Black Gold takes International Cap Cana Shootout 2016 crown

Cap Cana, Dominican Republic.- It was the team aboardFlorida’s Black Gold that emerged victorious with a come from behind rally onthe fourth and final day of fishing with an impressive last day total of 4 bluemarlin releases plus a white.

On that fourth and final day another Florida boat,Auspicious, had started out in first place with a 180 point lead overVenezuela’s Amazing Grace, but it wasn’t long before the lead changed withAmazing Grace’s release of a white marlin shortly after lines-in. Not long after that however, Black Goldreleased their first blue of the day followed by another blue an hour later,the second one moving them into first place. In the afternoon hours Black Gold solidified their top boat finishreleasing a white and two more blues while Auspicious made a valiant effortreleasing a white and a blue of their own to finish in second place passingAmazing Grace who finished in third.

In the Individual Angler category the tournament’s TopAngler was Black Gold’s Neil Orange with 1,440 points with his team mate MikeMcCarthy in second place edged out by time also with 1,440 points. In third was Amazing Grace’s Odemaris Paredeswith 1,250 points and she also took Top Lady Angler honors.

Coincidentally the Shootout was the second leg of theDominican Billfish Triple-Header series and the three top boats in the Shootoutare participating in the series with the series standings after two legsshowing Auspicious in the lead with 6,580 points, Black Gold in second with5,970 and Amazing Grace in third with 2,700.

At the end of the 4-day event, all participating boats hadreleased billfish with an impressive average of 7.5 billfish releases per boatin the tournament.

On shore, anglers, crews and official tournament observerswere treated to Happy Hours at the docks after fishing with great hot dogs byEmilio’s of Productos Chef plus evening activities such as the elegant WhiteParty, the traditional Caribbean Rum Bash hosted by Matusalem Rum and finallycapped off by the Awards Banquet. On theLay-Day, the first Dominican Athletic Scavenger Hunt (DASH) was great fun foreveryone where those who dared to participate were given five challenges in andaround the marina and in the evening the traditional Cap Cana Cook-Off tookplace with four gourmet entries. Therace was won by the husband and wife observer team of Mike and Elizabeth Zorzifrom Delaware while the Cook-Off judges crowned Puerto Rico’s Alex Rodriguezfor his delicious creation in the beef category.

Very special thanks go out to Marina Cap Cana’s Kary Gomezand the entire marina staff and management for the unconditional support andenthusiasm as well as sponsors such as the Dominican Ministry of Tourism(MITUR), Punta Palmera – Cap Cana, Kola Real who kept us refreshed, San JuanPlaza for keeping us covered from sun and rain during Happy Hours and of courseMatusalem Rum which kept us in good spirits (pardon the pun) plus many others.