PARAW REGATTA. Colorful paraws line the shorelines of Villa beach in Iloilo City during the 2018 Paraw Regatta Festival. The annual sailing competition will have a comeback from March 12-19, 2023 after it was temporarily put on hold during the health pandemic. (PNA file photo by PGLena)
ILOILO CITY – Iloilo’s Paraw Regatta Festival, one of the main tourist attractions in this city, will return three years after it was temporarily shelved because of the health pandemic.
Touted as the largest sailing event in the Philippines and oldest event in Asia, the race course stretches to more or less 30 kilometers from the starting point at the Villa Beach in the Arevalo district going to Guimaras Island and back to the Villa beach.
“The people of Iloilo, adjacent provinces, and the whole country can again witness this spectacular sailing event in Iloilo Strait, said Dr. Robert Somosa, race director for sailing events, in a press conference on Wednesday.
The organizer, under the auspices of the Iloilo Festivals Foundation Inc. and the city government, expects more or less 80 paraws or sailboats with double outriggers for the main sailing event highlighting the festival on March 19.
Engineer Fulbert Woo, co-chair of the Paraw Regatta Festival, said one of the innovations to be introduced for its 50th year is live streaming for Ilonggos to feel the real action as they maneuver their way to various race markers.
Registration will start from Feb. 13 until March 3.
John Lex Bayombong, chair of the Paraw Regatta Festival said other events are the photo contest, miniature paraw-making, mural painting, job fair, slalom race, pinta layag, beach volleyball, Sinamba sa Regatta, pinta tawo, lechon contest, lighted paraw, and the highlight will be the paraw race sailing.
The Paraw Regatta Festival will officially open on March 12. (PNA)
