Rolex/IGFA 2006 Offshore Championship

Field Is Filling Fast

The list of qualified winning teams registered for the world's most prestigious billfish competition --- the Rolex/IGFA Offshore Championship Tournament (OCT) --- continues to grow.

By January 31st more than 40 teams from 18 countries on five continents have signed up to compete in the mid-May classic. Twenty of the teams pre-registered are from U.S. competitions.

The field also includes the past three Rolex/IGFA championship teams.

The seventh annual world championship of blue water angling, May 7 - 12, is again expected to host the single largest contingent of international teams ever to compete in a fishing tournament. Tournament officials feel last year's mark of 68 teams from 30 countries might be broken. Teams for the 2006 championship had previously qualified by winning one of 110 IGFA sanctioned events held in 40 countries worldwide during 2005.

For the fifth straight year Cabo San Lucas, Mexico will be the location for the four-day catch-and-release event.

Last year a record 517 billfish (503 striped marlin and 14 sailfish) were caught and released making for exciting action for all of the teams. The four daily records were also broken.

At the Rolex/IGFA OCT, the teams will fish on a different boat each of the four days for marlin and other billfish, all guided by local captains.

For the latest details and listings of teams, look on the IGFA web site located at www.igfa.org under the fishing tab on the home page and click on "tournaments."

For questions regarding the Rolex/IGFA OCT, contact tournament coordinator Lynda Wilson at wilson@igfa.org, or 954-924-4233.