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Guatemalan Team Wins Inaugural Presidential Challenge of Central America Virtual Billfish Tournament

First fully virtual tournament deemed a success by organizers

The Guatemala-based Sur Reel team won the Billfish and Sailfish divisions in the inaugural Presidential Challenge of Central America Virtual Billfish Tournament, Powered by CaptApp. Anglers Eric Goetz, Diego Garcia and William Scarborough, fishing with Capt. Josue Hernandez, amassed 2,500 points to earn the Eagle Claw Grand Champion Team of Central America award.

In second place in the Sailfish division was the Prime Hook team, fishing aboard the Typhooncaptained by Kennedy Hernandez, another Guatemalan boat. They scored 1,100 points. The Costa Rica-based Double Nickel team, led by Nick Froelich, came in third in the Sailfish division with 200 points.

In the Marlin division, the Grand Slam team with Cristian Siebold, Rafael Buonafina and Pablo Velez scored 1,000 points. They also fished out of Guatemala. The Panamanian entry, Pescalo , earned a second-place finish, with 500 points for anglers Albert and Ernesto Btesh. Team Oasis Azul, fishing aboard the Allure II with Capt. Kiwi Van Leeuwen, took third place in the Marlin Category. With their 500 points added to the other Guatemalan boat totals, this gives Guatemala the distinction of being the winning country in the 2020 Presidential Challenge of Central America.

This was the first virtual billfish tournament held in the world, with anglers competing throughout Central America simultaneously. Each team used the CaptApp scoring app with video to log their catches, which were reviewed by independent judges each evening for accuracy. CaptApp, created by Capt. Joe Crawford, is a revolutionary new sport-fishing application for mobile devices, which allows anglers, captains and crews to accurately track their catches as well as use video to verify the time, species, location and other information.

Now in it’s 23 ^rd year, the Presidential Challenge of Central America supports a variety of conservation-based initiatives through the Presidential Challenge Charitable Foundation, The Billfish Foundation, IGFA and others. It promotes sport-fishing eco-tourism in Central America and elsewhere around the world.

The Presidential Challenge Charitable Foundation, Inc. is permanently dedicated and organized exclusively for educational, scientific and charitable purposes including but not limited to the following:

*To investigate, research and expand upon the present state of knowledge of the marine environment, in particular the billfish, which do or may populate same, as it affects the fishery in the United States and elsewhere, and to disseminate the information thus obtained.

*To develop and implement programs for the conservation and improvement of the fishery.

*To act as a coordinating entity with other groups, both governmental and non-governmental, in the promotion and achievement of the above purposes.

*To make distributions to organizations that qualify as exempt organizations under Section 501(c)(3) of the Internal Revenue Code as presently constituted or the corresponding provisions of any future United States internal Revenue Code.

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