Every year people from around the globe gather to compete in the billfish capital of the world, for the Signature Triple Crown 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. Located in beautiful Playa Herradura on Costa Rica’s Central Pacific coast, this year, the seventh annual Triple Crown billfish series kicked off its first leg on January 15-18, 2020.
The ladies kicked things off a day earlier on Tuesday, January 14th with the second annual Ladies Only Tournament. With 52 anglers divided amongst 17 individual teams, these ladies were really able to show what they are made of! By the end of the day, the ladies released 59 sailfish and 18 marlins for a total of 77 billfish, in just one day!
1st place went to Sea Angel, a 72’ Merritt captained by Johan Van Coller; releasing 2 sailfish and 4 marlin for a total of 2,400 points.
2nd place went to Fish Tank, a 63’ Hatteras captained by Ben Horning; releasing 7 sailfish and 2 marlins for a total of 1,700 points.
3rd place went to Max Bet, who released 6 sailfish and 1 marlin for a total of 1,100 points.
The main event kicked off early on Wednesday morning with 38 boats comprised of 180 eager anglers, ready to compete. Over the next three days, these anglers released 523 sailfish and 70 marlins for a combined total of 593 billfish, making it easy to see why this is one of the most competitive billfish tournaments in the world! A number of new teams made the podium this year including:
1st place went to Scandalous (on HT Hook), a 62’ Viking captained by Ronnie Riebe; releasing a total of 7 sailfish and 9 marlins, giving them 5,200 points.
2nd place went to Game Changer, a 62’ Bayliss captained by Ben Polk; releasing a total of 30 sailfish and 2 marlins, giving them 4,000 points to take with them into leg 2.
3rd place went to Outage, a 61’ Jim Smith captained by Ian Wichers; releasing a total of 21 sailfish and 3 marlins, leaving them with 3,600 points.
It was an exciting week and we can’t wait for the next leg! The dates for the next two legs in 2020 are Leg 2: February 26-29, and Leg 3: March 25-28.
For more information about sport fishing at Los Suenos or the upcoming tournaments, check out our website or contact the HRG Concierge Team directly by calling us at +506 2637 8484 or writing to us online.