Buccaneer Cup
SANDMAN Dominates the 49th Annual Buccaneer Cup
Sailfish Release Tournament
Palm Beach Double Shot Report and Final Scores
Well the 49th Annual Buccaneer Cup Sailfish Release Tournament is a wrap and for the second time in two years the SANDMAN, a 63’ Spencer owned by Sandra MacMillan, won the Buccaneer Cup while also taking top honors in the Florida Fish for Life Billfish Tournament this year. The interesting thing about the boat’s back to back wins is last year they won with Capt. Neal Orange at the helm trolling dead bait and this year Scott Leon was captain and they fished kites and live bait, a feat that is unprecedented in tournament history!
The Buccaneer Cup, one of the oldest billfish tournaments in the nation, is run concurrently with the Florida Fish for Life from headquarters in Sailfish Marina with boats permitted to fish from Fort Worth or Jupiter Inlets. The two events share the same rules, but the Fish for Life encompasses two fishing days, Thursday and Friday, while the Buc Cup runs three days ending after lines out on Saturday. The tournaments allow dead bait trolling and live bait kite fishing with a point differential of 200 per release on live bait and 300 points per release on dead. There are $5000 cash prizes for most live bait and most dead bait release points for both events and Calcutta categories that set them apart and also allow teams to fish against each other regardless of technique used.
The two tournaments also share an outstanding captain’s meeting and kick-off party at the historic Buccaneer Restaurant built by sportfishing icon Ed Murray over five decades ago and the home to the Buc Cup tournament for nearly 50 years! Although the restaurant is not open to the public anymore the kick-off party is catered there by Sailfish Marina’s fine restaurant staff with open bar and live music. The events also share an amazing awards dinner at the Sailfish Club of Palm Beach after the last day of fishing featuring a awesome seafood buffet and 2-1/2 hour open bar.
This year marked the 49th annual Buc Cup and the 9th annual Fish for Life, both total charity events. The fishing had cooled considerably since the mad dog bite of two weeks before, but there were plenty of sailfish around. Without benefit of a hard cold front it just made catching them more difficult, but SANDMAN was up to the challenge setting the mark to beat on DAY 1 with 18 releases, more than any other boat and topping the second place catch by WEEZ IN THE KEYS, a beautiful, black-hulled 58 Merritt with Ray Rosher at the helm, releasing ten. In the dead bait division APAVA, a
58’ Rybovich under the direction of Capt. Bill Davis, set the first day mark with five releases with MICABE, a 55’ Jarrett Bay skippered by Jay Weaver, close behind with four. On Day 2 MICABE upped the ante releasing eight on the troll, WEEZ released six on live and SANDMAN caught four more on live, enough to maintain the overall points lead after their remarkable first day performance.
Since the Florida Fish for Life is a two day event its winners were tallied on Friday night with SANDMAN finishing in first overall, MICABE in second and APAVA in third. SANDMAN took home the FFL $5000 check for most points on live bait and MICABE garnered the FFL $5000 check for most points on dead. ADHD, a quad outboard-powered 41 Bahama center console skippered by Dak Calfee, took home a check for $2500 in the newly established outboard division.
Day 3 was all Buc Cup and fishing remained tough, but fish were being caught. GOOD CALL, A Bahama 37 with Eric Hull performing captain’s duties, took the daily with nine releases on live bait, WEEZ popped seven to finish in second and SANDMAN released five more sails to hold on to the lead they established on Day 1 and never relinquished winning the Buc $5000 check for most points on live bait. MICABE released three more to finish third overall and won the Buc check for $5000 for the most points on dead bait. It was an exciting finish to a great event.
To learn more about these two great events that are run under the banner of the Palm Beach Double Shot go to www.buccaneercup.com or www.floridafishforlife.org.
Buccaneer Cup
January 18-21, 2012
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