“We knew we had a nice marlin with a good chance of winning, but there was also another boat with a fish heading to the scales,” Francis told the Herald.
“Furthermore, there was still fishing in Kona, and that place has won the cup more times than any. Needless to say, it was a gruelling wait.
“We finally received the call from World Cup headquarters and initially didn’t realise what they had just told us.”
The other fish, which was caught off the Gulf of Mexico with a similar length and girth, weighed 36kg less than theirs.
For winning, the crew took home a prize of more than NZ$2 million, while the marlin was donated and distributed through a local church to families in need.
It was the 12th time Francis and his team had competed in the event but the first time they had boated a marlin for the competition.
Francis, who is based in Tahiti, says most of the fish caught are tagged and released, and his team are involved in marlin tagging research through Stanford University.
“It’s a unique format where it is fished for one day only, around the globe in your time zone,” said Francis. “Tahiti and Hawaii share the same time zone and are the last countries to fish.”
The tournament is held every year on July 4 and was first contested in 1985.
The other Kiwis to have won the event are Marty Bates and Mark Noakes.
Ben Francis is an Auckland-based reporter for the New Zealand Herald who covers breaking sports news.
