Saturday 10 February 2024
Today marked the start of the Eighteenth Two Oceans Marlin Tournament, a popular annual event that is held at Suidpunt Diepsee Hengelklub in Struisbaai, Western Cape.
You can click on this link to read about the history of TOMT.
This is a fun catch, measure and release competition and the emphasis is on the conservation of these magnificent fish. All the prizes are donated by our generous sponsors who are listed below. Please support our sponsors,
| Airmar | Astron Energy Struisbaai |
| Biltong and Java | Blenco |
| Bon Courage Wines | Buffelsfontein/Halewood |
| Cape Agulhas Surf Shop | Cemstone |
| Central Forklift | Chas Everitt |
| Corneilis Ham | Distell |
| Hadassah Interiors/Magda’s Leather | Four Cousins |
| FPM Suppliers | Garmin SA |
| Greenfish | Heinrich Tips |
| Henk Aggenbagh | HUSQVARNA |
| Jacita Bait & Tackle | Jebo Connect |
| Matthee Fire & Safety | Mercury |
| Peninsula Beverage | Pulsastor Lures |
| Raymarine Avion | Robertson Toyota |
| Simrad | Ski-Boat Magazine |
| South African Breweries | Springfield Wines |
| Suidpunt Marine | Vatalot |
| Vijoensdrift | Yamaha |
This year boats are participating and they are listed below.
| Kinda Magic | Andre Swart | Mojo | Jacques van Niekerk | |
| Kevin Swart | Hannes Schreuder | |||
| Jared Swart | Anthony Tait | |||
| Iaan Viljoen | Grant van der Westhuizen | |||
| Steven Shanken | Brendon Tait | |||
| Bad Co | Mike Broderick | Multi | Roelof Visagie | |
| Campbell | Dawie Theron | |||
| Richard Bell | Darious Steyn | |||
| Patrick Christodoulou | Andrew Pawson | |||
| Ivaan De Jager | ||||
| Catitude | Mike Riley | Henk Ackerman | ||
| Michele Fleischer | ||||
| Ted Horn | My Way | Simon Lowe | ||
| Nick Fleischer | Aaron Sachs | |||
| Tommy Von Wildenrath | ||||
| Charlie’s Cat | C Geldenhuys | Nic De Stadler | ||
| D Geldenhuys | ||||
| N De Beer | Sea Cat | Chris Steyn | ||
| F Greivenstein | Craig Maas | |||
| Simon Hipkin | ||||
| Dory | Dudley Rosslee | Ben Johnson | ||
| Emile Le Roux | ||||
| Andrew Davidson | Marco Polo | Rikus de Beer | ||
| Chris Gillet | Anton de Beer | |||
| Johan van der Walt | Christo de Beer | |||
| Quinten Jansen | ||||
| Grace | Nuts Rupert | Theunis Kruger | ||
| G Rupert | ||||
| Harold Turner | Gwaza | Andrew van Zyl | ||
| T Maree | Kobin Koch | |||
| Heinrich Tipps | ||||
| Indigo | Gawie Bruwer | James Taylor | ||
| Werner Kotze | ||||
| Eugene Terblanche | Maverick | JP Groenewald | ||
| Serge Wessels | Juan Needham | |||
| Pete Kotze | Jaen van den Berg | |||
| Ronald Penninkhof | ||||
| John Graeme | Chris Goatley | |||
| Hylton Goatley | Loslappie | Peet Botha | ||
| Wayne Cooke | Monica Botha | |||
| John Leppan | Brendon Gravenor | |||
| Willem Skein | Briers van Rensburg | |||
| Chris Hepworth-Brown | Phillip Erasmus | |||
| Pierre de Wit | ||||
| Ada de Wit | ||||
At the opening function this evening the teams gathered to sign in, collect their goodie bags, and find out the modus operandi for the week.
As usual Marinda, manageress of Suidpunt Deepsea Angling Club and her amazing team put on a delicious spread for the anglers to enjoy. We have an Island Theme for this entire week and it was great to see how many embraced this by dressing up, wearing flower garlands and really getting into the spirit of the theme.
Most of the boats have fished the competition a few times before but this year we welcome two new teams – Maverick and Loslappie. Welkom hier by die Suidste Punt. Mag julle ‘n wonderlik tyd hier saam met ons deurbring.
Grant van der Westhuizen, the tournament director started the proceedings explaining the rules for the week and fielding some questions from the floor. Then Dudley Rosslee, the club president welcomed everybody before handing over to Andrew Perrins who controls the radios and announces weather conditions. A weather committee was elected and Sea Cat, the smallest boat will have the biggest say on whether to fish in dickie weather!
Every year at TOMT Gawie Bruwer honours one of the legends in fishing and this year the plaque went to Mike Broderick.
The wonderful vocalist, Ted Horn, gave a wonderful rendition of “Danny Boy” to honour Mike. Ted is almost ninety years old, still fishes this competition and is still in full voice! Ted, never stop singing. We love your songs!
Thank you to Trevor Brinch (Spotter One) for helping with the photography. His photos are amazing. The slide show that follows shows how TOMT 24 started on a very viby note. Click on the first photo and then use the arrows to move on to the next. The photographs were taken by Trevor and me.
Adventuring into Retirement 