimist and Lawin race categories.

PGYC’s small boats sailing program has already produced a handful of successful graduates who are now skippers and crew of various boats and who have represented the Philippines in international sailing competitions.

Just recently, its protégé grade 9 high school student Jonvic Velasquez won the gold medal for the Philippines in the Singapore Open and silver medal in the Macau National Championships.

“We thank ATI for the generous support for Mindoro’s youth and for making this year’s regatta a huge success,” PGYC commodore Jurgen Langemeier said.