Welcome to the 24th annual World Cup Blue Marlin Championship. We look forward to your participation in this unique and exciting international event. Each year the World Cup attracts many of the world’s most experienced and skilled anglers and captains. This year we expect several new big marlin locations to be represented in the competition. Eight of the past twentythree World Cup events could have been won by blue marlin weighing less than 600 lbs. Twelve of the competitions could have been won with a 650 lb blue. We note that many tournaments along the Gulf Coast, Florida Panhandle, Mid-Atlantic Coast, Bahamas, and Caribbean are often won by fish of this size. We encourage anglers in these locations to participate in the 2008 World Cup. Bermuda and Kona have each won the World Cup five times. They field far more boats on July 4th than other locations. If the Cape Verde Islands, Principe, Madeira, Azores, Gulf Coast, Bahamas, Caribbean, Portugal, Angola and South Pacific had the same number of boats, the competition would really heat up. The current record payout for the World Cup is $375,000. We would like to see that record broken in 2008. Good luck and good fishing!