MONTEGO BAY YACHT CLUB

RECAP OF THE 56th MBYC INTERNATIONAL MARLIN TOURNAMENT

September 21st - 23rd, 2016

 

Once again this year, the last week of September saw the start of the 55th Montego Bay Yacht Club Marlin Tournament which, in the last 2 years, has launched to the top and become recognized by all as the pre-eminent tournament event in the island. We are pleased extend our thanks, once again, to our presenting headline sponsors, Digicel Business and Appleton Estate Rum. Not only did Appleton Estate lend their wonderful spirit to all aspects of the event, but Digicel Business also took the time to install a truly amazing hi-speed Internet service to the docks and club-house for the week of the tournament.

Demand for the event continues to grow, with up to 48 teams requesting space on the dock for the week of fishing – in the end, sadly, not all could be accommodated, due to space.

However, on September 21st, right on time at 7:30am, it was a beautiful sight to see the 37 competing boats gun their engines and head for the horizon at the starter flare, fired by Commodore Nigel Knowles. Weather conditions were lovely, and some boats found it hard to resist stopping for a swim at the end of the day, before returning to the club.

After an 18 year absence, we were thrilled to welcome Dr. Guy Harvey back to the MBYC docks for this year’s running of the event, having apparently been very pleased at the recent overhaul and turnaround of the event. Guy and his family fished on Oh Reely, and he also brought along his videographer to record some of the event. The day before, Guy also gave an excellent presentation to the competitors and the crowds present, on the very latest research and knowledge on conservation and tracking of gamefish such as Marlin.

We would also like to extend a special thank you to Guy Harvey for his very generous sponsorship of the tournament fishing shirts this year, which are without doubt the finest shirts we have handed out to our visiting teams to date! Also taking the time to check out our event this year was the editor-in-chief of Marlin Magazine, Mr Andrew Cox – who’s coverage you can see in their January issue, which hit the newsstands last week. Also in attendance was Mr Bill Boyce, a figurehead of sport fishing television, who you can readily search for online, and who is producing video coverage of the event.

The fishing shirts weren’t the only thing that was tops again this year. Those who managed to see or experience part of the event would have noticed that the production values and execution quality were the highest in the history of this important MBYC tournament, thanks to our new partnership with Main Event Entertainment Group Ltd. The quality showed at every turn, with LED screens above the docks, behind the stage, and even at the beach, as well as bespoke tents and seating at the awards ceremony.

Most importantly, despite this level of execution, we were still able to reduce the spend on many parts of the execution of the event, resulting in a significant profit to the club this year, the best that I personally know of to date. We look forward to continuing this trend in the future.

The fishing was a bit slower this year than for the last two years – I guess you can’t have a record catch every year, or they wouldn’t call it fishing! 16 Marlin were scored, 15 of which were releases, and 1 of which was brought to the scales. Once again though, we had a significant number of visiting boats from both Cayman and Kingston, and our Haitian friends flew via Miami especially for the event, and fished with Fair Prospect, after their boat Jwilavi, became unavailable for the event. That’s dedication!

The winning team this year was Trading Time from Cayman, with 800 Points and two Blue Marlin releases. This was their second consecutive year of participating in the MBYC tournament. Second place was secured by Insatiable, also with 800 points, and third place was filled by Stew Fish II, who also brought in one of their Marlin, which won heaviest Marlin at 372 pounds.
This year, we made a change to recognize the top ten teams by Marlin points, and full details of these winners, as well as all the other prizes awarded for the other tournament categories, can be found on the club’s new website for the tournament, which launches this week at www.MoBayMarlin.com

We’d like to extend our special thanks to the Associate sponsors who, along with our headline sponsors Digicel Business and Appleton Estate, contributed significant support in financial, product and logistical terms, to make the event a success this year. They are: BMW, Caribbean Airlines, FFK Insurance, JPS (who kindly connected our new power transformer for the docks), Main Event Entertainment, NCB Capital Markets, Sandals Resorts, Secrets Resorts, and Yamaha Jamaica (who provided a nice new engine for the MBYC club boat).

Other supporting sponsors include Fontana Pharmacy, KFC (who also provided meals for the canoe fishermen), Megamart, Phase 3 (who streamed the prize giving live on Facebook), and Nirvana Magazine (who, along with help from Capin Alexander-Knipp, also built the new tournament website, and is now producing the tournament magazine).

And, of course, while it is impossible to name everyone personally, I would be remiss if I did not recognize and show great appreciation for everyone that played a part and helped make the tournament great! From the dedicated staff at the club, to the members and the committee, with special mentions to Heather, Zeirain, Dawson, Denise, Cathy Charley and Bryan Langford. In addition, we are truly grateful for those who volunteered their time and flew in from Trinidad and Cayman to help execute the event: Current and former heads of the TTGFA, Marylin Sheppard, and Reginald and Brenda Mac Lean, as well as, from Cayman, Donna Sjostrom.

We look forward to you enjoying the event again next year, and to maintaining the momentum in making this the best event of its kind, as well as a continuing positive contribution to the club.
 

Very best regards,

Bobby Stewart

MBYC Marlin Tournament Committee Chairman

 

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