COMPETITIONS
2023 Queens of the Ocean By Sheena Carnie HE sheriff has spoken: St Lucia is the place to be, even when the town is overrun with cowboys and the wild westerly is blowing. The 2023 running of the Queens of the Ocean competition at the beginning of September showed just how eager South Africa’s women are to join their men fishing out deep. The 2022 event was already well supported with 19 boats, but news of the fun event spread like wildfire, and this year a full capacity f leet of 35 boats and 105 anglers signed up. The first day, Friday, started perfectly calm, with the crews all gathered on
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the beach at 5am, enjoying the stillness of the early morning and the splendour of a full moon and star-studded sky overhead. But there were already whispers that we might not launch.The whispers were right, and the weather committee called a blowout thanks to a predicted 40 knot south-westerly which duly arrived around 9am. The women – including a number of first-timers – had come to town to fish, though, and some resorted to a bit of shore fishing before the wind got too strong, or else practised trolling lures across the swimming pools of the resorts where they were staying.
