The tents are down, the crowds have gone, the last piling’s been pulled, and it’s time to put another Bay Point Invitational into the history books.  Our crowd of 47 boats may have been a bit smaller than expected, but those that came, came to play.  With a total prize payout of just under a million dollars, Bay Point proved that you don’t need to kill a beautiful Blue Marlin to have a world class billfish tournament.  We’re proud of everyone involved with the Invitational – but we’re most proud of the 20 billfish that were caught and released to fight another day.  For those of you who missed the original broadcast on CSS, a recap will be aired August 3rd at 4:30 p.m. which you can catch locally on Comcast channel 26.  Keep close eye on www.baypointbillfish.com for updates on future airings. 

I’d be remiss, though, if I didn’t take the time to thank all of our marina boat owners and homeowners that put up with boat movements, temporary pilings, congested traffic and parking woes.  We honestly couldn’t do it without your support.  I’m consistently amazed at how the Bay Point community rallies around us while we’re trying to pull off this magic trick we call the Bay Point Invitational.  There are times when I feel like this is your tournament, and we’re just here to bring it to life.  Thank you for the opportunity, and thank you for your help.  It’s truly appreciated. 

The tournament may be behind us, but that doesn’t mean we’re turning out the lights and heading home.  Nope, we’re just getting started on several big projects we’ve been looking forward to for a long time.  Pretty soon we’ll start construction on our new in-ground fuel storage tanks.  Installation will most likely begin sometime after Labor Day and will involve tearing up a large portion of our parking lot, so expect parking to be at a premium for several weeks while we’re upgrading our tanks.  I’m also hopeful that our long-awaited dredging project will be put back into motion this fall.  As you know, we had to reschedule our maintenance dredge due to a scheduling conflict with the dredging contractor.  With any luck, we’ll be able to get the ball rolling again in a month or so.  While we’re at it, there’s also a strong possibility we’ll be able to install a new fish cleaning station, complete with a roof and a fish grinder.  I, for one, will be glad to get that bad boy installed.  We’ll keep you posted on the status on these long-awaited projects as they progress. 

As always, if you've got questions, suggestions, comments or referrals, give me a call or shoot me an e-mail. 

Thanks,

Steve Arndt

Director,

Bay Point Marina

850.235.6911

steve@coastalmarinamgt.com