Tuulikki Abraham
Lüderitz
Pieter Head was crowned the overall winner of the 28th edition of the annual Snoek Derby held by the Lüderitz Yacht Club at the town over the weekend.
The Snoek Derby is an annual event and has been staged at the southern harbour town for the past 28 years during the snoek fishing season.
Participants with valid fishing licences took to the sea as early as 05h00 on Saturday and tried their luck until 13h00, all battling to catch the biggest snoek and hopefully walk away with the top prize.
Head caught the biggest snoek weighing 5.650kg to claim first prize of N$25 000 and also the skipper prize of N$5 000.
Michael Mackenzie finished second overall for a consolation prize of N$15 000 with his catch of 5.580kg. Third place went to Benjamin Sebel, who pocketed N$10 000 for his catch of 5.442kg.
Ulbel Pickering was fourth with his catch weighing 5.346kg and won an Angel freezer sponsored by Cymot. Out of the 231 participants, 99 managed to weigh their snoek.
One of the organisers, Maritza Morgan, said the event was a charity initiative and contributes largely to the less privileged communities in the town, with all catches donated to various soup kitchens and welfare organisations. She thanked the sponsors who made the event possible as well as the various vessel owners.