Expedition — June 2021
On the 123rd Independence Day of the Philippines, three pickups, one six-man zero-fuel outrigger canoe and a land-and-water crew set off from Cebu South Road Properties for five days of paddling. 227 kilometers later they emerged in Moalboal. Budots Media flew the drones.
Long-distance ocean paddling is unheard of in the Philippines — ironic for a country where water should be a highway, not a divider. Fisherfolk waved at the passing canoe shouting "paspasa sa dragon boat!" — the closest craft they knew. It is not a dragon boat. It is an OC6, fabricated in Cebu by the Philippine Outrigger Canoe Club's founders Buzzy Budlong, Janus Migalbin and Faye Jimera.
The crew — dragon boat paddlers, triathletes, a 16-year-old — covered up to 60 km a day in 15 km relay legs, through heavy rain, zero-visibility legs and a tailing tropical depression, relying on wind, tide and each other.
"I will show them that Filipinos have more dignity, more courage, more honor." — the Luna line the organizers carried in their heads.
The expedition doubled as advocacy: for coastal communities flattened by the pandemic, for marine sanctuaries, and for Cebu as the future paddling capital of the Philippines. Kids on the shore shouted "We want to bugsay!" — we want to paddle.
All expedition photography by Budots Media. Story originally told with Atlas — read the full interview.
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