South Florida Sails Run Away With Walker's Cay Open

The 2026 SFC Walker’s Cay Open delivered everything you could ask for: massive blue marlin, dramatic changes in the leaderboard, mechanical adversity, late-hour heroics, and a performance that stood head and shoulders above the rest.

At the final lines out on Championship Sunday, it was the South Florida Sails standing atop the leaderboard after a commanding performance. Across three days of competition in Walker’s Cay, the Sails stacked up 2,925 points behind six blue marlin releases between Lee Albarty and Alex Stanley. By the end of the weekend, Capt. Mike King, Brad Adam, Ben Simmons, and co. announced themselves as a force to be reckoned with.

Day 1: Sea Birds Strike Early, Sails Answer Back

Friday morning kicked off with the defending Walker’s Cay Open champions, the New Jersey Sea Birds, already battling adversity. After steering issues to start the season in Key West, The Flock arrived in the Bahamas dealing with a stuck trim tab that Captain Blaine Birch feared could fail completely during a hard reverse on a fish.

The mechanical issues did little to slow the defending champions early.

At 9:08 AM., Dave McKendrick released the tournament’s first scoring fish: a sailfish worth 75 points, giving the Sea Birds the early lead and immediately putting the new 2026 Grand Slam Bonus into play. Later in the morning, The Flock added a sailfish and white marlin, missing a second sailfish that would have completed a triple. 

But the tournament changed dramatically at 11:18 AM, when South Florida Sails angler Alex Stanley released the first blue marlin of the 2026 SFC season. The 450-point fish vaulted the Sails into first place and signaled the beginning of a historic weekend.

The Sea Birds immediately countered. 30 minutes later, Stephen Melchiorre released a blue marlin for the Sea Birds, completing the Grand Slam and earning the first ever 200-point bonus under the new scoring system. The 650-point swing pushed the Sea Birds back into the lead and gave them breathing room heading into the afternoon.

“It came in and annihilated the left long,” said New Jersey Sea Birds Captain Blaine Birch, regarding Melchiorre’s blue marlin.

South Carolina Outcast joined the action shortly afterward with a blue marlin release from Justin Matson, erasing memories of a scoreless Walker’s Cay Open in 2025, while North Carolina Flare also got on the board with a sailfish.

The biggest moment of Day 1 came late in the afternoon.

At 2:53 PM, Alex Stanley released his second blue marlin of the day for the South Florida Sails, swinging the lead back in their favor. Combined with earlier sailfish releases from Lee Albarty and Westin Bomnskie, the Sails ended Day 1 in first place with 1,050 points, narrowly ahead of the Sea Birds’ 900.

Day 2: The South Florida Sails Take Over

Saturday belonged entirely to the South Florida Sails. A tougher east wind and slower bite drastically reduced the number of opportunities across the fleet, but while most boats struggled to find consistent action, the Sails continued raising blue marlin at an incredible pace.

“The fishing was really good for us, we were holding the ball,” said Captain Mike King of South Florida Sails Angling Club. “I had an area to myself for a couple days and I really couldn’t understand why the boats weren’t coming.”

Lights Out Boston opened the scoring on Day 2 when Ray Rosher battled and released a blue marlin shortly after 9:00 AM, putting the 2025 Atlantic Division champions on the board for the first time in the tournament.

At 12:10 PM, Lee Albarty released another blue marlin to extend the Sails’ lead. Less than an hour later, Alex Stanley added a sailfish release, pushing the team beyond 1,500 total points.

Albarty released yet another blue marlin at 2:24 PM, then added a third blue of the day just after 3:00 PM. as the Sails stretched their total to 2,475 points, nearly 1,500 clear of second place.

Meanwhile, South Carolina Outcast added a sailfish from Trey Kemmerlin, North Carolina Flare battled frustrating gyro issues in rougher seas, and the Sea Birds narrowly avoided a rare scoreless day when they released a late white marlin worth 100 points.

When lines came out Saturday afternoon, the South Florida Sails had transformed a close tournament into a blowout.

Championship Sunday: Final Hour Heroics

Championship Sunday opened with the tournament lead appearing nearly untouchable, but the battle for the other positions created one of the most dramatic final days of the Atlantic regular season in years.

South Carolina Outcast immediately applied pressure in the morning with a double sailfish release from Justin Matson and Trey Kemmerlin, moving closer to the second-place Sea Birde.

North Carolina Flare then made a major jump when Thurman Humphries released a blue marlin worth 450 points, jumping them ahead of Lights Out Boston on the leaderboard.

But even on a day where placement battles tightened across the fleet, the South Florida Sails still found time to run up the score.

At 11:24 AM, Lee Albarty released yet another blue marlin,  the club’s sixth of the tournament, pushing the Sails to 2,925 points and bringing them within one blue marlin of tying the all-time SFC single-event team record of 7, set by Third Coast Renegades Angling Club during last year’s Pensacola Billfish Release Tournament.

The defending champion Sea Birds responded later in the afternoon when Mike O’Connor released a blue marlin that not only solidified New Jersey’s grip on second place, but also completed an individual Grand Slam for O’Connor,  the first individual Grand Slam recorded in SFC competition since the Texas Lone Stars accomplished the feat in Pensacola during the 2025 season.

Twice. Courtesy of Bryan Richter and Raul Perez.

At 2:10 PM, East Coast Remix finally got on the board with a blue marlin release from Kenny Hernandez. Less than an hour later, Remix hooked another blue marlin in the final hour of competition. Chandler Miles grabbed the leader at 3:35 PM, catapulting Remix from last place all the way into third overall, winning the final daily of the tournament.

“We had an hour left to get one blue to get into third in the overall and win the daily,” said Captain JC Cleare of East Coast Remix Angling Club. “Before we hooked the second fish we knew that if we didn’t get it we would be in 6th or 7th. Once you come in that low it’s really hard to catch back up to make it to Cabo.”

Not to be outdone, Lights Out Boston answered with a late blue marlin release of their own from Spencer Talbot at 3:50 p.m., surging back into fourth place in the final moments before lines out.

“It was at the bell, it was awesome,” said Captain Rob Carmichael of Lights Out Boston Angling Club. “It was great for morale.”

When the clock finally struck 4:00 PM, the South Florida Sails officially captured the 2026 Walker’s Cay Open championship, with Westin Bomnskie and Alex Stanley standing atop the iconic gantry to capture the flag.

Final Leaderboard
South Florida Sails — 2,925 Points
New Jersey Sea Birds — 1,450 Points
East Coast Remix — 900 Points
Lights Out Boston — 900 Points
South Carolina Outcast — 675 Points
North Carolina Flare — 525 Points
Rhode Island Breakers — 0 Points