Entering the Havana Bay are the boats that 
participated in the great Billfish Tournament,
for which the winner is awarded the famous
writer Ernest Hemingway´s trophy.
The boats dock at the International Fishing Club,  
where the captured specimens are weighed  
and the event decision is made.
The event presidency grants the triumph to 
Club-Society “Amigos del Mar”
and the winners´ representative receives the cup 
personally presented by Ernest Hemingway.
66TH INTERNATIONAL BILLFISH TOURNAMENT 
ERNEST HEMINGWAY 2016
Well, in order to talk about the tournament  
we need to start with a little bit of history.
This tournament was created on May 26th, 1950 
in the International Nautical Club,
which in that moment was placed at the 
entrance of Havana Bay.
It was created under the name of International 
Billfish Tournament,
because it had a local nature, in which all 
the clubs settled in Havana participated. 
In the first edition 36 boats were invited to participate.
One of those was “Pilar”, which belonged to 
Ernest Hemingway.
Some years later, the fishermen, given the passion 
Hemingway had for this kind of fishing, 
suggested that the tournament carried his name.
He accepted and from this moment on, 
it was to be named “International Billfish 
Tournament Ernest Hemingway”.
The tournament was moved to Marina Hemingway,
9 miles from where it had been taking 
place, in its eleventh edition.
We are talking about 1960, when the marina
was called "Marina Barlovento".
The Art and Show Syndicate takes second place
and first goes to the Aerial Syndicate,
whose members are pushed into the 
water following an amusing tradition.
This tournament had local nature until 1977,
because in the edition of 1978 it started 
to have an international nature,
in which boats from other countries, mainly 
North Americans, started to participate.
In 1992 the Havana´s International Nautical Club 
Hemingway was created, which strengthened
the relations between the Cuban local fishermen 
and the international fishermen community
through the diverse clubs. 
In 1997, thanks to our club and the Billfish Foundation,  
the “Tag and Release” method was introduced,
which was mainly aimed at the conservation of the species.
In this tournament we had the opportunity 
to have 96 boats registered,
80 boats from the United States and the rest from France,
Cuba, Spain, Puerto Rico, Mexico, Italy, Canada, Lithuania,
which without any doubt, has been a great event.
During the celebration of the fishing 
days there are three big moments.
The first one is when the fisherman has hooked the fish
and then starts what is known as the battle 
between the fish and the fisherman.
In this moment there should be a first image,
which shows that the person has control over the fish.
Afterwards comes the “tag” in order to mark the species and,
in the third moment, comes the release.
There should be proof to the jury that
the oxygenation process was done 
in order to make sure that the fish was released alive.
The captures are backed up by pictures.
The difference between the captures of one day and those 
on the previous day is given by the color of the stickers.
These stickers are placed either on the boat
or on the fisherman that touches the leader
in order to validate the captures.
Every species of marlin has a specific score.
In this case the Blue Marlins are the ones with higher score,
subsequently we have the White Marlin and lastly the Sailfish.
This picture should show the leaderman with the sticker
according to the color of the day and the fish in the water. 
It is very important for the fish to be near the
boat so that the jury is able to determine
the kind of species to which it corresponds 
and then give the corresponding score.
Also awarded in the tournament are youngest fisherman,
the biggest dolphin, the biggest tuna, and biggest wahoo.
In this case, these are allowed to 
be brought ashore and weighed.
Firstly, in order to participate in the international competition,
we had to go to an internal competition among 
us here...among almost 200 boats.
From there I got first place,
then went to the international competition... 
a wonderful experience
among so many boats together...
We were awarded a price for the biggest tuna,
with a bonito of eighteen and a half pounds.
We are not used to this kind of thing...
We are used to fishing in small boats like the one I have…
but being among so many boats with so 
many technologies, with so much speed…
winning a price here is like…by a fluke.
The prices are carved in low relief, are made by hand and
this is what most catches the customers´attention,
that the pieces are natural.
The pieces are made with the bills of the swordfish,
that are recovered at the fishing 
bases, like the one in Cojimar.
We also work with bones, brass, shark 
teeth, spine and much other materials.
This tournament is a great party, both for Cuba 
because it represents the biggest sport fishing 
event ever made and for our visitors as well.
