The Cabo Blanco Fishing Club and Col C. J. Tippett

Cloyce Joseph Tippett stands under the stuffed bluefin tuna on the wall of the Cabo Blanco Fishing Club’s main salon. He is posing with the boat captains and crew. The man in the checked shirt, to the right, is S. Kip Farrington Jr, founder of the Club. This picture was taken in the 1950s.

In the 1950s, in Cabo Blanco, Peru, world record catches were not unusual at the Cabo Blanco Fishing Club.

The club had been founded by the biggest names in sport fishing of the time, and members included rich and famous men. Everything about the club was focused on catching record fish, and the boat Captains were no exception.

The Cabo Blanco Fishing Club hired the captains and crew from the village, and the neighboring villages up the coast. These men had a lifetime of fishing experience, and additional training at the member’s expense in the fine art of world record fishing rules. 

Cloyce Joseph Tippett, who was pursuing a day job as the Director of the South American Office of the International Civil Aviation Organization, formed by the United Nations after World War II, was the also the Club’s director, and he often wrote of the dedication and enthusiasm of the boat Captains.

“The crews are quite depressed when the fishing is bad,” Tip wrote in a personal letter to a friend in the early 1950s, “They take it much worse than the guests!”

Fishing for black marlin and other big game fish was not just a job for the boat crews, it was a passion. The giant fish were often a food source for the village families, but it was more that as well.

The Club members were proving their sportfishing dedication by paying the extraordinary membership fee, but they were under-achievers compared to the commitment of the fishing boat crews.

This photo, showing Tip in the middle, Kip Farrington on the right, and the boat crews in the middle, is one of few images illustrating these behind-the-scene heros of The Cabo Blanco Fishing Club.

Tip’s book is coming soon – getting closer every day. It has a huge amount of fascinating detail about The Club, and Tip’s involvement with it. Join my growing list of people who want to be notified when the book is released by contacting us. We never, ever, sell your contact information.

 

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