August 29, 2004

Cabo Yachts, Inc.
9780 Rancho Road
Adelanto, CA 92392

Re: Cabo Kids Club Tournament

Dear Sir or Madam:

Enclosed is an Official Catch Record for the Cabo Kids Club Tournament 2004, but it's the story behind the catch that necessitates that I submit this letter.

I am the proud owner of a 35' Cabo Flybridge, Escape, which I keep at the Canyon Club Resort and Marina in Cape May, New Jersey.  The Canyon Club, which is the sponsor of numerous sportfishing tournaments, introduced a new tournament this year, that being the 2004 South Jersey Ladies Charity Billfish Tournament.  At my wife's urging, we entered the tournament with three women anglers, my wife, Mary; my daughter, Amy; and Amy's friend, Courtney. 

The tournament allowed for the captain to choose one of two possible fishing days; we chose Friday, August 24, and headed 70 miles out to the Wilmington Canyon. The weather was beautiful, the seas were calm, but the day started slowly.  After several hours of unproductive trolling, we came up on the short end of a fight with a large blue marlin which almost spooled a 30lb. outfit before freeing itself from a rigged ballyhoo.  Soon thereafter, the short rigger popped and Amy, my 16 year-old daughter, was fighting her first yellowfin tuna.  After a 15 minute fight, the tuna was gaffed and brought onboard.  Amy was exhausted but proud of having caught her first tuna.  Soon thereafter, we hooked a few more yellowfin, but the story is only beginning. 

As the fishing day ended, I throttled up to begin the long journey home, only to realize that my port engine was not cooperating.  Being unable to reach a speed beyond idle, I knew we would not get back to the dock until 11:00 p.m., well after the deadline for the weigh-ins.  Determined to allow Amy to weigh her first tuna in this tournament, and believing that she had a chance to be in the running for the largest tuna (since I knew that most of the other boats were fishing exclusively for billfish), I had to find a way to get back to the marina on time.

Fortunately, a friend on the Gypsea was fishing the same tournament and was in close proximity.  I called Gypsea, gave them our location, and asked if they could pick the girls up (not telling that I wanted them to also bring the tuna back to the marina).  They soon came by, but building seas prevented us from easily getting the boats next to each other to enable the girls from jumping from boat to boat.  It was time for Plan B.  Grabbing a large length of spare line, we tailroped the tuna and threw the rope to the crew of the Gypsea who pulled the tuna onboard.  (This tournament, being more fun in nature than competitive, did not prevent a fish from being transferred to another boat).  The girls were next.  After putting on their life preservers, and after having opened the transom door, they dove into the Atlantic, 60 miles from shore, swimming as fast as they could towards Gypsea.  They were helped aboard and proceeded back to the Canyon Club with Amy's tuna.

They arrived at the scales on time and Amy proudly weighed in her first yellowfin tuna.  It wasn't until 11:00 that night Mom and Dad found out that her yellowfin weighed a modest 42lbs., good enough for the largest tuna on day #1, and we couldn't be prouder of her effort and dedication. 

Since the tournament had another day of fishing, we would not know if her fish would hold the lead until Sunday morning.  That morning, at the awards banquet, we knew when we were in luck when, before introducing the angler with the heaviest tuna, the tournament representative began laughing and said, " in the tuna category, there's an interesting story behind the winning fish".  Yes, Amy won heaviest tuna and , with it, a beautiful plaque to remind her of her first yellowfin, her first tournament win, and the events surrounding it. 

While, from Cabo's perspective, part of the story may not be appealing (a faulty Caterpillar engine), problems happen at sea.  In this case, the crew of Escape did not let the inconvenience prevent a Cabo angler from weighing in her fish.  Amy's commitment and dedication paid off, as she won the tournament for heaviest tuna, and it is with great pride that, at the banquet, we said, "we have a Cabo".

Thank you for making such a quality product. 

We love our Cabo and hope to have future success stories to tell.

Very Truly Yours,

Michael Bohrer