Marina Pez Vela, Guatemala—Tournament sportfishing comes down to consistency, especially in an all-release event. A team may get lucky one day but the winners will find a way to slog through three full days on the water, making the most of the opportunities that are presented.
That was the case on the third and final day of the Presidential Challenge of Central America. With the first two days in the books, the stage was set for a record-breaking finish, both in terms of overall releases and the highest final score of an individual team in the fourteen year history of the Series.
And by the time the scores had been tallied, that’s exactly what happened. The previous score for most releases had been 553 sailfish back in 2003—this year the fleet released 676. The Top Boat high score was 67 in 2003; this year, it was 86 sailfish. Impressive to say the least for three days of offshore action!
Proving that home field advantage and experience does indeed have its merits, Jim Turner’s Casa Vieja Lodge team repeated as victors in the 2010 Presidential Challenge of Guatemala with 8600 points. Turner, Juan Anon and Herb Rosell made it look easy, and had a great time along the way. Rum Line’s Capt. Chris Sheeder took home Top Boat honors as well.
This is the third tournament win in a row for Capt. Sheeder and the Rum Line crew.
FINAL RESULTS
676 Sailfish*; 7 Blue Marlin; 1 Striped Marlin
(*Tournament Record)
1ST PLACE TEAM: Casa Vieja, 8600 points
2ND PLACE TEAM: OBX/Decisive, 8600 pts.
3RD PLACE TEAM: Sea Angel, 7500 pts.
TOP BOAT OVERALL: Rum Line, 8600 pts.
2ND BOAT OVERALL: Decisive, 8600 pts.
3RD BOAT OVERALL: Sea Angel, 7500 pts.
TOP ANGLER: Dell Dembosky, 3600 pts.
2ND ANGLER: Jim Turner, 3500 pts.
3RD ANGLER: Mike Viveiros, 3000 pts.
Next – Presidential Challenge of Guatemala, Nov. 10-13, 2011
