SEBASTIAN — The annual Sebastian Exchange Club Bluewater Open Charity Fishing Tournament this weekend at Capt. Butcher’s Resort was the best ever: a solid field; big, excited crowd; impressive fish; significant prize money; and, best of all, the extremely popular event raised the most money in its 22 years of reeling ‘em in.
Early reports indicated approximately $55,000 raised, in support of child abuse prevention and other youth-related efforts – $5,000 above last year’s total.
The very well-run tournament is the club’s only annual fundraiser, and each of the 46 members, plus a crew of dedicated volunteers, had his or her part to play, under the direction of Event Co-Chairs Eva Chapman and Michael Natale. Platinum Sponsors were: TD Bank, Health First and Tiki Bar and Grill.
The weather was still iffy at 6 a.m. Saturday – choppy seas and a light drizzle – as the 89-boat field headed out, but by mid-morning it’d cleared off, warmed up and smoothed out, and all was blue skies, temps in the 80s and a nice bit of a breeze. By Noon final preparations were under way, the “lull before the storm,” as the 2 p.m. start of the weigh-in period approached.
By absolutely no later than 5 p.m., all boats were required to check in with the Committee Boat, anchored near the channel. A few weighed in shortly after 2, but most stayed out as long as possible, resulting in a stack-up from about 4 on, when the action in the water and on shore really got crankin’.
High-energy music and emcee Natale kept the crowd entertained as they awaited the start of weigh-in. With an endless store of banter and a strong set of pipes, Natale announced each and every fish, while Eagle Scout volunteers Zach Timm, Jarrod Simmons and Lee Roberts hoisted the fish onto the scale.
Between the Committee Boat and the official scale, each boat had to stop at the east end of the dock, where Paul Reeves and Rene Van de Voorde were directing the ever more hectic traffic.
Arguably the most important thing the anglers needed to know was, “If you don‘t have your plate, you’re toast!” Each crew received a paper plate with a number on it and, if they couldn’t produce it for Reeves and Van der Voorde, they couldn’t weigh in. End of story. So the pair spent a lot of time yelling, “Where’s your plate? Show us your plate!”
This year the Exchange Club streamed live the entire event via the tournament website. One of the boat sponsors, Dr. Neil Heskell, on vacation in Nice, France, called on his cellular to say he was watching the action in real time. So, of course, Natale had the crowd yell “Hi!” to him.