The European Boat Championship 2025 was held on the Island of Fedje, Norway. With the Fedje Sea Fishing Club organising the event on behalf of EFSA Norway.
Sunday 3rd August saw the opening ceremony for the Championship which was held in an outdoor marquee, used for events in the town. Roar Sandvoll the Festival Officer for EFSA Norway and Chairman of Stavanger Deep Sea Angling club, opened the ceremony and compered the evening. The Mayor of Fedje, Stian Heroy, welcomed the anglers to the island of Fedje.
Next up was a Aksel Larsen the Chairman of EFSA Norway, who said a few words and welcomed everyone to the EFSA Boat Championship 2025. Then Marcus Wuest our EFSA Chairman took to the stage and declared the event officially open.
This was followed with a bowl of fish soup and bread for all the anglers and the boat skippers who attended. After which it was time for another drink and time to mingle with other anglers, many of who had not seen each other for maybe a year or more, but still greeted each other as if it were only yesterday.
Day 1
With a good forecast all boats headed North to a bank where big Ling were the primary target. So when all boats were in position the Championship was under way. There was a fine variety of rigs that were sent down to the 200m depth and most managed to catch something, however on some boats, no matter what was put down they could not attract a bite The boat I was on found a good number of Ling, although some on the boat avoided catching anything!! There were several Ling in the order of 16 to 18 kg which contributed well to the total weight, on which the day winners would be decided. The way the Championship was to be decided was percentage of the Anglers total weight on each boat, with count back to decide the winners position on weight of fish.
When the boats got back to shore those that were weighing in had to queue up with their fish boxes to get their turn at the scales.
There were 91 competitors in total, with 22 boat winners scoring 100%. Some of the larger boats were split between port and starboard and were scored as two separate boats. Due to the way some boats drifted or knowledge of the skippers, there was a substantial difference in the catches from boat to boat. Ten people blanked, catching no scoring fish for the day.
Of the Boat winners it was Marcus Wuest in first place with a count back total weight of 73kg, with Gary Galbraith in second with a weight of fish of 66kg.
Day 2, 3 and 4
Day 2 as the weather was not good it was decided to put the 2nd day from Tuesday to Wednesday and hold the EFSA Standing Committee meeting a day early. So Tuesday evening, as tackle was readied for the Wednesday fishing, word came round that Wednesday was cancelled. With the weather for Thursday already forecast to be the worst day it was also cancelled. There was then a meeting held on the Wednesday afternoon, where it was decided that, due to the strong winds and large swells that the rest of the competition should also be cancelled.
So the 4 day European Boat Championships 2025 came down to 1 days fishing to determine the placing of the awards for the event. As far as anyone can recall this was the first ever one day Championship. So congratulations to Marcus Wuest winning Gold, Gary Galbrath on winning the silver pin and the 4 man open team winners of, Cliff Newbold, Vernon Allen, Billy Cann and Hanne Mari Gjosaeter with a perfect score of 400%. 2 Man Open winners Cliff Newbold and Jarle Reitan. In 4th place overall and Top Senior was Kim Bowden.
Marcus Wuest officially closed the Championship and the flag was passed to EFSA South Africa who are hosting the 2026 Championships from Struisbaai, South Africa.
Report by Kim Bowden
Full Results (to follow)
Gallery
