| Sailfish Kickoff: Dec. 11-14, 2008 - Coconut Grove, FL 2007 Results: The Sailfish Season Kicks Off in a Big Way! December 10, 2007 Miami, Florida - Seventy-four teams tested their fishing skills against one another during the 2007 FYI Sailfish Kickoff presented by Riviera Yachts. All the talk dockside was about the great turnout for this fourth annual event and all the new and reshuffled teams. In total, the teams battled for over $200,000.00 in cash prizes. This year’s FYI Sailfish Kickoff not only kicked off the beginning of the South Florida tournament season, but it also marks the start of a new era; the no-observer era. This past year predicted many changes in the tournament world. Most notable is the change from an observer-based verification system to a camera-based system. This change was met with some resistance and since the Sailfish Kickoff is the first major tournament to make this move, it was a true “trial by fire.” Overall the new system was well-received. It was implemented with no issues and the fish were all verifiable using the camera procedure. “I was ready to D.Q. [disqualify] some fish,” commented tournament radioman Dan Kipnis. “I was happily surprised that the teams did very well with their photos… excellent actually.” The first day of fishing saw sporadic action totaling 82 releases with a surge late in the day. Things heated up for the afternoon bite as several teams reported multiple hook ups. Two teams battled it out atop the leaderboard, but by the end of the day “Wound Up” kept his edge on time with 1200 points. Almost tied for first place is “Miss Britt II” also with 1200 points. Third place is “Sonny Boy” with 800 points. Nine boats were tied with 600 points. The second day’s fishing was greatly improved with 135 releases. By mid-day it was anyone’s game. The “Miss Britt II” captained by Brett Wilson took the early lead, but kept swapping places with “Sandman,” “Wound Up,” and newcomer “RockStar.” These four boats swapped the lead eight times during the day. As the day grew to a close, the “Miss Britt II” edged out ahead of the pack and ended up winning $ 48,285.00 with a total of 12 sailfish releases. The other teams in the pack each ended up with 10 sailfish. The three-way tie was broken by their release times. The final order was “Sandman” with $70,585 in winnings, “Wound Up” with $20,045 in winnings, and “Rock Star” with $6,985.00. Top Amateur Team honors went to “Team Brickell GMC” with a total of 3 releases and a $5,000.00 check. Rounding out the Amateur Division was “Lost Boys” in second and “Perfect Finish” in third. Top Female Angler Sandra Kirkpatrick fished on the “Sandman” with her three releases. The Top Junior Angler was Nicloe Portuondo on Bonadeo Boat Works. The team at Ocean Promotions has been running this event for four years. In that time, it has grown to be one of the most prestigious tournaments in fishing. It is also leading the way with technological advances in fishing. The Sailfish Kickoff and its sister tournament the Mayor’s Cup, employ a cutting edge electronic scoring and leaderboard system. Along with that, the radio calls and events are live video streamed during the tournaments. The FYI Sailfish Kickoff marks the beginning of the South Florida tournament circuit. The next tournament, the Mayor’s Cup is the second half of the Dewar’s 12 Billfish Championship Series. For full standings and photos, please visit www.sailfishkickoff.com. For information on other events and an interactive tournament calendar, check out www.OceanPromotions.com.
|
|||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||