The 2014 BLG Logistics Tuna Classic will be hosted by the Port Elizabeth Deep Sea Angling Club in the Port Elizabeth Harbour from the 30th April to the 3rd May 2014.
One of the features of the BLG Logistics Tuna Classic will be the Beer garden with live music every evening for the duration of the event, which will operate alongside PEDSAC, in the PE Harbour. The beer garden will operate daily from 12 noon till late, with plenty of specials and entertainment”, said PEDSAC tournament director, Richard Donaldson.
The organisers will also expect large crowds to gather at the venue in the afternoon to witness the competition boats arrive from the deep and off-load their potential catches of Yellowfin and other gamefish.
Nice – O – Nico, a firm favourite amongst crowds in and around the city’s many watering holes, will be performing every evening for the duration of the Classic, with organisers expecting a good turn-out to support the event and enjoy the evening entertainment.
Registration for the Tuna Classic is between 4pm and 6pm on Wednesday evening, 30th April, and Nick Oosthuizen, of local auditing firm, Mazar’s, will be in attendance at the 6pm skippers briefing, to ensure that all entrants understand the rules of the three day tournament.
The flotilla of ski boats will gather for the “blessing of the fleet” off Shark Rock Pier, at 6.30am on Thursday morning, 1st May, before a flare sets off the spectacular start and they head off to the continental shelf, about 80km south of Cape Recife.
The stakes are high at this year’s Classic, which was revived and revamped in 2013 and sponsored for 3 years by local logistics company, BLG Logistics. The 2014 event boasts three of the largest prizes ever offered and Mazar’s staff will monitor the daily weigh-ins, at PEDSAC, from 3.30 pm to 5.30pm on each fishing day, to ensure that all results are audited and correct.
On the final fishing day, Saturday, 23rd March, scales will open at 2.30pm and close at 4.30pm.
This years heaviest yellow-fin tuna over 25kg will win R100 000-00 and the top boat will win R50 000-00, ensuring many boats will be trawling their lines in the water to try and hook into the big one. Other spectacular prizes include a Rubber duck with an environmentally friendly 4-stroke Suzuki outboard sponsored by Nauti-Tec Suzuki as well as state of the art navigation equipment sponsored by Bay Way Marine Electronics.
Another major draw card is the bonanza prize of a Ford Ranger 3.2 XLT 6 speed 4×4 Double Cab Diesel bakkie, priced at R476 000-00, which will be won by the angler who lands a new Tuna Classic record Yellowfin Tuna over 92kg. The vehicle will be supplied by local dealership Eastern Cape Motors, and dealer principal, Alan Percy, said “This Ford Ranger is the perfect towing vehicle for anyone with a large ski boat and it is great to support this event and place it back onto the calendar as a premier event for Nelson Mandela Bay”.
2008 Tuna Classic winner and BLG Logistics CEO, Shane Gerber, said “We believe that the 2014 Tuna Classic will see this event continue to re-establish itself as a feature event on the local calendar. With Ford and an all the locally based sponsors support, we want to continue to build this event to once again be one of the premier angling competitions in the country”.
BLG Logistics will also sponsor “one little brave man” Theo Eli Halgreen, a 7-month old baby who at 5-months had one kidney removed after being diagnosed with a Wilms Cancerous tumour. Little Theo will need to go for a 6-month course of 16 Chemotherapy sessions each costing around R40 000.00. BLG Logistics spokesperson, Jeannie Gerber, said little Theo is doing just fine and is a happy smiling child with very few side effects afflicting him.
Alan Straton
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