A hundred boats, mostly from the United States, will participate in the 66th Ernest Hemingway International Billfish Tournament to run from this Monday through June 18th in Havana city.

This figure is the largest ever, breaking the 1979 record, when 85 boats were registered in the contest, among them 70 from the US, which will have 20 more this year.

The other participants are from France, Mexico, Puerto Rico, Spain, Italy, Canada, the Nederland and the host country, with 359 fishermen overall.

Francisco Diaz, marketing director of the Marlin SA business group, one of the organizers of the tournament, told Cuban News Agency that the event will start this afternoon at 5 PM with the traditional captain´s meeting, where the participants will learn about the rules of the contest.

Fishing days will be on the 14, 15 and 17, with the closing and awards ceremony scheduled for the 18th, at the El Papa restaurant in the Marina Hemingway in the outskirts of Havana city.

The Hemingway International Billfish Tournament was promoted for the Nobel Laureate in Literature American Ernest Hemingway in the 1950s and is the third oldest such a tournament in the world.