"We departed today at 09:05 hours on our Shimano sponsored seven-day trip," wrote owner-skipper Frank LoPreste June 9. "I must say that for the crew and myself it is wonderful to be freed from the 12+ hours days of doing maintenance. We did get most of our work done and the boat looks great and appears to be running beautifully.

"We picked up an excellent load of bait and cleared Point Loma at 11:15 hours, headed for Alijos rocks. The Shimano reps passed out hats to all today and raffled off a Trinidad 16 with a butterfly jigging rod. The lucky number was 13, held by John Ma. Shimano has supplied the Royal Polaris with a large number of Tyrnos 30's, Trinidad 30's, and Trinidad 40's complete with rods. Our passengers will have the opportunity to borrow these reels and field test them before making a decision as to whether to purchase. There will also be daily prizes awarded each day thru the trip.

"Some of you might want to note that the Royal Polaris has 2 three-day trips, leaving June 26th and July1st at $695.00 each. With the Royal Star catching 34 Albacore in a few hours today it seems likely that the 3 day trips in late June and early July will provide some excellent Albacore fishing. Call our office at (619) 226-8030 for information or reservations."