1. The Race

2. History

3. Sports and Social Club “Juvenil”

4. Winners of the Guayaquil – Vinces Regatta

5. References

The Guayaquil - Vinces Regatta is an outboard speedboat marathon that takes place annually in Ecuador, from the city of Guayaquil to Vinces. The contest is a 63.4-mile route that runs exclusively with STOCK OUTBOARDS in the popular class C Stock Runabout (CSR) with speeds between 55-65 MPH. Full of anecdotes and incredible experiences, this nautical competition has been carried out every year since 1957 on the fourth Sunday of March. The race is organized by the Sports and Social Club “Juvenil” de Vinces. The supply area (pits) and the starting line are at the "Guayaquil Yacht Club" on the Malecón 2000, in the city of Guayaquil. The boats race on the Guayas, Babahoyo and Vinces rivers until they reach the city of Vinces, where the competition ends.

The founder of the regatta was Rogelio Jordán Rodríguez, and the Guayaquileno Ernesto Estrada Icaza won the first race that was held in 1957.

The Race

The 63.4-mile course starts at the height of the Yacht Club on the Guayas River and runs east approximately 2.5 miles to the mouth of the Babahoyo River at the height of the city of Durán.

The race then continues along the Babahoyo River for 23.25 miles, passing through the eastern side of Mocolí Island, crossing the Los Angeles loop, the Alterno-Norte bridge, and continuing along the Babahoyo River until it reaches the city of Samborondón where 1.8 miles ahead it enters the Vinces River along the North-West shore.

Following the Vinces River, the course covers approximately 37.75 miles. It passes through Urvina Jado (Salitre) and 5.25 miles ahead takes the north side towards General Vernaza, then Antonio Sotomayor (Playas de Vinces) until it reaches the finish line in the city of Vinces at the height of the Sports and Social Club "Juvenil".

This race is full of obstacles, and has the added danger of electrical cables that cross from one side of the river to another without the respective control, endangering the boats and their drivers (especially in winter). Important factors that affect who crosses the finish line first is the expertise and knowledge of the drivers, and the condition of the speedboats and their engines.

History

In the early 1950s, the founder and president of the Guayaquil Nautical Motor Company, Rogelio Jordán Rodríguez, had the opportunity to watch motorboat races in Peru and Chile and soon he began to organize similar races in Ecuador. Beginning in 1955, he organized the Guayaquil - Posorja Regattas and then the Guayaquil – Daule Regattas as well as regattas around the Peninsula and the Santa Ana Island.

Jordán decided to organize the first competition of motor boats from Guayaquil to Vinces in 1957, in honor of the XII anniversary of the Circle of Sports Journalists of Ecuador. For this purpose, he presented a proposal of the competition to Hugo and Primitivo Yela Ubilla, two brothers who acted as president of the Cantonal Sports League and president of the Cantonal Council of Vinces, respectively. The Yela Ubilla brothers accepted the proposal and decided to form a reception committee.

The committee was formed with the following leaders: President, Roberto Mosquera Gutiérrez (Senator of Los Ríos); Vice President, Gonzalo Ubilla Morán; Secretary, Selby Elizalde Cabello; Treasurer, Hugo Yela Ubilla and other members: Dr. Remigio Yagual Laínez, Aurelio Mosquera Campos, Adriano Ubilla Mendoza, and Miguel Tapia Muñoz. The committee received support from various institutions and personalities of the region. the Sports and Social Club "Juvenil", presided by Augusto Nivela Cáceres and his secretary Gonzalo Ubilla Morán, kindly gave up the new facilities (which were about to be inaugurated) for the reception.

Once the committee was formed, Jordán was responsible for the organization and technical part of the competition, achieving the registration of 18 runners (with their respective co-drivers) from Vinces, Urvina Jado (Salitre), Samborondón, Puebloviejo, Babahoyo, Jujan and Guayaquil.

At 9:30 am on February 17, Rogelio Jordán lowered the flag as a starting signal to begin the first regatta before thousands of spectators who had gathered at the Simón Bolívar boardwalk. The challenge was to cover the 63 miles that separates Guayaquil with Vinces. Of the 11 boats that made it to the finish line, 8 finished the race within the regulation time (30 minutes after the arrival of the first boat). Ernesto Estrada Icaza and his co-driver José Urbina, using a boat with a 35 HP engine, inscribed their names as the first winners of the race, with a time of 2h 12m; second place went to Tomás Ángel Carbo and Eduardo Cruz, who crossed the finish 1 minute later; and third place was for the popular "loco" Ernesto Ayala accompanied by his co-pilot Ítalo Montalván Triviño.

Prior to the awards ceremony, a competition took place to elect Miss Geniality from among a group of beautiful women from Vinceñas. Italia de Salti Salti and Yoya Sanchez Mosquera were the two finalists. Miss Yoya Sánchez, a student of the public school Diez de Agosto, was crowned queen by Primitivo Yela Ubilla, President of the Council of Vinces. The success of this first competition led Rogelio Jordán and the Cantonal Sports League of Vinces, (chaired by Hugo Yela Ubilla) to repeat similar races until 1960. Since 1961 the regattas have been organized by the Sports and Social Club “Juvenil”.

Sports and Social Club “Juvenil”

This emblematic institution vinceña, organizer of the traditional regatta Guayaquil –Vinces, was founded on October 13, 1945, under the initiative of Father Eliecer Fiallos who brought together young people including: Augusto Nivela, Justo Quinto, Simón Muñoz, Gustavo Morán, Roberto Yela. Alfonso Mesías, Alejandro Villamarín, Ignacio Vera, Arístides Pinto, Sucre Carcelén, Víctor Hugo Jurado, Leonardo Álava, Antonio Ricaurte A., Santiago Pérez Palacios, Hugo Quinto, Alfonso Montalván and Gonzalo Ubilla Morán.

Although the club has sponsored various sports activities over the years, there are four activities in particular for which it has stood out: The outboard racing (with the realization of the traditional regatta Guayaquil - Vinces), the National Men's Basketball League of Ecuador (current champion), table tennis, and soccer. Currently presided over by Eduardo Ubilla Bustamante.

Winners of the Guayaquil – Vinces Regatta

Leopoldo Rugel Martínez became the Grand Champion of all times by winning the regatta on 9 different occasions (1971, 1973, 1976, 1978, 1979, 1981, 1990, 1992 and 1994) and 11 races in his category (1959 and 1960).

The balzareño Eloy Mueckay Villarreal is the only driver with a three-time championship title for races he won in three consecutive years - 1999, 2000 and 2001.

Felipe Adell Andrade, the pilot from Vinces, holds the current record with a time of 1:02:30 (Regatta Guayaquil - Vinces 2010).

On two separate occasions fathers and sons have shared first place on the podium: Leopoldo Rugel Martínez and Enrique Rugel Valle in 1994, and Nelson Campozano Fischer and Brian Campozano Iñiguez in 1997.

On Sunday March 12, 1972, thousands of fans cheered on the boardwalk of Vinces for Maritza Cabello, the first lady to venture into this risky and difficult sport. The sport requires boldness, control of a machine, and a lot of cold blood to get around the obstacles that arise along the route. Maritza arrived in fifth place, beating many experienced riders, with a time of 2h. 08m (the winner was Carlos Botero who arrived in 1h 53m 18s). She raced in the boat of Polo Avilés and broke the taboo about sex. Other females that have since joined Maritza in this sport are Olga de Moreno and Rosita Sotomayor. Rosita competed in national tournaments since 2007.

In 2006, Darrel Sorensen from Region 11 of the APBA came to Ecuador as part of the West Coast USA team, along with Ric Montoya (Region 10) and Bob Williams (Region 12) to participate in the 50th Guayaquil – Vinces Regatta. Unfortunately, the American team was unable to reach the finish line and this time the triumph belonged to a Vinceños pilot César Patiño.

In 2010, the Vinceños: Felipe Adell Andrade, Cristián Salazar Nivela and Joaquín Morán Falquez placed first, second, and third with times that broke the former record.

In 2011, American riders Jeff Yungen from Region 7 of the A.P.B.A., and the American champion Joshua Pearson (winner of 10 National Championships and 19 High Point Championships since 1992) from region 6, participated as members of the US team, becoming the first foreigners to complete the race and make it to the finish line. Pearson placed second just 3 seconds behind the winner and Yungen placed tenth out of a total of 31 participants. Once again César Patiño won the international class competition.

Jeff Yungen also participated in the 2012 regatta, but he was forced to abandon the competition after half an hour when ground level water began filtering into his boat through a hole in its hull.

In 2013, the American driver Joshua Pearson stood on the podium to receive recognition for placing third in an extraordinary race of the nautical competition.

There are many families that traditionally compete in this extreme sport. The Campozano family stands out, with the participation of: Nelson and Pedro Campozano Gilbert (Leader), Nelson and Carlos Campozano Fischer, Julio and Víctor Campozano del Hierro, Brian Campozano Iñiguez and Nelson Sotomayor Campozano. Other families are the Yela, Estrada, Echanique, Rugel, and Montalván families.

The Ching family had more participants in the competition in 2015. It counted with the participation of the popular Gerardo "Chaperoco" Ching Nivela (the preferred racer of children), Segundo Ching Nivela, Gerardo Ching Jr. and Fabián Ching.

The increasing popularity of this competition in recent years can be noted by the considerable increase in the number of participants. In 1969, only four pilots left for Vinces and in 2015 the total number of competitors in the regatta rose to 48.

References

• Keio Dobutsuen Line
• Keio Electric Railway
• Keio Flying Squadron Video Game Series
• Kei Ogla
• Kei Ogura
• Keio Hachioji Station
• Keio Inogashira Line
• Keio Line
• Keio New Line
• Keio Reform
• Kei Orihara
• Keios
• Keio Sagamihara Line
• Keio Takao Line
• Keio Tama-Center Station
• Keio Tama Center Station
• Keio-Tama-Center Station
• Keio University Eliica
• Keiper
• Keiper Belt
• Keipi
• Keir
• Keira
• Keira Chaplin
• Keira Christina Knightley