Date, Date, Date

In the real estate world it’s all about location, location, location. On the tournament scene it’s all about the date. Choosing a good date is not only important, but very difficult. You must take many factors into account when picking the perfect date. Ahhh, but there’s the rub; there is no “perfect” date. Although you can try to avoid it, there will always be a conflict of some sort.

The Sailfish Kickoff was originally run on the 2nd weekend of December in 2004. The date was great. There were no conflicts and the fishing crowd really enjoyed the early winter fishing. In 2005 there was an unavoidable change to the 1st weekend of December. Contrary to popular belief this was not a whim. My company runs many events including the Miami International Boat Parade. The Coast Guard permit for 2005 was issued for the second Saturday of December; a direct conflict with the Sailfish Kickoff. So I moved it to the 1st weekend of December. This move affected a tournament series in the Keys, the Gold Cup. I made a personal commitment that if the Boat Parade changed dates, I would slip the tournament back into the Sailfish Kickoff’s original date of the 2nd weekend in December.

The Boat Parade changed dates and I moved the tournament to Dec. 7-10. It’s that simple.

Although I did not know it at the time, I now know of the conflict this move causes with the WBS Tournament. I sincerely regret the conflict, but the Kickoff’s date cannot be changed again. I realize this will affect the tournament since some boats are committed to fishing the WBS Championship, but as I’ve said before there is no perfect date.

In the future, I will work toward securing the dates for all tournaments in a much more concrete manner. For example, the Mayor’s Cup is always the weekend before the Super Bowl. Period. I am also going to invite other tournament directors in the area to form a consortium to help plan and avoid these sorts of conflicts.

In closing, I would like to apologize for any inconvenience this move has caused. Those of you who know me personally realize that this is sincere. I appreciate the support of all the teams who fish our events and those who call and write with suggestions. Believe it or not, I appreciate all the e-mail and calls. I look forward to a great 2006/2007 season.

Now, where is that tagged sailfish?! LINK

Tony Albelo