26th April 2009, Monday – Tournament Day 1

Tournament participants had a wonderful first day. At 06:00 a.m. the teams went out at sea and came all back with great content. Nearly 14 fish close to and above 60 kg were landed. The largest catch of the day was a 76 kg Yellowfin from the team of Tolga Aydinol, Sükrü Akkan & Mete Toner. We estimate this fish to be a good contender for the Gordon’s Bay Offshore Classic Tournament. The only lady representative of the female contestants was Asude Gençtürk and despite the difficult ocean conditions, she managed to end the day with success. Whoever did not participate to the tournament did instead discover and enjoy the Waterfront and the Canal Walk sites…

27th April 2009, Tuesday, through 1st May 2009, Friday

Impervious weather conditions did not allow any boating or seagoing for the next few days in a row. Our contending anglers spent most of their time in Fishing Tackle Shops, Marine Equipment stores and Aquariums, thus still remaining in virtual contact with their main scope! Excursions were organized to Fairy Glen Nature Reserve and Cape Point through a couple of Wineries for the rest as well as the anglers, to distract the latter from the sorrow of being dry-docked.

Everybody had a good not to say wonderful (to be modest) time and were almost satisfied.

2nd May 2009, Saturday – Tournament Day 2

Finally the news had arrived the previous day that weather conditions had improved and Saturday was declared a fishing day and a tournament one. So everybody was up and armed again at 06:00 a.m. and off they went to the offshore grounds in search of a record catch.

The teams were shuffled dispersed on different boats (a decision taken to even the odds) and headed 40 nautical miles offshore. Again catch reports came flowing, with the most notable catches coming from Nurettin Hakyemez / Mithat Şiveliol Team scoring 11 Longfin (Albacore) of 10 to 27 kg, Murat Kocamaz on Haluk Soyuer’s team scoring two highly prized dolphin-fish (a not so frequent catch in those waters), and last but not least Murat Iyriboz and Bora Tekin landing a 77.8 kg yellowfin after a good hour and a half fight. A stubborn specimen and the largest of the Turkish teams. Almost all other teams got their share for the day.

The catches were quickly weighed and immediately transported to Gordon’s Bay for registration.

The Awards Ceremony was held at the Gordon’s Bay Angling Club facilities with all (about 45) teams present, and to our pleasant surprise the Turkish Teams managed to grab 5 out of the 14 total prizes awarded, and namely 4th, 5th, 6th, and 7th largest fishes, and the special prize for the unusual catch (dorado / dolphin-fish). Our South African group leader Sean Amor got even sympathetically castigated for bringing us there to snap their prizes.

We thereafter went back to our hotels, exhausted but satisfied, ready to face the next gathering in Alaçatı in October 2009, and who knows…..maybe next year again in Cape-Town.