Siouxsie Anne, Bacardi Among Tops at 51st Annual Intl Billfish Tourney
Anglers aboard the Puerto Rican yacht, Siouxsie Anne, released four blue marlin for 1800 points to win the 51st annual International Billfish Tournament, held out of Club Nautico de San Juan in Puerto Rico from August 15-22.
"We had great weather
and the fishing was excellent," said Mickey Tirado, chairman of the
tournament in which 289 anglers competed aboard 78 boats.
Jennifer Bacardí, who traveled to the tournament from Miami, Florida, aboard
her family’s yacht, Rum Bum, won Best International Angler and Best Lady
Angler. Bacardí, who regularly competes in tournaments around the world, beat
out Americans Marc Waldron and Isidro Huertas for this honor.
The prestigious International Cup, which carries with it a coveted berth in the
Rolex IGFA International Tournament at Cabo San Lucas, Mexico, in May 2005, was
won by the team of Club Náutico de San Juan. Anglers on the winning team were
Alfonso Díaz, Jr., René de la Cruz and Wilson Colberg with a combined total of
1,400 points.
Last year, the tournament
progressed to an "all-release" event. This meant that not a single
billfish was boated during the competition.
In this "all-release" event, the Best Angler award went to Rafael
Castro from Ponce, Puerto Rico, who also won the Interclub Team trophy with
2,000 points.Puerto Rican anglers
Joaquín Acevedo and Luis M. Sánchez finished as second and third place anglers,
respectively.
The boats Implante (1,500 points), Reflejos (1,500 points), Davis 61 (1,500)
and Rum Bum (1,400), finished second through fifth, respectively, behind
Siouxsie Anne.
Cash prizes, awarded as an
incentive to the captains of the first three winning boats, went to Ricardo
Ramos (Siouxsie Anne), Domingo Ubieras (Implante) and Alex Jiménez (Reflejos).
Tirado said 75 blue marlin total were released during the four fishing days.
Representatives of the International Game Fishing Association (IGFA), the
governing organization of world game fishing, and The Billfish Foundation, the
organization responsible for the preservation of the species, also participated
in the event, as well as renowned marine artist, Dr. Guy Harvey.
Anglers from Ecuador, Guatemala, France, Bermuda, the Dominican Republic, U.S.
Virgin Islands, United States, and Puerto Rico competed in this longest
consecutively held big game fishing tournament in the world.
