Team Fountain Blows Away First Event on the 2006 SKA Pro Tour Quad-Powered Fountain 38 Beats the Fleet to the Fish, Takes Home the Rolex Personalized by Reggie Fountain

March 7, 2006 - WASHINGTON, NC - Fountain Powerboats' pro fishing team used incredible speed and skill to win the first tournament on the Southern Kingfish Association's 2006 Yamaha Professional Kingfish Tour, held in Key West, FL, March 2 - 4. Team Fountain's SKA anglers dominated the contest, taking home the $40,000 top prize and winning five out of the first 15 places overall. Tournament winner John Griffin on the 80-mph Fountain 38 Tournament Edition Line One, powered by four 250-hp Mercury Optimax motors, also received a gold-and-stainless steel Rolex Submariner watch personalized by Reggie Fountain, CEO of Fountain Powerboats, as part of the new Team Fountain SKA Tournament Reward Program.

The contest began with a fast and furious Bimini start. "Our boat jumped out in front of everybody and we left them behind," Griffin said. "At thirty miles out, we were five minutes ahead of the other boats." That's all the advantage Griffin and his Line One team needed. Hitting their first marked location, they stopped and dropped their lines. Almost immediately, angler Tim Eatmon hooked up to a 61.76-lb. king mackerel. By 8:45 a.m., Line One was leading the tournament.

On the second day, Line One team member A.D. Register caught a 24-lb. fish at the same location. They kept fishing, making full use of the Fountain's speed and offshore seakeeping ability. "The 38 Fountain is one of the safest and fastest boats on the water," Griffin said. "The boat is wide, which makes it more stable, even when you're sitting still." Forty-five minutes before the end of the tournament, team angler Tommy Howell clinched the win by bringing in a 42.7-lb. kingfish. "We were thirteen pounds above the second-place team," Griffin says.

Thanks to Fountain's new SKA Tournament Reward Program, Line One team captain Griffin, who has fished with Team Fountain's pro SKA team for three years, took home a host of lucrative prizes in addition to the Yamaha Pro Kingfish Tour's top purse for the Key West contest. "Reggie Fountain gave me a Rolex Submariner watch," he says. Team Fountain's unprecedented Reward Program prizes for winning first place in a Divisional or Pro SKA tournament also include $5,000 off your next Fountain Center Console purchase, $1,500 off your next Myco Trailer, $500 cash from TR-1 Autopilot Systems, 50 % off a Sign Zoo Marine Wrap (or $1,500 cash if you already have one) and a $500 gift certificate for C&H Lures.

"We're trying to create a unified team, with victorious results for the whole group," says Alden Thornton, Fountain Fishing Team Manager. This strategy certainly proved successful in Key West. "We had five places in the top fifteen, and eight in the top twenty," Thornton says. The next SKA tournament on the Yamaha Professional Kingfish Tour takes place April 27 - 29 in Fort Pierce, FL.