Innehållsförteckning för June/July 2024 från Marlin

Starting in a modest shop in the heart of Stuart, Florida’s renowned boatbuilding community, Mark Willis has carved out a reputation in the sport-fishing world by building good-looking, robust, highly detailed, honest boats. With a track record of building unique vessels that fit the requirements and desires of his discerning buyers, Willis has made a significant impact on the custom boat market—his boats have traveled far and wide, with owners actively seeking them out for their ride, fishability and capabilities. Hull No. 18 is under construction, one of three 70-footers currently underway at Willis Custom Yachts. How did you become a boatbuilder? It’s an old story—I started as a fisherman, and then back in 1982 or something I started building a little 30-foot boat for myself, a single screw with…

Craig Lindner and his crew on the 46-foot Gamefisherman Bwana capped a strong season in Kona as winners of the Hawaii Marlin Tournament Series Championship for the second year in a row. The competitive nature of Capt. Teddy Hoogs was in high gear all season, matched stride for stride on deck by Lindner and his team of Logan McCollum, Bobby Cherry and Carl Shepard. As with any series win, consistency is key. They fished every tournament with the same teammates and weighed blue marlin over the qualifying minimum of 400 pounds in four of the eight series events. The championship is scored on cumulative points throughout the season, though, so tags can contribute significantly. Because 95 percent of all HMT series fish are tagged and released, each one counts, and…

As we ran out to the sailfish grounds off Isla Mujeres, Mexico, some 25 years ago, my good friend Capt. Chucho Manzano said, “There are those of us that are born to be fishing souls.” I was born to be one such soul, and the sport of fishing—with its countless journeys and challenges—has been a dominant force in my life since I was three years old. I’ve always been one to chase a challenge, so when the IGFA first unveiled its enhanced recognition program, which celebrates anglers and their accomplishments with various lifetime achievement awards, I found myself in pursuit of a new goal: the Billfish Royal Slam. To earn a spot in the Billfish Royal Slam Club, an angler must catch all nine recognized species of billfish. It’s no…

On March 13, 2024, Peter Chaibongsai and TJ Morrell from The Billfish Foundation met up with the captains and crews as well as a research team from the University of Southern Mississippi in Singer Island, Florida, to discuss logistics for an upcoming satellite tagging trip. The goal: satellite-tag Atlantic sailfish over the next two days. With few instances of Atlantic sailfish being satellite-tagged in South Florida recently, the group was excited and anxious to get on the water. Three vessels would be heading out on this research expedition, each carrying two satellite tags to enhance the potential for tag deployment. The USM research team—Jeremy Higgs and Angie Hoover—along with Chaibongsai and Morrell—would be spread among these three vessels to provide the optimal chances for tag deployment. The first was the…

Randy Ramsey, known largely as the co-founder of North Carolina’s Jarrett Bay Boatworks, is a man of fascinating talents, dreams, friends and faith. He’s been dubbed an accidental boatbuilder by some, but digging deeper into his life reveals a great number of influences, events and character traits that make his custom boatbuilding career look more like a destiny fulfilled. Anyone approaching Ramsey for the first or even the hundredth time is met with his gleaming blue eyes, a warm demeanor and an outstretched hand. What makes him special is an ability to make quick friends, and an intuition for recognizing others’ potential and developing their interests and talents—a born leader and a man of great faith. Ramsey didn’t hail from a family of boat-builders, nor did he come from the…

Historic, epic, on fire, off the charts: No matter how you choose to describe it, there’s no doubt that last year’s 25th anniversary of the Los Cabos Billfish Tournament showcased an incredible striped marlin bite. Over three exhilarating days, the tournament record for billfish releases was first broken and then crushed, spindled and mutilated, as 42 teams released a staggering total of 583 striped marlin, seven blue marlin and three sailfish. This number nearly quadrupled the previous tournament release record of 150 billfish, which was set in 2018. The top team on The Daddy Rabbit won it all with an astounding 140 striped marlin releases; second place tallied 130 and it took 120 releases in three days just to make the third-place spot on the leaderboard. That’s a wide-open marlin…

Celebrating its 60th anniversary, the Viking Yacht Co. also announced its latest build on April 1, an 82-foot convertible. The five-stateroom, six-head world traveler builds upon the tremendous success of the Viking 80. The new 82’s performance is optimized through computational-fluid-dynamics software that allowed the design and engineering teams to increase running efficiency. The boat will also be offered with the Advanced Viking Propulsion System, which utilizes struts and rudders with modified shapes that minimize hydrodynamic resistance to also improve performance. With twin MTU 16V 2000 M96Ls and AVPS, performance levels are expected to be in the same range as the latest Viking 80s—42 knots at full load and a cruise of 36 knots. The 82 will be offered in three different models: open bridge, enclosed bridge and sky bridge.…

ARMED AND DANGEROUS I am a subscriber to Apple News, which collates interesting articles from newspapers, magazines and journals from all over the world. Its recent edition included your article “Armed and Dangerous: Carrying Weapons Against Maritime Piracy,” and I read it with great fascination. One thinks of maritime piracy in places like Somalia and the Gulf of Aden. But I, for one, certainly don’t think of it on a short hop from Florida to the Bahamas. Guess I’m quite wrong! I read with much interest the section where the captain attributes his survival to situational awareness and the ability to assess the situation and slow things down when a crisis occurs. I am a retired anesthesiologist, having practiced in Phoenix for nearly 40 years. And when a crisis occurred…

JUNE AND JULY mean the summer season is officially underway, especially in the Atlantic Ocean and Gulf of Mexico. Hop over for the Bermuda Triple Crown, or visit Cape Verde for blue marlin in size and numbers. In the Gulf, live-baiting will produce tournament-winning blues. Or head to the Dominican Republic, where the light-tackle action is superb. + BITE TRACKER Stay current with the best bites from the top billfish destinations around the globe at marlinmag.com/travel.…

I never understood the term “purple fever” when I heard it in the past. Swordfishing legends such as RJ Boyle, Brett Holden and Peace Marvel used it in conversation, but I didn’t really know what it meant. I grew up inshore fishing and then eventually progressed to snapper, grouper and tuna, but I never had even the slightest clue that swordfish would hook me far more deeply than I’d ever hook them. I was in trouble—not the type involving law enforcement, but the type that would cost me lots of cash and a whole lot of time. Years ago, I was fortunate to have multiple connections across southern Louisiana who would let me ride out in exchange for boat cleaning and deckhand work. I didn’t have the funds then, but…

A builder of top-notch custom boats since 2009, Release Boatworks has been seeing good success with its 34-, 43- and 46-foot walkaround and express models. Its engineers utilize precision CAD programming and three-dimensional solid modeling software, and the company has also invested in a new 5-axis CNC router to create mold plugs. These processes allow the company to take advantage of production manufacturing efficiencies—including reduced build times—while building a stronger, tougher boat relative to cold-molded construction and yet remaining a custom-boat-building company. Integrating advanced composite construction techniques such as blending fabrics and various core-material densities and thicknesses for different parts of the boat—along with infusion and vacuum-bagging those parts—can effectively reduce build time and increase manufacturing accuracy and overall strength, as well as build shape into the boat much easier…

Scania has announced that a new Viking 48 convertible will be powered by twin Scania 1,150 hp DI16 engines. The vessel, Mack Attack, was commissioned by Mack Boring and Parts Co. to demonstrate the reliability and performance of Scania’s most powerful pleasure craft-certified V-8 engines. “We are thrilled to have the opportunity to feature our 16-liter, 1,150 hp Scania engines in another Viking demo platform,” said Patrick McGovern, president of Mack Boring and Parts. “Our previous vessel, Mack 900, exceeded our expectations in performance when we introduced the Scania 900 hp engine to the market in 2021. We see this new project as the natural next step for the introduction of the more powerful Scania V-8.” Built on a compacted graphite iron engine block and employing a simple waste gate…

While it’s always difficult to replace a time-tested favorite model in a boatbuilder’s lineup, the designers and engineers at Invincible Boats were able to update the builder’s 42-foot flagship monohull design with some great new features while keeping the brand’s hardcore fish pedigree fully intact. The result of those efforts is the Invincible 43 Open. Founded in South Florida in 2006, Invincible Boats burst upon the high-performance center-console market scene thanks in large part to a Michael Peters-designed hull with a patented stepped-V ventilated tunnel design and tough yet lightweight vacuum-bagged construction. These boats were designed to perform well in a variety of sea conditions and laid out with a host of fishing-friendly features while also being highly customizable from the factory. Today, the company produces monohull center-consoles from 33…

SPORTY SEAS While Guatemala is well known for its wide-open sailfish action as well as calm conditions, the weather can occasionally take a turn for the nautical. It doesn’t seem to affect the fishing, though, and it provides a dramatic backdrop for photographers like Scott Kerrigan to shoot boat-to-boat action, as he did here for Kristen Salazar and Rick Murphy aboard the 37-foot Merritt Release. LOCATION Kerrigan was fishing in an area known as the Pocket. TECH SPECS CAMERA: Canon EOS-1D X LENS: Canon EF 70-200mm ISO: 160 APERTURE: f/7.1 SPEED: 1/1000 sec…

DJI AVATA The Avata has a built-in propeller guard, so if it comes into contact with an object—outrigger, tower leg, antenna—it can bounce back, stay in the air and keep flying. It’s available with goggles and an interactive flight controller as well. dji.com/avata NIKON KEYMISSION 360 Take your release videos to a whole new level with this 360-degree camera from Nikon. The KeyMission 360 uses two lenses and two image sensors to capture the action, which will make your friends feel as if they were alongside you in the cockpit. nikonusa.com DJI MAVIC 3 PRO A favorite among professionals and amateur videographers alike, the Mavic 3 Pro houses three sensors and lenses with different focal lengths to unlock new shooting perspectives, allowing you to take your visual storytelling to a…

It was another beautiful day when Sensei, a 42-foot Rodman and flagship of the Azores Fishing Charters fleet, left her slip in Horta, a city on the island of Faial in the Azores. As we left the marina and entered the channel between Horta and Pico, the sun had risen over the cap of the Pico stratovolcano and a stunning vista stretched out before us. Andrea Beuter and I were beyond thrilled to fish together where we had met—she had traveled from Munich, while I had made the trip from Gulf Shores, Alabama, to meet in one of the most fertile blue marlin and tuna fisheries in the world. We headed north to fish in the lee of the island, avoiding the 10-to-12-foot seas on the Azores Bank. Aboard was…

The first time I ventured offshore on a sport-fishing boat was in Watamu, Kenya, in 2006, and I was instantly hooked on big-game fishing. I lived in Tanzania at the time and was working as a professional hunter. My adventures in all kinds of fishing disciplines rapidly grew over the years, taking me all over the world in pursuit of a wide variety of species in rivers, lakes and oceans. Years ago, I met Samir Rahal while fishing in Cape Verde; Rahal is the proprietor of the five-star Terrou-Bi hotel and fishing center in Dakar, Senegal, which sits on the most western tip of the African continent. His boat Twin Soul is a fishing machine, sporting the best equipment and a highly experienced crew ready to take on any big…

PERHAPS NEVER BEFORE have there been so many innovative products being introduced in a relatively short period of time. The key points have always been listening to the consumers, finding their pain points in addition to their wants and needs, and then quickly bringing the appropriate solutions to market. But rather than just a roundup of hot new products, we wanted to dive a bit deeper to learn more about the people behind some of these incredible innovations. AIRMAR Since fishermen first went to sea in boats of wood, we’ve longed for a clearer, more accurate view of what lies beneath the sea’s surface. Airmar understood this desire and took aim at the goal of greater target discrimination—especially closer to the bottom—when it strove to bring some brand-new sonar technology to…

AS I ENTERED RING POWER’S SWANKY corporate boardroom, I immediately noticed a lineup of 10 thick photo albums spread across the glossy table. Some were full of black-and-white photographs and diplomas, the pages yellowed and faded. Others spilled over with colorful images that had been taken more recently in familiar destinations such as Bermuda and Costa Rica. ¶ As I perused the chapters of his storied life, Randy Ringhaver, with a dapper black poodle proudly at his side, stepped in to greet me. Dressed in a navy suit and a coral tie dotted with sailfish, Ringhaver quietly welcomed me to Ring Power, the company he led as president and CEO for nearly two decades, and where he continues to serve as chairman. In addition to his numerous professional achievements, Ringhaver…

If you walk the docks of any nice marina—especially on a Friday or Saturday night—you are likely to see a pretty amazing display of exterior lighting on the boats. It is astounding to me just how far it’s progressed, and it is primarily due to the introduction and evolution of LED lighting. This display of lighting typically carries on through the interior of these boats as well. Done right, it is the absolute perfect accent to the finished masterpieces that we call today’s sport-fishing boats. What is LED lighting, and what makes it so much better than its halogen/incandescent counterparts? LED is simply an abbreviation for light-emitting diode, and it’s a form of lighting that produces light up to 90 percent more efficiently than its incandescent counterpart. Electrical current passes…