EFSA European Boat Championship 2018 was held from Olafsvik West-Iceland from 28th May to 1st June with 134 anglers from 15 Sections; Belgium (5), England (21), France (5), Germany (5), Gibraltar (6), Iceland (10), Ireland (24), Italy (7), Norway (10), Russia (7), Portugal (5), Scotland (16), South Africa (5), South Africa LTB (7) and Switzerland (1).

The Championship was fished to the General Rules for EFSA Boat Championships. It was a specie championship with max. 10 fish in each specie that counted for points. An angler with the most fish points on board was the boat winner with 100% score. If there were two anglers with the same number of fish points then the winner of a boat was the angler with the most species and then the most fish.

In the Championship there were 14 boats with four to six anglers on board of each boat and the skippers were all local professional fishermen or from Patreksfjordur, North-West Iceland. The Championship was planned as four days of fishing but on the second fishing day Tuesday 29th May the boats could not go out due to bad weather. Fishing hours were 5 each day in two sessions; the morning session from 07:00-13:00 and the afternoon session from 14:00 to 20:00.

The total catch for the three two days was 7.734 fish that counted and 16 species; Cod, Coalfish, Haddock, Common Dab, Redfish, Whiting, Catfish (Wolf fish), Ling, Tusk, Sculpin, Plaice, Halibut, Long Rough Dab, Flounder, Megrim and Starry Ray.

Results:

Individual overall and European Champion 2018. 1 place: Petter Skudal, Norway with 300%, 566 points, 9 species and 103 fish. 2 place: Scott Gibson, Scotland with 300%, 490 points, 7 species and 96 fish. 3 place: Andrew Smith, England with 300%, 471 points, 9 species and 71 fish.

Lady and European Champion 2018: 1 place: Katharina Schleiff, Germany with 291.38 %, 431 points, 8 species and 80 fish.

Two man team. 1 place: Lars Hellum and Petter Skudal, Norway with 586.23%, 2 place: Ray Barron and Ash Currier, England with 579.84%. 3 place: Peter Redshaw and Scott Gibson, Scotland with 575.78%.

Four man team. 1 place: Lars Hellum, Tor Arne Rygg and Jostein Lundal, Norway and Heiko Dreier, Ireland with 1133.08 %. 2 place: Peter Redshaw and Scott Gibson, Scotland and Petter Skudal and Torunn Handeland, Norway with 1122.85%. 3 place: Colin Searles, Nigel Hearn and Kenneth Smith, England and Marcus Wust, Germany with 1105.74%.

National team. 1 place: Norway A; Petter Skudal, Tor Arne Rygg, Lars Hellum, Roar Sandvoll and Torunn Handeland with 1162.75% score. 2 place: Scotland A; Scott Gibson, Alastair Forsyth, Peter Redshaw, Mark Duncan and Derek Yuille with 1122.8% score. 3 place: Germany; Katharina Schleiff, Marcus Wust, Herbert Schaffner, Hans-Jürgen Glaeser and Hans Mehlhop with 1110.44% score.

Senior. 1 place: Mario Ramos, Gibraltar 287.69%, 2 place: Alastair Forsyth, Scotland with 284.21%. 3 place: Warren Doyle, Ireland with 279.48%.

Life members. 1 place: Petter Skudal, Norway with 300%, and 566 points. 2 place: Scott Gibson, Scotland with 300% and 490 points. 3 place: Andrew Smith, England with 300% and 471 points.

Executive team. 1 place: Joseph van Huyssteen, South Africa LTB, André Machiels, Belgium, Nigel Hearn, England and Petter Skudal, Norway with 1144.72%. 2 place: Stefano Salvotti, Italy, Andrew Smith, England, Mark Duncan, Scotland and Hersir Gíslason, Iceland with 1093.88%. 3 place: Charlie Lara, Gibraltar, Andrew Brits, South Africa LTB, Matt Osbourne, England and Warren Doyle, Ireland with 1090.58%.

Single day best catch male and female. Petter Skudal, Norway with 230 points and Katharina Schleiff, Germany with 163 points.

Most fish. Petter Skudal, Norway with 103 fish.

Most unusual fish. Skarphéðinn Ásbjörnsson, Iceland with a Starry Ray, 40 cm long (wing span), 1.58 kg and 57 cm long (tail).

Best skipper. 1 place: Skarphéðinn Ásbjörnsson, Guðlaugur SH-62 boat no. 2, with 135.48 av. points pr. angler each day. 2 place: Ævar Þrastason, Doddi SH-222 boat no. 6, with 133.17 av. points pr. angler each day. 3 place: Einar Helgason, Kolga BA-070 boat no. 15, with 132.5 av. points pr. angler each day.

Best (longest) fish in each of 16 species:

Length Weight Girth

Angler Section Fish in cm in kg in cm

Roy Shipway Ireland Cod 118

Colm Crean Ireland Megrim 45 0.59 23

Alan Bird England Coalfish 118.2 16.2 65

Sven Hermans Belgium Catfish 102 8.89 53

Mark Duncan Scotland Haddock 80 3.8 39

Liam Kennedy Ireland Common Dab 43

Andrew Brits South Africa LTB Common Dab 43

Robert Quinn England Redfish 46

Raymond O'Sullivan Ireland Whiting 51

Alan Murphy Ireland Ling 85

Andrew Smith England Sculpin 22

Gunnar Jónsson Iceland Tusk 71

Raymond Mackay Scotland Plaice 55

Hans Mehlhop Germany Flounder 35

Skarphéðinn Ásbjörnsson Iceland Strarry Ray 40 1.58

No prize was awarded for Long Rough Dab as no measurement existed and by Icelandic law it is not allowed to bring a Halibut on shore. See for more details in the full report.

The Prize giving ceremony and the Gala-dinner was held at the Community house Klif in Olafsvik on Friday 1^st June.

EFSA Iceland likes to thank everybody that made the Championship become a reality; the anglers, the skippers, the Organizing Committee, the members of EFSA HQ, the sponsors and the municipality and the local people of Olafsvik.

Issued on 10^th June 2018

EFSA Iceland

Welcome to Olafsvik for the European Boat Championship to be held from 28^th May to 1^st June 2018 and organized by EFSA Iceland. A total of 138 anglers are fishing in the venue from 15 Sections; Belgium, England, France, Germany, Gibraltar, Iceland, Ireland, Italy, Norway, Russia, Portugal, Scotland, South-Africa, South-Africa LTB, Switzerland.

Information

Meetings:

The EFSA Standing Committee Meeting (SCM) will be held in the Klif Community House Sunday 27^th and starts at 09:30.

The Annual General Meeting (AGM) will follow the SCM.

The EFSA HQ meeting will be held at the Fisherman’s museum in Hellissandur Saturday 26^th May and starts at 20:00 (contact Skarphedinn Asbjörnsson EFSA Fisheries Officer tel. +354 852 6662).

The meeting for the skippers will be held in Hotel Olafsvik Saturday 26^th May and starts at 18:00.

The meeting for the Fishing Captains will be held in Hotel Olafsvik Saturday 26^th May and starts at 20:00.

The Flag Parade will start from the Fish Market Ennisbraut 34 in the town center, Sunday 27^th May at 14:00. Assemble for the parade at 13:00-13:30. We will walk to the Community House Klif where the Opening Ceremony, the Prize giving Ceremony and the Gala dinner will be held. At the Opening Ceremony EFSA Iceland will invite you all to taste the traditional Icelandic meat (lamb) soup.

The boats: We are using small boats 4 to 6 anglers on a boat with professional skippers. Most of the skippers speak English. The boats will go out from two harbours Olafsvik and Rif (6 km from Olafsvik) and there will be a bus transporting anglers between the harbours.

The boat draw: The boat draw is changed from the draw last April. See the list in the information paper which boats you are on.

The fishing: The fish has to be killed by bleeding and brought onshore. You will be provided with a bucket onboard for your fish. When the skipper has written your fish down on the Scorecard the fish is put into the common box. If you got more than 10 fish in specie, fish no. 11 is put directly into the common box. Longest fish does always count, e.g. if fish no. 11 is longer than fish no. 10 you can replace a fish. The skipper will help you bleed the fish if you want to. If you got a record fish or if it is your personal record you can tag it (you will be provided with fish tags) and bring it onshore for measuring.

Bait: We will be using Mackerel and Squid as bait. No points for bait fish or Herring.

Fishing Captain: The role of the Fishing (Angling) Captain and his main tasks, see the info in the information paper.

Teams: The 2 man and 4 man teams, see the list in the information paper.

Tackle shop: There is no tackle shop in Olafsvik but one of our members is selling limited items of tackle. Contact Kibbi (Kristbjörn Rafnsson), tel. +354 899 5634. Each angler will get free of charge two leads, 200 gr. and 400 gr.

The spouse tour: By invitation of EFSA Iceland starting from the HQ Hotel in Olafsvik at 09:00 Tuesday 29^th May, by minibus to Stykkisholmur, a “Vikingsushi” tour with sailing for about 2 1/2 hours around the islands in Breidafjordur enjoying the environment, watch whales and sea birds and eat some tasty seafood onboard.

Issued on 20^th May 2018

EFSA Iceland Organizing Committee

The European Shore Championship 2019 will be held from Akureyri, Iceland 2^nd, 3^rd and 4^th of May 2019. The HQ hotel for the venue will be Hotel Kjarnalundur about 3.5 km. from Akureyri´s town center. Book your accommodation on Þetta tölvupóstfang er varið gegn ruslpósts þjörkum, Þú verður að hafa JavaScript virkt til að sjá það. and quote EFSA2019.

The boat draw for the European Boat Championship to be held from Olafsvik, Iceland 28^th May to 1^st June 2018 is done and the list has been sent out to your Section´s secretary. 138 anglers will be fishing on 30 boats, 12 four man boats and 18 five man boats. We will go out from two harbours, Olafsvik and Rif which is about 6 km. from Olafsvik.