PORTLAND, Jamaica — The canoe “Gifted” with Captain Donovan Green, his brother Geovoni Green and Patrick Wainwright landed a marlin weighing 242.8 pounds to capture the 40th Port Antonio Canoe Tournament.

They received a gift basket, the Yamaha Engines trophy, and a Yamaha boat engine.

Second-place Red Bull, who were last year’s champions, received the West Indies Petroleum trophy for their 122.6 pound marlin. Third was Lucky One with a 113.2 pound marlin.

The Portland Chamber of Commerce ran the canoe tournament along with the Sir Henry Morgan Anglers Association.

Captain Green of Gifted which is from Pagee Beach in Port Maria, St Mary was elated.

“This is a wonderful prize and it was a hard fight with the marlin as my finger got hurt. We fought for more than 15 minutes. We enjoyed the ride over from Pagee Beach (Port Maria) as we all came to win we are going home with the prize but we are all winners. We are surprised about the engine as we did not expect this,” Green shared.

Donovan has been involved in the canoe tournament for over eight years.

“In 2018 we won on ‘She’s Royal’ but this year it is my boat ‘Gifted’. The tournament was good and went down but is coming back up now. We are happy,” he added.

Andrae Alexander from Yahama Engines said, “We are delighted to give this engine to these real fishermen who endure the hazards of the weather for their livelihood, and we hope this engine will make their experience better.”

The tournament had sponsors from Yamaha Engines, West Indies Petroleum, CC Bakery, KFC, Portland Chamber of Commerce and Sir Henry Morgan Anglers Association.

Interestingly, Rabbit of the Sea landed a marlin weighing 124.4 pounds but came in after the weighing station was closed, resulting in the disqualification of the marlin. They were however awarded a fair play prize.

— Everard Owen