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Water sports ad venture in Camarines Sur

Text and photos by Michael Kho Lim, Contributor

07/24/2008

The landscape of Camarines Sur has changed since the establishment of the CamSur Watersports Complex at the provincial capitol in Cadlan, Pili, in 2006. CWC is a first world-class water sports complex in the country and in Asia. It is a six-hectare complex that aims to bring cable skiing to a whole new level and attract water sports enthusiasts from all over the world with its world-class facilities and laid-back environment.

CamSur Watersports Complex

CWC is the brainchild of incumbent governor Luis Raymund “LRay” Villafuerte Jr. The story of CWC has a simple beginning. In January 2006, his eldest son, Miguel Villafuerte, was researching about wakeboarding on the Internet. Being so curious and interested about this sport, he asked his father to buy him a board and later on a personal watercraft or more commonly known as jet ski. Soon enough, Governor Villafuerte and his three other children also got hooked to wakeboarding.

On the other hand, Villafuerte had also been looking for ways to boost the economic enterprise and tourism in his province since he was elected governor in 2004. After wakeboarding for less than a month, he thought that Miguel found the answer to his search. Since then, the governor started researching about wakeboarding and began traveling to the United States, Germany and Singapore to check out the wake parks there. Then, on May 31, 2006, almost six months after Villafuerte tried out the sport, the CWC opened for business. He said, “With CWC, my goal is to make our province the Disneyland of action sports.” It was also Villafuerte’s idea to shorten the name of Camarines Sur to a catchier name with stronger recall, CamSur.

Since CWC started operation, Camarines Sur has attracted a lot of tourists, and beginner and professional wakeboarders and skiers from all over the world. One of CWC’s salient features is its six-point cable system technology that comes from Germany, as compared to cable parks in other countries that only provide a four-point cable system. This is the first and only world-caliber cable park in Asia today. CWC’s 4.5-hectare cable lake has six towers (three at each end) that keep the cable above the rider’s head and the tension in the wire, such that the rider doesn’t get much sway or slack and thereby providing more stability to the rider.

The cable park also has a small island in the middle of the lake to ensure that there are no rollers from people riding on the other side and provides a very nice view for spectators or resting riders seated at the island while drinking their favorite cocktails. The obstacles (rails and kickers, wall rides, A-frames, fun box) set out around the course differ from time to time to offer a variety of challenges. If the rider still cannot get enough action on the cable and behind the boat, one can also go to the new winch park designed by rail builder Pat Panakos from the world famous Projects Camp in Florida.

The cable park is also equipped with spotlights, so riders can still enjoy their favorite water sports at night until 9:30 p.m. And because of the good weather and water conditions, cable skiing can be done all year round. This is what makes wakeboarders from USA, Europe, Scandinavia, Australia and other parts of Asia come to CWC. Moreover, the rates at CWC are also very affordable that even the local residents can enjoy these water sports activities. For example, the hourly rate for the use of facilities is just P125 or US$3 as compared to other countries’ wake parks that charge around US$20 per hour. Indeed, it’s the best and the most affordable wake park in the world.

The safety of the riders is also not a problem since the park strictly enforces the use of safety gears and clothing. No one is allowed to ride without his/her life vest and safety helmet. There are also lifeguards on standby around the park. The water level of the manmade lake is also not very deep, and the water is treated with chlorine (to kill the bacteria) and with copper sulfate (to maintain the greenish color of the lake).

Different water sports activities

CWC is not just designed for wakeboarding. It can also accommodate people who are into water skiing, cable skiing, knee boarding and wake skating. Wakeboarding is a combination of water skiing, snow boarding and surfing techniques. The only difference is that instead of using skis, the rider rides on a board with stationary built-in shoes that are positioned sideways for each foot. On the other hand, in water skiing, the rider is pulled along by a rope with a handle fitted at one end and the other attached to a powerboat.

Knee boarding is usually what beginner riders do before trying out wakeboarding. This is because the rider is towed on a buoyant, convex and hydrodynamically-shaped board behind a motorboat or cable. Knee boarding usually has an easier learning curve and does not require much effort to have fun.

Wake skating is usually carried out by more experienced riders. It is a bit more difficult than wakeboarding because the rider is not bound to the board and is free to perform stunts similar to that of skateboarding.

Cable skiing, as the name implies, makes use of specifically designed pylons where the skier is pulled by an overhead cable suspended eight to12 meters above the water surface. The cables travel continuously clockwise around the lake and are powered by a variable speed electric motor at speeds ranging from 20 to 65 kilometers per hour.

Wake park championship

The concept of cable parks has led to the development of different water sports and recreation areas around the globe. This has also made many sports enthusiasts and spectators integrate this sports adventure into their lifestyle. Since CWC opened three years ago, it has already become the venue of the first three wakeboarding national championships. It has also hosted the first Asian Wake Park Championship last March as one of the highlights of the 2008 Kaogma (happiness) Festival, a provincial feast celebrated in commemoration of the foundation anniversary of Camarines Sur as a province, now on its 429th year.

This year, CWC is proud to host the 2008 World Wakeboard Association (WWA) Wake Park World Championships. This is also the first time that an Asian country is hosting the world wakeboarding championship. The world championship is a bi-annual event open to all international riders in 17 divisions with prizes ranging from sponsor prize packs to as high as $5,000 for the best pro men rider and a total of US$50,000 prize purse. Together with the recently concluded Wake Park World Championships was the CamSur’s Riders Cup, a boat-drawn wakeboarding competition that was held at the newly opened boat lake just adjacent to the cable park, where the grand winner won $7,000. This big event saw the participation of over 300 riders from at least 35 countries around the world.

The cable park has a total of 12 obstacles designed by Pat Panakos and offers a variety of difficulty levels from beginners to professionals. Panakos made sure that the spacing from one course to another is correct and comfortable enough for the participants but still providing the challenge for them. “The transition from one rail to another,” he added, “is also smooth and safe.” Panakos included one of the more technical and difficult obstacles to hit called the “step up-step down.”

On the other hand, the rider from Bulgaria, Emil Tzolov, said that it is “Bernhard’s KGB 5.” That’s the most difficult trick to do. This trick is a flip with a 540-degree rotation to the blind side. Tzolov has been wakeboarding for seven years now and landed sixth in the pro men’s division. The Bernhard trick he was referring to is Bernhard Hinterberger’s own trick creation. Hinterberger hails from Germany and is a three-time world champion.

There are five elements that the judges look for in terms of judging a rider’s performance. One of the judges, Bruce Robson, WWA Australia president, based his decision on the following: difficulty of trick, risk of trick, intensity, variety and execution. Robson also explained that there are really no compulsory moves. “We are looking for the rider’s proficiency in all areas: tricks done off the water or air tricks, those done on the obstacle course, and the composition or mixture of tricks in different styles.”

Hungarian rider, Kinga Horva’th, added, “It’s all about technique and optical judgment. The look has to be good. One needs to find a good composition and learn tricks that will make him or her land pretty well on water. More importantly, one needs a strong soul.” Horva’th has been wakeboarding for 10 years now and landed fifth in the pro women’s division.

“The rider must not have any fixed run in the head,” Robson continued. “One must be able to focus and should also know how to fix his or her mistakes in case the rider commits one, or just move on to doing another trick.”

All the judges have their own way of evaluating the rider, and Robson ended by saying, “This is really subjective judging.”

This year’s championship is considered to be one of the biggest international wakeboarding competitions to date in the world. It’s the first time that one event has brought together cable and boat wakeboarding, wake skating and many others into one venue. Shannon Starling, WWA president, agreed that something like this has never happened in the history of wakeboarding. “The next host of this event will surely have a difficultly topping this unless CamSur would be the one doing this again next time,” Starling said smilingly.

With almost all the riders and guests saying that CWC is the best spot for wakeboarding, Villafuerte is very delighted. “I’ve shown the world that CamSur can hold a true world-class water sports competition,” he said. Add to this the fact that he won third place in the wakeboarding veterans division, and one of his sons, Luigi, placing fifth in the boys (10 to 13 years old) division. The governor could not be any happier. Villafuerte is also the president of the Philippine Waterski and Wakeboarding Federation.

Effect on tourism

Department of Tourism (DoT) Secretary Ace Durano was also very happy with the successful outcome of the event. He said that it has truly promoted DoT’s campaign of adventure tourism in the country. “While we are very proud of our beaches and other natural sites,” he said, “we want to show the international

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community that there are a lot of other activities to do here in the Philippines.” Indeed, with CWC having the reputation of being the best cable park in the world, and Camarines Sur being dubbed as the wakeboarding capital of the Philippines if not in Asia, Camarines Sur has become the number one province in terms of tourist arrivals in the region, beating the provinces of Albay and Masbate. Maria “Nini” Ravanilla, Department of Tourism (DoT) regional director in Bicol, reported that prior to the creation of CWC, “Bicol only ranked nine among the 15 regions in the country.” But Bicol became number seven in 2006, and it ranked sixth in 2007 in terms of tourist arrivals, beating Davao and Cagayan. Just counting the first quarter of this year, local and foreign tourists already totaled to more than 250,000 persons, which is almost a 50 percent increase as compared to the first quarter of 2007. “CWC has indeed contributed a lot to the region’s tourism,” Ravanilla asserted. “It even generated a lot of employment and revenue for the local government.” In 2007, Camarines Sur has provided more than 300,000 jobs to its people, and has grossed almost 500 million pesos in revenue. Other features of CWC Even if Camarines Sur is already doing well in the region, Villafuerte is still continuously developing CWC to make it a water sports spectacle. From just having a cable park and boat lake, CWC now has a skate park, bike/BMX dirt park, motocross track, two Flowrider wave machines, ATV course, basketball court beach volleyball court, and game rooms. Villfuerte has also converted his family’s nearby mansion into a 25-room hotel, built 50 modern lakeside/beach cabanas and added 12 spacious luxury villas and suites that are all equipped with cable-ready 29-inch TV sets, air-conditioning, hot/cold showers and Jacuzzis. All accommodations are classy yet very affordable, and are within walking distance from the park. Other facilities include free wireless fidelity (WiFi) system, a clubhouse, sports shop, game hall, restaurants, guest lounges, swimming pools, sand bars, spas, pro shops and grandstands to hold guests. There are also about 10 massage cabanas offering daily massages. Right now, there are 115 rooms rented out to guests, but because of the growing number of visitors at CWC, Villafuete is planning to have an additional 150 rooms built in three months’ time. “There is really no peak season in CWC,” he shared. “Every week is a peak season.” The amazing success of CWC in a short span of time is mainly attributed to word of mouth, blog sites on the net, and its Web site, www.camsurwatersportscomplex.com, that gets 5,000 hits everyday. Other future plans of Villafuerte for Camarines Sur include the building of the longest downhill mountain bike course in the world. Right now, he’s in the process of etching trails into the face of nearby Mount Isarog. CWC is now believed to be the water sports Mecca of Asia and said to set the future of wakeboard parks in the world. Besides trying out the different water sports offered by CWC, no trip to CamSur is ever complete without bathing at the waterfalls and hot springs, going on a trek at the forest reserve of Mount Isarog, climbing some of the province’s massive limestone formations, island hopping and swimming in the white sand beaches, and many more. So whether one just wants to commune with and experience the beauty of nature or desires to discover some hidden treasures and learn the richness of Bicolano culture, or just intends to go on a water sport adventure, consider Camarines Sur as one of the top choices. Camarines Sur is just a 35- to 45-minute plane ride or an eight-hour bus ride from Manila.