PARAW REGATTA

Paraw Regatta Festival or Iloilo Paraw Regatta Festival is an

 annual festival held in February in Arevalo, Iloilo City, Philippines.

 Its main event is a sailboat race in Iloilo Strait that features the

Paraw, a Visayan double outrigger sail boat. It is considered as

 the oldest traditional craft event in Asia, and the largest sailing

 event in the Philippines. It is one of Iloilo City's tourism events

along with the Dinagyang Festival, Kasadyahan Festival,

Chinese new year festival and La Candelaria festival.

The Paraw race course is a thirty-kilometer distance in the Iloilo Strait,

running up the coast of Panay and then down the coast of Guimaras,

 before returning to the finish at Villa Beach. The participating paraws

 are categorized based on the waterline length of the boat's body and

 further classified according to their sails as "unpainted" or "painted",

wherein the sails are used as canvas for artwork and colorful designs.

The Iloilo Paraw Regatta has grown from a half-day sailboat race into the

 multi-event festival that it is now.

The Paraw regatta is a race among seafarers on colorful

 sailboats called Paraws in the straits between Guimaras

 Island and the city of Iloilo. From a simple boat race,

it transforms into a festival of various activities.

Now on its 39th year, the Iloilo Paraw Regatta is the oldest

traditional craft event in Asia, and the largest sailing event in

the Philippines. The Iloilo Paraw Regatta Foundation currently

 organizes the activities, with leading support from the

Iloilo City and Provincial Governments and the Department

 of Tourism, along with private sector donations.

Activities have been expanded to spread over a week. On

the Saturday of the climactic weekend there is slalom racing

on a course by the beach to facilitate crowd participation.

On the Sunday, the thirty-kilometer distance race is sailed

on a course in the Iloilo Strait, running up the coast of Panay

and then down the coast of Guimaras, before returning to the

 finish at Villa Beach. Participant exposure to the events is in

the tens of thousands.

The geophysical shape of the Iloilo Strait provides year

 round breezes. Thus the working sailboat still predominates.

 In these times of high fuel costs, and polluting oil spills, one

 can appreciate the simple ecology of the traditional paraw.

 Nevertheless, the skills needed to sail are far more complex.

The objective of the Regatta is to celebrate the skills of the

paraw sailors, and bring a fiesta spirit into their lives. And

with the colorful painted sails, this spirit is brought into the

 lives of participants and tourists as well.