Goodwill Tournament Report

The date: Sunday, June 6, 1999. The place: Hawaii Yacht Club. The time: 0700. Although most of the biped population is still sleep at this time of day, participants in the Goodwill Industries annual fishing tournament were wide awake and descended upon the club like a pack of hungry wolves. There were so many people in attendance it was almost impossible to tell who was a skipper, an angler, or a volunteer, however, forward thinking tournament chair Barbara Silvey decided to give all the anglers a nice bright T-shirt with the logo of an Akule on the back, and suddenly it became clear: the volunteers outnumbered the anglers by a margin of three to one.

In the week preceding the tournament, volunteers came to the club to help out with preparations. Scotty Cherry, Oggie and Barbara Ostrander, Stan Harlan and his grandkids, Richard Ally, Al Bento, Dave Silvey, Robby Buck, Tony Cole and Kathy House all pitched in to get the rods ready and cut the bait a couple of days before. And since there was a club fishing tournament on Saturday, the standing rule is all skippers on the dock after 6:00 am have to help out. That turned out to be a no-brainer for port captains Rusty Leonard and Richard Ally, because everyone was there to participate anyway.

goodwl1.jpg (67414 bytes)
Anglers prepare to board the boats

In the front by the entrance to the club, we had people from Goodwill taking in anglers, and there was another team at the skipper’s check-in outside by the barbecue. Ann Russell, Leah Ferris, Doug Smith, and Deron and Robin Schade were in complete control of the table, and when so much as a pencil went dull, there were enough extra hands to go sharpen it without missing a step. We had Suzie Heidrich and Candace and Jerry Foster cooking food all over the lower deck and the lawn, Vicky DiPiano serving food and roaming around calling to all for a taste, and we even had a clown running around entertaining everyone for most of the day (rumor had it the clown was Walt McGoldrick, but don’t tell anyone. People thought it was a little weird to see a clown breaking into a sailboat and returning with a rolling flight travel bag). Dee and Steen Weinhold came out to serve as the Coast Guard Auxilliary and rescue boat and took Beau Hunt along for the ride, and Bill Rue took Robby Buck out on his boat, Trophy, to bring extra bait and tackle to the boats in need of it.

goodwl2.jpg (76217 bytes)
Dropping the hooks in on the Crystal J off Waikiki

Jim Ferris and his boat boarding crew patiently awaited the greetings and introductions to the anglers from the committee heads, and then sprang to life, eager to test out new boarding procedures he’d secretly been developing for months in his laboratory. As the anglers left the dock in record time, Jim sat back and relished in his teams’ success. All the volunteers liked it too, because it was an opportunity to have extra time for food preparation and relaxation for the full two hours while the fishing took place.

Oh yes, there was some fishing done too. With Frank Thomas’ Hawaiian Clipper as the VIP boat and 20/20 as the official photography boat, just a few passes by the anchored vessels was all it took to see the fishing this year would be good. The water was clear, the surf up but not overbearing. Sapper Toc, skippered by Steve McGonagle, was peacefully anchored in about 30 feet of water just outside the harbor entrance and had a school of fish swarming in a feeding frenzy around them. They ended up returning with over 50 fish, and angler Richard Clark alone caught over 30.

Lee Severs on the Sea Verse III took his gang to a point just past Kewalo, and with only three anglers aboard, landed the longest fish (Gerrick Gushiken), the highest total weight (Aaron Imai), and the second heaviest fish (Debbie Kimitsuka); three trophies for three anglers. They say Lee doesn’t find fish like he used to, because now when he goes out, the finny creatures come find him.

Al Bento’s Alele II caught the most colorful fish, with angler Valentino Valdis doing the work. They also had third for the most total weight, caught by Allen Madriaga. Jill Clarke caught the smallest fish and Kimberly Weatherall was third place in most total fish caught, both on board Don Price’s Strike Force. Other trophy catching boats included Bob Overlock’s Babe, who got second for most total weight by angler Katherine Higa, Boolie Whitmire’s Na Moelepo, which boated the third heaviest fish (Milton Montonaga), and Na Mahoe, skippered by George Machado, managing to land the heaviest fish of the tournament (Wayne Hirose).

goodwl3.jpg (44731 bytes)
The 50 fish caught on Sapper Toc - all alive!

When the anglers returned to the club and were safely ashore, Jim Schoocraft, Kathy Mulledy, Wendy Burke and Doug Allen were all standing by to weigh, measure, and then return the fish to the sea to swim away. Kathy House entered the data into the computer and had the results in the blink of an eye. The weighing and recording crew all did a super job despite the number of fish and people anxious to weigh them!

Once again the club was able to release over 85% of the fish unharmed, and most of those that didn’t make it were taken home for consumption by various individuals.

After the weighins were completed, the group was treated to a great cookout and entertainment by none other than Barbara Silvey. Rocky Dumire of All Access Productions was the provider of the equipment, but a tour mixed with a few too many obligations prevented him from being the DJ for the event. Good for Rocky, but we missed him this year.

goodwl4.jpg (64482 bytes)
The trophy winners!

A little more dancing, a little more food, ice cream, sodas and beers were consumed, and then the awards ceremony began. Everyone got a medal for participating, and trophies were passed out to those lucky enough to land fish. Laura Robinson of Goodwill, who also did the angler briefing, took care of the MC duties, and everyone cheered wildly as each award was passed out. Dignitaries Barbara Miramoto, Dick Coons, Carol and Galen Fox, Sam Bren, Charlie Crews, Bill Sickelsteel and August Yee were also on hand to speak highly of the tournament, its purpose, and of all who participated. In the end, all that could be said was thank you. Thank you to all the volunteers, Goodwill Industries, and to Barbara Silvey for organizing yet another great event. We’ll do it all again next year!