The province of Catanduanes, in time with its fiesta celebration, hosted a surfing competition in the town of Baras, Catanduanes, in Barangay Puraran (accent on the 2nd syllable). I had the opportunity to represent Action Asia Magazine in this inaugural surfing competition.

Asian Spirit was the major sponsor of the event along with the provincial government. Captain Ivan Arcilla and businessman Toy Guianan were the chief organizers of the event and Michael Guzman of the Surfers Association of the Philippines Inc. was the contest director.

The province of Catanduanes is very hilly. Its rugged east coast is open to the Pacific. During the plane ride, one can see the majestic peak of the Mayon Volcano, blanketed mid-level by the clouds. Upon landing, one notices the verdant mountains and somehow thank Someone that there are still trees in these mountains. Asian Spirit flies daily to Virac-Catanduanes and it leaves Manila at 5:30am. If you're a surfer from Manila out for a week-end of surfing, catch that flight and you could be on the water by 9am. Leave at 7:30 Monday morning and still make it to the office by 9am. Doesn't that sound great?

My group was met at the airport by Toy and Ivan and Luz. I met Luz during the recent Siargao Cup as she was spokesperson for the Catanduanes surfers, one of whom won P25000 in the Siargao Cup as highest placing Filipino in the event reaching the semi-finals (top 8). His name is Martin Taniegra. Martin brought a lot of honor to his province by winning this award in the biggest surfing competition in the Philippines. He put back Catanduanes in the Philippine surfing map.

I was happy to see that Catanduanes Province itself was proud of Martin's feat as a streamer at the airport bannered the province's congratulations to Martin.

First order of the day was to make a courtesy call to Governor Alcantara of Catanduanes. I was impressed that he was at his office at 8am. Australian Travis Pyle, 2nd placer in the Siargao Cup which finished just 3 days ago, was in the same flight with us, along with his very charming Filipina girlfriend, Ningning. After the call, we all got ready for the one-hour trip to Baras.

A super typhoon with winds over 300kph hit Catanduanes in November of 1995. This caused a major bridge to be washed away. It was interesting as a ferry towed by men pulling on ropes pulled our vehicle across a river just a few kilometers from Virac. It was a picturesque place with white herons resting on small islands on the river. Verdant hills flanked the river. The road to Puraran Bay is quite scenic with glimpses of the exciting coastline of the province. The cement road turns into gravel road. It was pouring when we left Virac so we did not have to worry about dust. The countryside is very green, perhaps because of the season and the rice was ready to be harvested.

Baras is just an hour's away by vehicle from Virac. The road is quite scenic, a little of the mountains, a little of the countryside, and plenty of coastal views which definitely would excite the surfer as he sees glimpses of the waves.

Puraran Bay, home to the Majestics:
Puraran Bay, in the town of Baras, is home to the famous Majestics wave of Catanduanes. The bay itself is fringed by coconut trees with small hills providing a pretty backdrop. The sand is coarse but clean and white and the water is crystal clear, perfect for snorkeling. But of course, if you are a surfer, Puraran means Majestics, and everything else is secondary.

There are 2 surfkamps in Puraran, Puting-Baybay which was the official venue for the event, and Majestic Resort. You can also check out the many private cottages in the area which the locals rent out. I was assigned to a very pretty cottage owned by Dr. Joson.

Governor Alcantara hosted the Welcome Night Dinner at the Puting Baybay Surfkamp. After the speeches, highlight of the ceremonies was the offering to the surfgods of a small candle-lit bamboo raft decorated with leaves and filled with food and local wine. The raft was carried to the sea by lovely Portuguese ladies who were on the island for a vacation.

The Contest:
Contest Director Michael Guzman had originally prepared a Filipino-style surf format which was made of 5- and 6-man heats and included double elimination procedures. Also, all the foreign participants were assigned their own heats, while the Filipinos competed amongst themselves.

The contest was scheduled from October 15 to October 18. The surf had gone down from the past 2 days with northeast winds blowing on shore which greatly diminished Majestics power as it generated 2 to 3 feet surf.

The first heat of Michael's format was run at 8am on October 15. Twenty minutes were assigned per heat with maximum 5 waves to ride and top 3 waves to count. Because of Majestics' sub-performance, there were numerous interference incidents as more than one surfer would catch the same wave. These interferences were ignored by the judges and the Contest Director possibly because of lack of familiarity with international surfing rules. As the tide was fast coming down, only two heats of Michael's original format was run.

Enter ASP:
It was by noon of October 15 that Australian Championship Circuit/ASP Australasia GM Peter Whittaker arrived in Puraran, along with Edmund Mendoza (1997 Aurora Cup Champion) and Olin Duaso (Official Tabulator for the Siargao Cup and 1997 Aurora Cup Contest Director). Whittaker's objective was to check out Majestics as a possible back-to-back venue with the 1998 Siargao Surfing Cup which has just earned a 4A rating for the 1998 Australian Championship Circuit and to provide advise and experience to better Filipino surf contest management.

Realizing that 5- and 6-man heats in small wave conditions would cause many problems to the contest committee, Whittaker suggested a 4-man format mixing both foreign and Filipino surfers. Michael, Olin and Peter then went to prepare the new format seeding the top surfers in the different heats. With the new format, the contest could be finished in a day as it only required 6.5 hours of competition. The new format which followed international standards was presented to the surfers and all agreed that the original format be scrapped and the new format be adopted. As there were still 3.5 days for the competition, there was enough time to wait for better surf. "Two of our objectives are also to hold the competition in good surf and to enhance the skills of the Filipino surfer," said Michael.

Day 2:
By Day 2, Majestics was still underpowered. News of a super typhoon (with over 200kph winds) brewing in the Pacific brought anticipation for better surf in the next few days. With the tide situation, it was possible to surf 3 hours in the morning if started at 7am, and another 3 hours in the afternoon starting at 3pm. The competition was postponed for the next day.

It was at this time that Michael was getting pressure from the judges and some of the local participants. The seeding which was accepted the previous day was now questioned. As a result, new formats were suggested and a votation was held. It was finally agreed that the eliminations seeding be retained, but random seedings be done for the quarter and semi-final rounds.

After the meeting, Peter Whittaker, on behalf of Quiksilver Philippines, awarded to Martin Taniegra the brand new surfboard he had won as the highest placing Filipino surfer in the recently concluded 1997 Siargao Surfing Cup.

Day 3:
Majestics generated some mushy 2-3 foot storm surfs, not good enough but surfable. The first heat of the new format was started at 10:50am with the second heat starting at 11:12am. By this time, tide was down and succeeding heats were scheduled for the afternoon.

Typhoon Ivan was still hovering in the Pacific generating winds up to 200kph. But the surf had not yet reached Majestics as they said it would take a day before it gets to the Philippines.

At 2:48pm, the eliminations continued starting with Heat 3. Lele from Portugal dominated the heat with his long wave rides.

By heat 4 of the eliminations, the winds began to pick-up. The contest committee had to wait for Bongbong, one of the local Catanduanes surfers to get in line, before they started the heat.

By 4:41pm, the final heat of the elimination round was finished. Scores were tabulated and the quarterfinalists with the new heats were announced. Only 7 heats were needed to be run to complete the competition.

Day 4:
Typhoon Ivan's winds had arrived in full force. Majestics now showed its fury and was deemed dangerous to surf in. Some of the judges were nowhere to be found. Apparently, being familiar with Catanduanes surf, they had abandoned their post as judges and had already gone out for an early surf at Baras. They did not want to miss the typhoon surf. Contest Director Michael Guzman then decided to change the venue to Baras. Michael went to find a vehicle to transport the quarterfinalists to the new venue. By the time he was able to get a truck to bring the surfers to Baras, the tide had already come down, so it was decided that the quarterfinals will be held at Baras after lunch in time for the oncoming tide.

Things did not seem to go with Michael as the local government, still reeling from the 1995 typhoon Rosing devastation of the province, advised that surfers and guests of Puraran should be evacuated to Virac because of the coming super typhoon Ivan. And so it came to be that we all packed our bags and left for Virac at around 3pm.

In Virac, the visiting local surfers went for some good late afternoon surfing by the harbor. Michael then decided that the event will continue the following day with the surfing venue at Virac, capital of Catanduanes province. Logistic problems came about again as the judges and some of the surfers remained in Puraran. So it was decided later in the evening that the Puraran surfers and judges will be picked up from Puraran for the continuation of the competition in Virac.

Meantime, Typhoon Ivan had changed its direct course to the Philippines and had drastically veered north sparing Catanduanes and the country's northeastern provinces from its wrath. The weather began to clear up by nightfall.

Day 5:
Early in the morning Michael checked out Virac's surf and found it wanting. A new decision was made that all surfers be brought back to Puraran and the competition to continue at the Majestics.

The Virac surfers then headed back to Puraran at 9am. The quarterfinals was started at 2pm. By this time, Majestics was in peak form, generating powerful waves 3 to 5 feett high and forming huge, perfect hollow barrels.

In heat 4 of the quarterfinals, American Rene Jordan protested his 3rd-place position over local Catanduanes surfer Jovel Posada who was scored 2nd. This would have knocked Rene out of the competition. Upon deliberation by the contest committee, Rene won his protest ensuring him a position in the semi-finals and Jovel Posada got knocked out.

The contest committee was able to finish the semi-finals at 6:30pm. Dusk was fast coming making it difficult to see the surfer colors, so it was decided that the finals be moved to the next day.

In Heat 1 of the semi-finals, 1997 Aurora Cup Champion Edmund Mendoza filed a protest against his loss from Jason Posada and Pedro Valente. The contest committee upheld the judges' decision and Edmund was knocked out from the competition.

Day 6:
The start buzzer for the finals began at 7am. Wave conditions were excellent and many tube rides were made. After the finals, scores were tabulated and Joao Goncalvez from Portugal took 1st place, Australian Travis Pyle came in second, in 3rd position was Jason Posada of Catanduanes, while Pedro Valente of Portugal finished 4th.

Martin Taniegra, the pride of Surfing Catanduanes:
When Martin Taniegra left for Siargao, little did he know that he would make it to become the highest placing Filipino surfer of the 1997 Siargao International Surfing Cup by becoming the only local to make it to the event's semi-final round. This win earned 22-year-old Martin, the eldest of 6 children, P25,000 plus a brand-new surfboard from Quiksilver. "I started surfing when I was 8 years old," said Martin in Tagalog. "I surfed for 5 years straight and had a great time. At age 13 I went to Manila to find work. I only came back to Puraran a year ago. My first board was given to me by a tourist whom I helped out as a Boy Friday. He gave the board to me as a payment for the services and assistance I gave him."

Martin's first competition was in Daet last year where in he finished as over-all champion. "It was an all-Filipino competition. The 1997 Siargao Cup is my first international contest." When asked as how he managed his feat in Siargao, Martin answered, "I was just myself in Siargao. Indeed, the Siargao Cup is the most challenging surf contest I have ever attended. I enjoyed it so much, I did not feel like going home. In the beginning, my parents could not understand why I enjoyed surfing. With my wins in Daet and Siargao, they have begun to accept my love for surfing."

With the money he earned in Siargao, Martin who basically works as a farmer in Catanduanes bought 3 pigs. "I bought the pigs as an investment."

Looking back:
Majestics needs a good 2-3 ft swell with offshore winds to start working. Unfortunately, the absence of a tropical disturbance in the Pacific Ocean in the early days of the competition produced lack-luster waves which caused much of the delay in the contest. The news of the super typhoon was a major factor for the contest committee's decision to hold off the competition in anticipation of better waves. When the waves finally came on the last day, it reached heights of 15 to 20 feet making the surf very dangerous for the competitors. Only when the typhoon veered north that Majestics began to perform at its best. The only drawback of Majestics which is one of the fastest, hollowest right-hand barrels you'll find anywhere in the world -- apart from the reef -- is that it takes a lot to get the barrel working; and you can sit around waiting for a while, even in the right season, before it happens.

It is important that international standards of surfing competition be followed in Philippine surf contest management for our Filipino surfers to reach international surf levels. The choice of judges is also quite important to give credibility to the event.

In order to improve the competitive skills of the Filipino surfer, they have to be pitted against the better surfers which are mostly foreigners. Competitive Filipino surfers must also be made aware of the rules of international surfing, especially given an understanding of the importance of seedings, interferences, wave counts, and criteria for judges decisions on wave riding.

The first Governor's Amateur Invitational Surfing Competition was finally finished after 6 days and the event winners were named. Definitely, with the support of the provincial and local governments, plus of commercial sponsors such as Asian Spirit Airlines, Majestics is bound to be a popular leg in the Philippine Surfing Circuit. I would like to take this opportunity to thank Capt. Ivan Arcilla and Mr. Toy Guinan for inviting Action Asia Magazine to cover the event. To Contest Director Michael Guzman, keep up the hard work and hit the rulebook. To Dr. Joson and his lovely wife, thank you for your gracious hospitality.