Portrait
If outrigger canoeing returns to the Philippines as a living culture, it will be substantially one man's fault. Buzzy Budlong has been paddling Cebu's waters since 1998 and building the boats himself since 1999.
He came to the water through the I Love The Ocean movement and the Coastal Resources Management Program — weekends paddling after work, until the weekends won. In 2009 he set out on the expedition that defines him: 88 days, Sarangani to Pagudpud, paddling the length of the Philippines. "That was when I confirmed just how beautiful our country is, how beautiful our coastlines are, our culture."
In 2002 he built Island Buzz — a café in the middle of Cebu City that felt like a Hawaiian coastline, paddle craft hung on the walls — and later Island Buzz tours. In 2016 he began fabricating the OC6, the six-man outrigger: a boat you can take your ohana in, faster to learn, made for bringing people along rather than racing alone.
"Being a paddler, you're like a bird or a drone. You appreciate the beauty of the land." — Buzzy Budlong
With Janus Migalbin and Faye Jimera he founded the Philippine Outrigger Canoe Club, and in 2021 led the 227 km Paddle Forward expedition around Cebu — which Budots Media documented from the air. His stated mission: make Cebu the paddling capital of the Philippines. "The bigger the canoe, the bigger the dream."
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