Iloilo Paraw Regatta 2015 Schedule of Activities

The Iloilo Paraw Regatta Festival is an annual festival held in February in Arevalo, Iloilo City, Philippines. Now on its 39th year, its main event is a sailboat race in Iloilo Strait that features the Paraw, a Visayan double outrigger sail boat. It is 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 Fiesta.

The Paraw race course is a thirty kilometers long 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. Participating paraws are categorized based on the waterline length of the boat and further classified according to their sails as "unpainted" or "painted". The sails are painted with colorful designs.

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. The Iloilo Paraw Regatta has grown from a half-day sailboat race into the multi-event festival that it is now.

Here are the detailed schedule of activities and events of Iloilo Paraw Regatta 2015 below.

Source: Iloilo Paraw Regatta

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