This year's tournament produced one of the most thrilling competitions ever for this event.  Teams from as far afield as the east Atlantic and Hawaii boated marlin above the qualifying weight, keeping the result in suspense till late in the night Pacific time.

Madeira and the Canaries started the ball rolling early on July 4th, with Madeira weighing two fish to set the target for the rest of the world to beat. Fish seemed to be on the chew everywhere and Bermuda was next in action, with Capt Travis Butters on the Que Mas weighing a big fish at lines out to set the benchmark higher.  On the same day in Bermuda, Capt James Robinson released two blues caught with the aid of some sharp Hays Hooks to take home $49,000 for top release boat in the simultaneous BLAST tournament.

The Bermuda fish looked odds-on favourites to take out the July 4th top spot until late in the Hawaiian afternoon when Capt McGrew Rice on the Ihu Nui found his angler a really nice fish of 773lbs. Despite another boat fighting a similiar sized beast for 11 hours, McGrew and company took home the honours at the end of the day, thus sealing Kona's sixth win in this prestigious tournament.  Congratulations to all involved.

Several of the fish during the day fell to Legends, this one in Madeira ate an 22 series Andromeda aboard the Balancal !