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05/20/2006: "Mea Culpa Marlin-Style"

I think it's important to be able to stand up and admit when you are wrong. When it comes to Chris Badsey's World Championship Billfish Release Tournament, I was wrong. The inaugural event, which was contested earlier this week in Cabo San Lucas was a huge success and has set the standard for future events.

It was barely six months ago that Chris and a group of friends decided they could built a better tourney mousetrap. It would be all circle hook. It would be all release. It would be world class. And it would be soon.

I was asked to participate in the early planning phase, and frankly, I thought they were smoking crack (no doubt why I was soon dropped from the process! ) I've seen the half-assed tourneys that are run by different folks here in SoCal - any one of which would get it's ass kicked by the real events of CSL. But there was the Committee telling their story and moving forward.

To their credit, they picked the right time, got the right sponsors, included the right people - basically nailed it. And got it done in six months. Frankly, I'm just stunned.

The bar has been set for the rest of the organizers. No longer can they whine about lack of sponsor support for an all-release event. No longer can they say the public will not be interested in an event where there's no fish weighed in at the dock. Basically, the Committee kicked the barstool out from under their fat asses and said "OK, poser - show us what you've got."

Soon we'll see. But for now, let's all raise a toast to the Committee!