The organizing work for the European Boat Championship to be held from Olafsvik, Iceland 28^th May to 1^st June 2018 is going well. 139 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

Practicing boats: After April 9^th it is open to book practicing boats on Friday 25^th May, Saturday 26^th May and Sunday 27^th May (08:00-12:00). The practicing hours will be 4. Each fishing trip and the boats will go out two times a day, in the morning and in the afternoon. Please let your Secretary know if you want to book a boat for practicing and he will send your booking to EFSA Iceland.

The boats: We will be using small boats 3 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.

Fishing rules: Due to a printing error in the venue brochure three fishing rules were omitted:

18. Maximum of two hooks is permitted on a trace. One of the hooks can be double or treble hook but must then be assembled to a pirk. Double or treble hooks may never be baited.

25. The “Boat Winner” each day will get 100 boat points and the other anglers will have their boat scores expressed as a percentage of the Boat Winner’s score.

26. In the event of a tie, the angler with highest fishing point will decide followed by a greater number of fish.

The point system and fishing: The Championship is a Specie Championship and 10 fish a day in each specie counts for points. We will be fishing on drift mostly at 30 to 60 meters deep. The bottom is rather good and we will not lose many tackle. See for the point system and minimum sizes, fishing gear and fishing technique in the venue brochure.

Fishing Captains: A total number of 61 anglers have been nominated as Fishing Captains. As we will be using up to 35 small boats, some nominee has to be more than two days as Fishing Captain.

Fish to catch: Cod, Coalfish, Haddock, Redfish, Dab, Catfish (Wolf fish) and Whiting. We expect to fish few Ling, Shorthorn Sculpin (Scorpion fish), Tusk (Brosme) and Grey Gurnard. We hope to catch some Rough Dab, Flounder, Halibut, Monkfish and Plaice and maybe some Starry Ray and Pollock (very rare). There is no Wrasse, Conger, Garfish, Pouting, Dogfish, Scad, Brill or Smoothound.

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.

Teams: It is free of charge to register into 2 man and 4 man teams. Now we have registration for

40 x 2 man teams and 19 x 4 man teams. Your Secretary has the list of the teams already registered.

Tackle shop: There is no tackle shop in Olafsvik. Each angler will get free of charge two leads, 200 gr. and 400 gr.

Clothing: It can be cold and windy in May in Iceland. Bring with you warm cloths and boots.

The trip to Olafsvik: Driving from Keflavik (Reykjavik airport) to Olafsvik is about 250 km. The best way is to rent a car at the airport as there is no bus connection to Olafsvik from Reykjavik (no trains in Iceland).

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.

EFSA uniform: You have to wear EFSA uniform at the Parade and Flag & Opening Ceremony, the Prize giving Ceremony and the Gala dinner.

The Gala Dinner: If any Section wants to perform at the Gala Dinner with song/guitar etc., tell us.

Protest Committee: Skarphedinn Asbjörnsson, EFSA Iceland, Chairman, Joe Connolly, EFSA Scotland, Mike Smith, EFSA England, Dmitry Baturin, EFSA Russia and Roar Sandvoll, EFSA Norway. Protest Committee meetings to be held at Dvergasteinn, Hellissandur.

Issued on 8^th April 2018

EFSA Iceland Organizing Committee