The ORIS National Big Game Tournament in aid of the Puttinu Cares Foundation

[toxictuna]

We had a wonderful day fishing despite the slightly unfriendly weather. Looking forward to the results! When are they going to be published?

[baghira]

Yesterday was a day full of adventures.

The start of the comp. (although it took a bit long and there were some complaints) was fantastic.
The sea was a bit rough and caused some nausea to me and crew, I was better after some time, but one of the crew
I had also some probs with (number 2) very dificult to do in a bucket in sea with all that swell.

There was many action at sea.
We saw many turles, alungi, tuna that swam by my rib, dolphins, pastardella jumping in front of my rib, etc....

Later the sea got calmer, and got 1 alunga finally. We did not go far, since that the surface action took us inshore. Out of many comment that i've received, I got a 7 kilos alunga on a jigging rod 

[shanook]

This short write up is for those who were not there, I am sure that there will be a more detailed write up later on.

Went down to B'Bugia at 2am and there were lots of boats already inspected and waiting by their Support boat. Called TD (tournament director) and was told to go by the pier for inspection. As soon as I got close there were inspectors ready and one boarded the boat (he was very polite and professional, sorry didnt catch his name. He was with our Robby). He took off his shoes and asked (not demanded) when he needed to check something.
We took off to find our support vessel (which unfortunately was not on the set coordinates) and as soon as we turned the pier we were met by a spectacle of lights all boats waiting near their support vessels had their navigation lights on and one could see boats all over the place. We  finally we found our support vessel, in the meantime we chatted with other boats and waited. I took the opportunity to have a light snack.(Damn I wish i had brought coffee grrrrrr).
At about 5.30 am the support vessels started to make headway for the starting point outside B'Bugia harbour. One could see the boats following their designated boat in a very orderly manner. The harbour master was very kind to keep us informed as there was a vessel about to leave the harbour.(another good point to the organisers).
We congregated outside the harbour and at about 6am we got the go ahead and the Oris Competition was on its way. All boats sped out to their favourite fishing zones. Most of the boats headed towards filfla some further west and some took a South East direction,as a matter of fact 'Mister' crossed my path and he was very cautious and correct in his manouver.
The sea did not cooperate at all and the Organising committee should make a formal complaint about this (the only problem is to who to send it to). There was a very large swell sometimes in the 3mtr range. there were cross currents and the boats were being rocked very hard. There were some who got sick which is quite normal under the circumstance, but at least all went well there were no serious accidents.
Unfortunately I had to retire from the competition very early, I was heading back to port at 7am, sea sick crew member, well these things happen.
All in all it was a magnificent event and look forward to next years. Well done to the organisers, a big thank you to the helpers on the ground, to the Captain and crew of the Support Vessels, and to all those who took part.

[skip]

Results will be published on the forum home page once they are reviewed and checked.

The organisation team and support boats did a fantastic job on Saturday and Sunday, well done to all, a lot of personal sacrifices were made for the greater good of the tournament.

The start was delayed due to Commercial Traffic exiting the Freeport at 04:45 who left a bit late and right during our intended departure time to the start area and traffic was scheduled to enter at 06:00

We therefore had the first group leave at 05:10 and the last group started heading out at 05:35 allowing them to clear the incoming tanker ship.

M'Xlokk Port Control kept us informed on our working channel 67 which was very kind of them. We did have rather a long wait (1hr) as we were ready from checking the boat by around 4AM, although we still had some last minute paperwork checks to do.

Overall everybody followed instructions perfectly, sadly there was a boat that we had to disqualify prior to the start for failing to follow instructions. This boat broke away from his group, overtook 2 others and decided to drive off in completely the wrong direction despite around 10 attemps on the VHF to get through to him. One cannot control such a large group without a VHF, hence we highlighted the need to have a fully working VHF on board. However in case a competitor had a VHF issue/failure prior to the start he should have called the Tournament Director or Support Skipper on the mobile number provided on each tournament reference card.

Our 2nd Camera Man came on-scene at 06:05 in the skies above us just in time to film the start, whilst the main Camera Crew on board Seafox was filming all vessels and the start from the water. Indeed whilst the wind remained as forecast and within tournament regulation levels, with no wave monitoring stations deployed around Malta, we got hit with a nasty swell due to the weather the day before.

Will post my report later on.....

[Moonwalker]

Very well done to the organizers for the competition. The vessels inspection and lining up was very well ordered and startup was spectacular.
The only problem was the large swell. Windfinder superforcast was showing a wave hieght of 0.7m but infact there were waves over 2m - I guess 1m was the average so it was quite accurate. From my experience this waveheight forcast is very accurate and should be relied on.

So I suggest that next year we do not take only the wind force to decide on postphoning the competition but also the forcasted wave height.

On my boat we had no problems at all and kept fishing until 2pm but did not get a single strike - I should stick to bottom fishing I guess

[toxictuna]

we got two stirkes and related two landings. Funnily enough both my crew where sleeping when this happened meaning the old saying "min jorqod ma jaqbadx hut" is not very reliable.
Well organised tournament well done!

[fisheye]

Very Well done toxituna hope you and your crew had fun , we had no strikes no hits nothing just some serious weather out there we returned to port by 11.00am with a seasick crew member  Any news of other catches? I heard on the VHF about a yellow fin that was caught but so far nothing official. 

[The_Gaffer]

Tournament day:  The usually quaint St. Georges bay was scene to a buzz of activity at 1.30am yesterday when tournament officials starting gathering on the jetty, preparing for what was the first Oris National Big Game Fishing tournament.  
Everything went according to plan - boats were inspected, all boats went to their designated holding positions as instructed, and waited in a very orderly fashion.  
The real spectacle began when all boats followed their support vessel out to the open sea from the freeport area.  I was witness to a scene which proved beyond doubt that when we really want to, we are able to manifest discipline and abide by rules.  All skippers were engaged in the minimum chit chat required on the VHF Ch67, doing the necessary radio checks, confirming positions, and making last minute detail enquires.  
All vessels then lined up to the start position, and rolled off at 5knts.  Again, this phase went off well, with all vessels maintaining speed, Ch67 silent except for the Tournament Saftey officers voice which periodically broke radio silence to announce all vessels to increase speed to 10knts, then to 15knts, then to the support vessels to break away to starboard and port, and finally Tournament START>  
What a spectacle.  Well done to all.

[The_Gaffer]

No yellow fin were caught, One vessel reported a catch of BFT at 126cm long.

[benri]

It was a very well organised event with very minor hiccups which can always be expected. A very big thank you to all the organisers and support boats.
I had a bit of a nightmare at the start since on the start command there was a rush towards filfla and even though licences are issued, nobody seems to know or bother who had the right of way. I was hardly left any space to manouver and literally stopped and waited until everybody cleared. This has nothing to do with the organisation but some ignorant people who consider that cause they have a bigger vessel, they can proceed as they wish.
On our end we had 4 strikes but only one hook up which we also didn't manage to land since it broke free just next to the boat.
The trailer parking was also excellently organised! Well everything was very well organised from beginning to literally the end!
A great day fishing and listening to Radio Colin

[The_Gaffer]

We had 5 strikes, and managed to land 4 alongi.  My wife was very sick from the start, and at one point we seriously also considered retiring, gathered our lines in, and headed back to port.  She simply did not stop being sick from 7.00am to 2.00pm.  At around 11.00am we came in close to the 1st ridge, my wife said she was feeling much better, actually the colour had returned to her face, so I redeployed the lines, and managed to hook up 3.  But as soon as we slowed down to reel in the catch, she would be sick again. 

All in all, a great day, many reported catches, one confirmed BFT catch at 126cm.  The support vessels did a fantastic job, especially Puttinu3 (Skip) who actually towed in a stranded boat from 9Nmiles out at sea. 

[visa]

That was me and a great job he did too just minutes after calling for help, he was speeding towards my boat with the co-ordinates i gave over the VHF, The skipper and the Crew of Puttinu  Skip were simply fantastic very professional tied my boat with a tow rope i had ready and within one hour and fifteen minutes we were inside the port, on my Mazzra.

For anybody interested to know I had a new Autopilot installed in my boat REELAX and while fishing we saw fish activity on our left and forgetting my new autopilot i turned the steering manually and tore the hydraulic seal at the steering letting out all the fluid out tried to steer manually but to no avail, a boat (Rib) passed close to us and after asking for help he refused saying that he was fishing this guy know to all either too it as a joke or he does not understand the basics of seamanship, he literally left us there. going round and round, with no other options (due to the high swell) we decided to call for help and after getting Skip on the VhF he sped to our rescue and towed us in. Also a big thanks to his crew and the organizing  committee who left no stone unturned to organize this fishing competition. Another word of praise must go to Norbert  of Okuma who gave me a lesson in remaining clam and focused.

Thanks to all

[Swordfish]

Looks as if the tournament was fantastic. If this will happen again next year i would definitely make it with my new boat. I also read that many people got sick and i was very surprised that people that feel sick didn't consider buying then nausea pills.. I have never taking these pills as sea never made me sick [once even been in a huge storm heading to Greece with a 32 ft boat and i enjoyed every second of it while others were throwing up ] but i heard that these pills do work..

[benri]

Pity John. I tried calling you repeatedly on the radio as I was very far off but you weren't answering! Then I heard Skip responding to your call and put my mind at rest! Seems like many people were not hearing me yesterday.... Shanook, Baghira, Fortuna and you! Can't figure out as I was hearing everybody well

[shanook]

We called u many times benri. We thought that u had a secret fishing ground LOL. I heard u in the morning calling TD because of the support vessel but from then on I lost you completely. I was calling you because Alungi had been caught at 7am from postion point B3 so I advised baghira to go there. Visa was already aware of it as his brother had made the catch. Well since u were hearing us it is a problem with TX either in the volume switch, PTT or the unit itself.