2018 LOS SUEÑOS SIGNATURE TRIPLE CROWN COMES TO AN END
Ten percent of the total releases were marlin
Los Sueños Resort and Marina, located at Playa Herradura on Costa Rica’s Central Pacific Coast, held the third and final leg of the 2018 Los Sueños Signature Triple Crown billfish series, presented by Chantilly Air, March 21-24. A total of 43 of the world’s most competitive billfishing teams comprised of 207 individual anglers challenged each other over three days of fishing, releasing a total of 564 billfish, including 518 sails and 46 marlin.
DAY 1
Jaruco took an early lead, releasing a sail at 8:41 am and a marlin at 9:43 am. They stayed at the top of the leaderboard nearly all day, but Geaux Fly wasn’t going to let them have it that easily and took over top spot at 3:27 pm with a sailfish release. Geaux Fly released another sail at 3:49 pm to secure their first place finish for Day 1 (13 sails, 1 marlin), 100 points ahead of Jaruco, in second with 1700 points (7 sails, 2 marlin), and Gunsmoke in third with 1200 points (7 sails, 1 marlin). The talk of the day though, was the 750 pound black marlin that Caramba released at 4:53 pm, nearly an hour after lines out. It was almost a six hour battle, having called in their hook up at 11:04 am that morning, and moved Caramba from 25th to 10th, ending the day with 700 points (2 sails, 1 marlin).
DAY 2
By 10:30 am on Day 2 there were already 8 marlin released. By 12 pm on the same day Jaruco had taken over first place with 2000 points, followed by Geaux Fly with 1900 points and Outlaw with 1400 points. If there was a battle to be had, it seemed to be for third place, with Tarheel bumping Outlaw off the leaderboard and taking third with 1800 points by 2 pm. That’s the way it seemed, anyway. Outlaw showed that they weren’t going anywhere, taking second with 2100 points at the end of the day (11 sails, 2 marlin), 300 points behind Jaruco (14 sails, 2 marlin) and only 100 points ahead of Geaux Fly (15 sails, 1 marlin).
DAY 3
The last day of any Triple Crown tournament series is a tough go for those teams competing in the “Triple Crown Showdown”. Stakes are high and tensions higher, with teams yearning to earn bragging rights and a beautiful take-home trophy by metalocean.com, by artist Sean Tuttle out of Hampton, Virginia. By 9 am on Day 3, Jaruco was still in first, followed by Outlaw, and then Geaux Fly. Just one hour later, Geaux Fly had moved to second and was followed by Reel Screamer. Less than five minutes after the 10 am update, Geaux Fly released a sail to take first place, moving everyone down. Gunsmoke had only released three sails in the same amount of time, but seemed to pick up steam after releasing a marlin at 10:30 am, going on to release 9 sails and a second marlin at 2:39 pm, earning them top position for the third day and a three-day combined total of 3800 points (18 sails, 4 marlin), Geaux Fly finished in second for the tournament with 3700 points (17 sails, 4 marlin), and Jaruco third with 2800 points (18 sails, 2 marlin).
BACK STORIES
3rd $30,000 Jaruco: 2,800 points, 18 sails and 2 marlin
Jaruco, a 90’ Jarrett Bay Boatworks, captained by Tyler Andresen, with anglers Ralph de la Torre, Mike Hardy, Zach Ferrell, Justin Petrelli, and Jim McGrath, earned their first podium finish this year since they first started competing in the Triple Crown in 2015. They finished second on Day 1 and first on Day 2.
2nd $45,000 Geaux Fly: 3,700 points, 17 sails and 4 marlin
The family team aboard Geaux Fly, a 43’ Maverick, captained by David Mesen, has been participating on and off since 2016. This is also their first podium finish with anglers Will Drost (father), Mitch Drost (grandfather), Cullen Richardson (son-in-law), Anna Leigh Richardson (daughter), and Eduardo Espinoza. They finished first on Day 1 and third on Day 2.
1st $75,000 Gunsmoke: 3,800 points, 18 sails and 4 marlin
Gunsmoke, a 42’ Maverick captained by Warner Porras, has been competing in Los Sueños tournaments since 2010. While anglers Carlos Maria Gonzalez and boat owner Phil Arklin have been on stage multiple times for the top angler award, this is the first time this small team of three anglers, Phil Arklin, Carlos Maria Gonzalez, and Curtis White, have stepped up to the podium together. Gunsmoke finished third on Day 1, tenth on Day 2, and came out of nowhere for the win.
SERIES $100,000 Tarheel: 10,600 points
Tarheel, a 44’ Scarborough Bayliss, captained by John Bayliss, has been competing in Los Sueños since 2015 with anglers Smyth McKissick, Rob Shore, Carroll Brizendine, John Bayliss Jr., and Jorge Carrillo. They finished first in Legs 1 and 3 in 2015, and went on to become the Series Champions. Tarheel finished 21st in Day 1 this leg and moved to 4th on Day 2.
On behalf of the entire tournament committee, congratulations to all winners!
CASH PRIZES & AWARDS
Over 700 guests came together under the stars at the Los Sueños Beach Club to enjoy a phenomenal buffet dinner and awards ceremony. Immediately preceding the presentation of trophies, prizes and checks to the tournament winners, guests enjoyed the highly anticipated dock show filmed and produced by Rich Christenson and Michael Butler, with host Byron Velvick. The ceremony was closed out by a spectacular fireworks display by Faisa and the first after party hosted at the Beach Club, with a live musical performance by Mustang 65. Tournament winners took to the stage to receive a total of $250,000 in cash, as well as other prizes provided by tournament sponsors, including trophies by Gray Taxidermy, apparel by Tunaskin, framed prints of this year’s tournament art by Steve Goione, YETI coolers and buckets, and Flor de Caña aged rum.
TOP ANGLER LEG 3
Congratulations to Eduardo Espinoza, the Top Angler for this leg. Fishing on Geaux Fly, Eduardo achieved a total of 2,800 individual points over the three days of competition.
TOP ANGLER SERIES
Congratulations to Carlos Maria Gonzalez of Gunsmoke for achieving the Top Angler award for the most points over all three legs of the 2018 Triple Crown, finishing with 6600 points over 9 days of fishing and going home with the 2018 Top Angler Ring, designed by Vanmark Jewelers.
TOP FEMALE ANGLER SERIES
Congratulations to Jackie Kopp of Family and Friends, for coming in 12th out of 325 individual anglers. Jackie achieved the highest number of points out of all participating female anglers, finishing with 2500 individual points. Jackie has been competing as an angler since 2009 and will certainly enjoy the Grand Slam necklace with pearl pendant, designed by Vanmark Jewelers.
ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS
The entire tournament organizing committee would like to take this opportunity to thank all those who came together to support this event. Our gratitude goes out to all the anglers, captains, mates, observers, technical advisors, cameramen and videographers, spectators, Los Sueños staff and of course, our sponsors (in alphabetical order): BLP Legal, Bristol Marine Supply, Canvas Designers Costa Rica, Caterpillar/Matra, Chantilly Air (presenting sponsor), Clinica Herradura, Costa, Costa Rica Dreams Sport Fishing, CR Luxury, CR Marine/Gato Gordo, Cummins, FishTrack official weather provider, Flor de Caña, Galati International Yacht Sales, Gray Taxidermy, Marriott, Maverick Yachts, MTU/Tractomotriz, Los Sueños Resort and Marina, Poms & Associates, Promerica Bank, RK Creative Productions, Seakeeper/A.G. Marine Services, Sevenstar Yacht Transport, Steve Goione Marine Artist, Sumedical, Tito’s Vodka, Tunaskin Aquatic Apparel, Vanmark Inc., Viking Yachts, Yeti Coolers. For more about our sponsors, please visit www.LStournaments.com and click on Sponsors.
OWC QUALIFYING EVENT
The top team from each leg of the Los Sueños Signature Triple Crown will be eligible to compete in the 2018 Offshore World Championship. For further information, please visit www.offshorechampionship.com.
ABOUT THE LOS SUENOS SIGNATURE TRIPLE CROWN
2018 marks the 5th Annual Los Sueños Signature Triple Crown billfish tournament series. The Triple Crown consists of three annual tournaments, in January, February and March each year, and is fished out of the world class Los Sueños Resort and Marina in Costa Rica. The dates for the 2019 tournament series are Leg 1: January 16‐19, Leg 2: February 27‐March 2, Leg 3: March 27‐30.
ABOUT LOS SUEÑOS RESORT AND MARINA
Los Sueños Resort and Marina is the premier luxury real estate resort in Costa Rica. Nestled on the Central Pacific Coast, Los Sueños is an 1,100-acre oasis offering incredible ocean, rainforest and golf course view properties; a gorgeous waterfront Marina Village commercial area with restaurants, shops and lively entertainment; a large private beach club for residents; an 18-hole championship golf course; a superb 201-room Marriott Hotel; and much more, all within close proximity to world record-setting sport fishing waters. Information on Los Sueños Resort and Marina is available online at www.lossuenos.com. Information on Los Sueños real estate properties is available online at www.lossuenosproperties.com.
For further information, please contact Ashley Bretecher, Executive Director of Marketing and Communications, Los Sueños Resort and Marina, Toll-free: 1-866-865-9759, Direct Tel: 011-506-2630-4005, or e-mail: a.bretecher@lossuenos.com.
