Friday 16 February 2024

It was a chilly and rainy day in Struisbaai today and the boats certainly were not able to go out for a last attempt to catch a marin! But this meant that all were rested and ready for the Prize-Giving function,

First, the Tournament Director, Grant van der Westhuyzen, gave a vote of thanks to all who were involved in the smooth running of this competition. Mention was made of all the catering staff and bar ladies, the scoring committee, the weather committee, Andrew on radio, and of course all our amazing sponsors.

Then a few special awards were made.

Then the results of the Calcutta were announced and a 19.1kg Dorado was the heaviest fish caught

Special awards were presented to boats who have entered TOMT for many years in a row. Vleis Visagie’s Multi, Nuts Rupert’s Grace, Dudley Rosslee’s Dory, Mike Broderick’s Bad Co, and Iaan Viljoen’s Kinda’ Magic have all entered 10 years in a row. Rikus de Beer’s Marco Polo, Andrew van Zyl’s Gwaza, and Gawie Bruwer’s Indogo have entered 15 years in a row. Some of these anglers were not present but the ones who were are pictured below with the tournament director, Grant van der Westhuyzen.

It is not often that we see ladies participating in TOMT and this year we had three lovely girls among the crew. I have already mentioned Tammy from My Way but our other two are from the new entrant, Loslappie. We hope to see you back here, next year ladies.

Finally, the winners of the tournament were announced. Well done to all the crew of these boats. Catching a marlin requires team involvement and the glory goes to you all. Once again here are the links to the anglers’ stories.

Simon Hipkin

Jean van den Berg

Andrew Pawson

Nobody went home empty handed and each team received a bag of some awesome prizes which they collected at the end of the proceedings.

During the evening there was also another auction for club funds and a beautiful leather travelling bag and a scooter went for a song – or perhaps more than they would ordinarily have paid? But it was all for a very good cause!

Thus ends The Eighteenth Two Oceans Marlin Tournament. We hope to see you all again in 2025.