English Boat Championship
Plymouth 2008
It was good to be back in Plymouth again although for us oldies it took some getting used to being on the other side of the harbour. Apart from a couple of hiccups with no early breakfast and one van breaking down taking the tackle round to the boats it was an excellent competition. First day we fished the East Rutts where there were plenty of Ling and Conger but some of us struggled to get the Pollack. The ones who got their five maximum pointers early on had time to target the bigger scoring Congers.
Boat winners on day one were Martin Bobbett, Gary Galbraith, Mike Patton, Rod Adamson and young Darren Latimer, fishing Plymouth for the first time. The Sunday draw put Rod, Gary and Darren head to head on the same boat and it was the cheerful Welshman who triumphed after a close match with Ray Barron, who was also on the boat, and Gary. Darren was unfortunately drawn on the wrong side, fishing under the boat from number two position. Martin Bobbett came close to another boat win but his 97.96% was enough to give him his first EFSA pin. Boat winners on the second day were Rod, Dave Oliver, Mike Smith, Tony Hudson and second day winner Paul Hart.
We tried having drawn teams only at this Championship which was met with mixed reaction, mainly positive. We somehow ended up with a trophy for the longest Gurnard! Colin Searles caught the only one over the two days, just making the limit of 20cm. He assures me he caught it on his special Gurnard rig.
Individual results
1st Rod Adamson 200.00 Gold Pin
2nd Martin Bobbett 197.96 Silver Pin
3rd Gary Galbraith 191.89 Bronze Pin
4th Ray Barron 175.47
5th Mike Patton 174.51
6th Dave Oliver 173.08
7th Richard Russell 172.38
8th Mike Smith 169.97
9th Rolf Marschalek 166.67
10th Paul Hart 161.54
11th Colin Searles 157.30
12th Steve Clements 157.24
13th Tony Hudson 157.14
14th Brian Moss 153.31
15th Kev Sampson 150.98
16th Darren Latimer 148.94
17th Ken Smith 147.60
18th Andy Deaven 144.10
19th Roy Shipway 143.58
20th Billy Short 137.57
21st Dave Clark 137.46
22nd Ray Evans 134.96
23rd Kim Bowden 131.61
24th Billy Cann 127.53
25th Neil Bryant 126.24
26th Brab Hallowes 126.11
27th Steph Baker 124.42
28th Rob Quinn 120.66
29th John Fissell 116.52
30th Marcus Wuest 115.79
31st Ian McLean 112.24
32nd Matt Osbourne 110.82
33rd Rob Troy 100.26
34th Roger Whiting 96.16
35th Barry Senior 95.27
36th Jim Whippy 95.02
37th Neil Barnes 94.26
38th Tom Worthy 93.68
39th Ash Currier 87.50
40th Alan Bird 86.27
41st Graham Latimer 75.49
42nd David Styles 70.36
Two man drawn team
1st Paul Hart & Martin Bobbett, 359.50pts.
2nd Gary Galbraith & Kevin Sampson, 342.87
3rd Dave Clark & Rod Adamson, 337.46
Four Man drawn
1st Brian Moss, Colin Searles, Ken Smith & Mike Patten, 632.72
2nd Brab Hallows, Mike Smith , Steve Clements & Ray Evans, 588.28
3rd Billy Cann, Gary Galbraith, Alan Bird & Rolf Marschalek, 572.37
Life Members
1st Martin Bobbett, 197.96
2nd Gary Galbraith, 191.89
3rd Ray Barron, 175.47
Day 1 winner, Rod Adamson, 100% (74pts)
Day 2 winner, Paul Hart, 100% (57pts)
Norman Witt Trophy for longest Gurnard, 20.5cm, Colin Searles
Report by Jim Whippy