Making new friends during the Alice Kelly Billfish Tournament in Manteo, NC

Have you ever jumped onto a boat headed 40+ miles offshore with a bunch of strangers?

I have.  I have done this several times in the past few years and knock on wood most of the trips have been the first steps to forming lifelong friendships.

Of course, before I step foot on that boat there are a million questions running through my head. “Am I going to do something stupid? (most likely) Will I like these people? (hopefully) What happens if it’s a bad fishing day? (it’s called fishing, not catching) What if these people don’t like me?! (Fuck)”. All these thoughts run a mile a minute through my head, and they run on repeat so much so that most of the time I get very little sleep the night before. 

How do I make them stop?  It’s usually not till right before I step on the boat.  That’s when I go to myself “well fuck it, we are here now and there isn’t no turning back”. At this point I shrug and tell myself it is, what it is, take a deep breath and board the boat.

This year I entered the Alice Kelly tournament in Manteo, North Carolina via an invite from a stranger that I was friends with on TikTok. And I am so glad I did!  First, what kind of courage did she have to ask? Second, what kind of balls did I have to accept?  Turns out both of us have some pretty big balls. We even shared an Airbnb together, another brave move and something my younger self never would have done. When I met her though, I just had to give her a hug the first time I saw her.  She is such a vibe, I knew instantly we were going to have fun. It wasn’t till the day of the tournament that we met the other ladies we would be fishing with, again all strangers to us.

Waiting in anticipation

It's always a little quiet that early in the morning as you are headed offshore.  Most people are trying to get in a few extra hours of sleep, those who can’t sleep are taking in the surroundings.  I have yet to meet anyone that is not happy to be headed offshore to fish. There is calmness to these mornings, a very “take it all in” feeling.  That’s typically what I do if I can’t sleep.  I am not much of a talker first thing in the morning but once I wake up, you best believe I will talk and talk all day until I either get hungry or tired.

Once we reached our destination, the captain and his crew prepped the lines, and we all listened to the rules of the tournament being read while we waited for the tournament to officially start. Once it started and lines were in the water, that’s when we all watched and waited in anticipation. 

Unfortunately, this day was not in our favor but as the day went on, all the ladies began talking and the jokes began to be told.  It was from that point forward we made up for bad fishing by laughing the day away.  I couldn’t think of a better way to spend a bad fishing day.  I can’t wait to see these same ladies this time next year!

All the ladies

Alice Kelly Memorial Ladies Only Billfish Tournament