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Escapade earns $150,000 in white marlin tournament
By Ed Killer
special to the news In the past several years, world-class anglers and captains with ties to the Treasure Coast have been making their mark in The world''s biggest and most prestigious fishing tournaments. Recently, the world-famous 
Mid-Atlantic 500 Billfish Touma-nent was held in Cape May. N.J.. featuring the richest purse for any fishing tournament . Ad¬vertising a total purse over $1 million in cash. the Mid-Atlantic drew 150 boats. Boats fished three of five days and earned points based on the number of white marlin releases 
and heaviest while martin weighed, with a 60-pound min¬imum weight required. Finishing first with the most overall points was Escapade, a 58-foot Tribute owned by Hank and Grectchen Manley of Palm Reach and piloted by Stuart Cap-tain Rob Moore. Captain Billy Harfield of Smart was aboard as 
The crew of Escapade, last year''s Stuart Sailfish Club Light Tackle Tournament Team Divi¬sion champion, tallied 17 while marlin in the Mid-Atlantic and two of the tournament''s three heaviest whites. The runner-up boat released just four white mar¬lin. 
"We had the three heaviest marlin until the last 30 minutes of the weigh-in." Moore said, "but someone brought in a 77-pounder to take first. We still held second with a 69-pounder and tied for third." Despite being knocked out of first place, the Escapade won $I50.000 in prize money. 
Although the Mid-Atlantic awards prize money for dead bill-fish. Moore said that of the 30 fish his boat caught, only five were killed. Moore will be taking the Escapade to Venezuela to fish for whte marlin and should re-turn in time for the winter billfish .season on the Treasure Coast.
Escapade''s ''Fantasy'' Day—Richard Gibson
Some call it a "fantasy slant," Some call it a "royal flush." Whatever phrase you prefer, the fact that there''s no universally accepted term for the teat of catching five billfish species in a single day effectively communicates the fact, that it''s never been accomplished.
Until now, On October 21, Hank Manley and the 52-foot Tribute Escapade began what was to be a half-day of fishing the La Guaira Bank in Venezuela. They ended up pulling off the unthinkable — catching a blue rnarlin, white marlin, sailfish, spearfish and sword-fish in less than seven hours, all by a single angler.
Hank and Grctchen Manley began their fantasy day at noon, and within 10 minutes pulled the hooks on a potential grand slam. Undaunted, Grctchen released two whites, neither of which played a role in the royal flush. That feat began with an estimated 500-pound blue marlin on 50 for Hank.
Thirty minutes passed and then the left long rigger went down. Hank dropped back and to everyone''s surprise, a 25-pound longbill spearfish came tight and put on a beautiful show before being photographed and released next to the boat. It was the first-ever spearfish caught aboard Escapade and now the crew began thinking of the possibilities.
Certainly one of the advantages to owning a 42-knot boat is being able to steam to different locations pronto, and Capt. Robbie Moore did just that. They ran west of the bank where they spotted feeding whales and birds, and proceeded to raise two whites, which Hank released. Manley now had released a blue, spear and white, which sent the Escapade steaming back to the La Guaira Bank in search of a sailfish. At exactly 5 p.m., Hank got lucky and hooked a small sail for his first-ever super slam.
With that, Moore radioed the nearby Georgia Girl and asked to borrow several light sticks. Congratulations and advice on where to find swordfish filled the airwaves as Escalade was on the pins once again at 42 knots, traveling 16 more miles west of the bank.
First mate Antonio Ferrera had rigged two fresh bonito, "Venezuelan style" with the hook flossed into the tail, and placed the baits at 110 and 50 fathoms deep. Hank enjoyed the calm, beautiful sunset, puffed a Cuban Montecristo cigar and waited until 6:45 p.m. At that moment the short balloon went down, and he was hooked up to a jumping swordfish. Twenty minutes later and the 60- to 70-pound sword was released and on his way, as was the Escapade, headed back to the dock at Marina Portofino to catch Game 2 of the World Series — approximately enough won by the Marlins in the end.

SPECIFICATIONS:
LOA BEAM DRAFT	58' 0" ?'?" ?'?"	WEIGHT FUEL WATER POWER	? pounds ? gallons ? gallons ?

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