Please disregard the release sent out last night and refer to this one, which has corrections applied, including the confirmed dates for the 2024 tournaments.
Scroll to the bottom for the correct dates, also published on the website.
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2023 SIGNATURE TRIPLE CROWN
& LADIES ONLY TOURNAMENT SERIES
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SIGNATURE TRIPLE CROWN SERIES CHAMPION
TEAM GALATI
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Team Galati, fishing aboard a 64' Viking this year, captained by Tony Carrizosa and with anglers Carmine Galati of Galati International Yacht Sales, Pat Healey of Viking Yachts, Drew McDowell, Erick McDowell, and Thomas "Smalls" Garmany (their professional angler/ringer), took their third Series Championship trophy since the Signature Triple Crown started in 2014, having previously placed first overall in 2020 and 2021. The team released a total of 77 sails and 15 marlin over nine days of competition spanning three events, which took place in January, February, and March 2023, garnering them 15,200 points. Uno Mas, also a podium finisher and the first runner up in this category, earned 13,400 points over the same period.
This is Team Galati's fourteenth podium finish over the course of the Signature Triple Crown, including seven first place wins, three second place wins, one third place win, and their three Series Championship titles.
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LADIES ONLY TOURNAMENT SERIES CHAMPION
UNO MAS
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FRIST PLACE: Uno Mas, a 60' Bayliss captained by owner/husband Brooks Smith. Anglers Maria Smith and Yendry Zúñiga Jiménez. Uno Mas took first for the three-leg event with 5,100 points overall, including 11 sails and 8 marlin. |
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Maria Smith of Uno Mas was the TOP ANGLER for the entire 2023 Ladies Only Tournament with 2,600 individual points, including 6 sails and 4 marlin. |
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SECOND PLACE: Outage, a 60' Jim Smith captained by owner/husband Hans Kraaz. Anglers Nikki Bates, Laura Jessen, and Viviana Borjas. |
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THIRD PLACE: Vaquero, a 64' Weaver captained by Lance Hightower. Anglers Donna Reynolds, Linda Reynolds, Pamela Harlow, and Joni Smith. |
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The ladies kicked the tournament series off with a bang, releasing 158 billfish on Tuesday, January 17th. Thirty-seven anglers on 12 boats achieved a fish-to-angler ratio of over four fish, or 13 fish per boat. For the first leg it was Max Bet in third with 2,200 points (7 sails, 3 marlin), Uno Mas in second with 2,500 points (5 sails, 4 marlin), and Outage in first with 3,000 points (25 sails, 1 marlin).
On Tuesday, February 21st, the 11 participating teams released 28 billfish, including 15 sails and 13 marlin. It was Uno Mas in third on time with 1,600 points (1 sail, 3 marlin), behind Vaquero in second, also with 1,600 points (1 sail, 3 marlin). D.A. Sea finished in first with 2,000 points (0 sails, 4 marlin).
The final leg of the competition on Tuesday, March 21st was super exciting, especially the back and forth between Outage and Uno Mas nearly all day. These two ended up tying on points, with only three minutes between them determining the winner. Outage won the third leg by a handsome 800-point margin…and if only that dorado they called in seconds before lines out had been a sailfish, they would have been on top for the series as well! It was Billfisher in third for the day with 1,100 points (11 sails, 0 marlin), Max Bet in second with 1,200 points (12 sails, 0 marlin), and Outage in first with 2,000 points (5 sails, 3 marlin).
After tallying the points for all three legs, the leaderboard for the 2023 Ladies Only Tournament had Vaquero in third with 4,200 points, Outage in second on time with 5,100 points, and Uno Mas in first with 5,100 points.
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LEG 1 Ends with Max Bet on Top |
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Max Bet started off strong on Day 1 of LEG 1, with six marlin releases! They continued strong throughout the tournament, earning them top spot for the three-day event. The finish on Day 3 was as exciting as they get. Less than an hour before lines out, Team Galati got bumped to third by Ohana with a marlin just 25 minutes after releasing a quad of sailfish. Everyone thought the leaderboard was set, but the thing about fishing and the Triple Crown is...you just never know! In Team Galati fashion, four minutes later Capt. Tony Carrizosa called in a quad sailfish release and they jumped back up to second!
FIRST PLACE: Max Bet is a 66' Spencer captained by Austin Robins. Anglers Matthew Weber and Kelly Webber (owners), Nicole Scotti, Anthony Weber, and Timmy Kidwell (pro), released a three-day total of 21 sails and 10 marlin for 7,100 points. Max Bet started off strong, taking the daily on Thursday, then finishing sixth on Day 2, and fifth on Day 3.
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SECOND PLACE: Team Galati, a 64' Viking captained by Tony Carrizosa. Anglers Carmine Galati, Pat Healey, Drew McDowell, Erick McDowell, and Thomas "Smalls" Garmany (pro) finished second on Day 1, third on Day 2, and 9th on Day 3. They earned 6,400 points over three days with 34 sails and 6 marlin releases. |
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THIRD PLACE: Ohana, is a 68' Viking captained by Luke Hickey. Anglers Ed Burr, Austin Burr, Denny Doyle, Nick Galati, and Jake Graves (pro) finished eighth on Day 1, fifth on Day 2, and first on Day 3. This is their first Triple Crown win with 6,300 points after releasing 33 sails and 6 marlin. |
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Maria Smith of Uno Mas once again beat all other anglers for the title of TOP ANGLER in Leg 1, including pros, men, women, and children. Maria achieved 2,900 individual points with 4 sails and 5 marlin releases. |
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Owner/captain Hans Kraaz and his wife Nikki Bates of Outage were featured in the Angler Profile for Leg 1. Hans and Nikki also sponsored the tournament with their company Intercoastal Financial Group.
Click on the link to view the show. |
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Photo Credits: "©Los Sueños Resort and Marina | Photographers: Pepper Ailor or Ronald Rojas"
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LEG 2 Finishes with Eight Eights in First |
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Everyone has their time in the spotlight and in LEG 2 it was Eight Eights' turn. They finished first on Day 1 with 3 sailfish and 3 marlin releases for 1,800 points, followed by Grand Slam with 1,400 points (4 sails and 2 marlin) and War Party in Third with 1,300 points (3 sails and 2 marlin). Eight Eights had a slower go of it on Day 2 with just 800 points for the day with 8 sailfish releases (two-day total of 11 sails and 3 marlin); however, that was enough to keep them in first for the Leg with 2,600 points, followed by Grand Slam in second with 2,300 points (8 sails and 3 marlin), and Cabana in third with 2,100 points (6 sails and 3 marlin). Cabana took the daily on Day 2 with 1,100 points after releasing 6 sails and 1 marlin. Eight Eights was again on top for both the daily (7 sails and 1 marlin) and the Leg 2 first place finish, ending the February event with 3,800 points (18 sails and 4 marlin). D.A. Sea was steady over the three days, finishing in second with 2,800 points (18 sails and 2 marlin), followed by Grand Slam in third on time with 2,500 points (10 sails and 3 marlin). Beat out on time were Teuseas and Billfisher who both also achieved 2,500 points for the leg.
FIRST PLACE: Eight Eights is a 72' Viking captained by Sean Gallagher. Anglers Scott and Jill Yates (owners), Zac Yarbrough, Jaclyn Tenuto, Susan McCart, and Ronnie Fields (pro) achieved their second Triple Crown podium finish with 3,800 points (18 sails and 4 marlin), having placed second in the third leg of 2021.
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SECOND PLACE: D.A. Sea is a 64' Spencer captained by Climaco Rodriguez. Anglers Ed and Valerie Dunn (owners), Charlie Nichlaus and Mark Stephens (pro) finished eleventh on Day 1, third on Day 2, and sixth on Day 3. This is their first Triple Crown leaderboard finish with 2,800 points (18 sails and 2 marlin). |
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THIRD PLACE: Grand Slam is a 61' Paul Mann captained by Jeff Crabtree. Anglers Wallis Higginbotham (owner), Jeff Wright, Jake Stiteler, and Skyler Hriber (pro) finished second on Day 1, fifth on Day 2, and twentieth on Day 3, finishing the leg in third with 2,500 points (10 sails and 3 marlin). Grand Slam took first in Leg 1 of 2021. |
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Three anglers tied for top spot on points for Leg 2, one of whom was a pro. Tournament Control went to the last time of the top scorers to determine the TOP ANGLER. William Mahaffey, the owner of Teuseas, ended up with 1,200 points by 11:51 am on Day 3. Susan McCart, fishing on Eight Eights, was the other non-professional to tie on points and achieved hers by 3:02 pm.
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Family and Friends is a 50' Blackwell captained by Joshua Porras, featured in the Angler Profile for Leg 2. Owners Kevin and Jackie Kopp fished the Triple Crown with anglers Adrian Kopp, Ryan Kopp, Beatrice Piedra Cubillo, Erick Feller, Landon Feller, and Jose Gomez (pro). Click on the link to view the show. |
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Photo Credits: "©Los Sueños Resort and Marina | Photographers: Pepper Ailor or Ronald Rojas"
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LEG 3 and it's Team Galati for the Win |
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Rainclouds hailed showers before LEG 3, which started on March 23rd, and cooled the water down thankfully bringing the sailfish out to play and making for an exciting competition. Only 432 billfish releases were needed in Leg 3 to outdo the total releases for the 2022 Triple Crown series and that number was beat by 250 billfish! All told, the 43 teams participating in Leg 3 released 681 billfish, including 553 sails and 128 marlin. On Day 1 alone the fleet released 262 billfish, including 206 sails and 56 marlin, leaving Uno Mas in first with 3,000 points after 5 sailfish and 5 marlin releases. Team Galati finished second with 2,800 points (13 sails and 3 marlin), and Mama Seata in third with 2,400 points (14 sails and 2 marlin). Miss AC outshone everyone on Day 2 with 3,000 points (5 sails and 5 marlin) for the daily, but finished third in the running for Leg 3 with a two-day combined total of 3,800 points (13 sails, 5 marlin), behind Uno Mas in second with 4,000 points (10 sails, 6 marlin), and Team Galati in first with 4,200 points (22 sails, 4 marlin). By the end of the third and final day of the third and final leg, it was the same three teams in the same order on the leaderboard. Team Galati in first with 6,500 points (25 sails, 8 marlin), Uno Mas in second with 5,900 points (14 sails, 9 marlin), and Miss AC in third with 5,000 points (25 sails, 5 marlin).
FIRST PLACE: Team Galati, a 64' Viking captained by Tony Carrizosa, finished second on Day 1, seventh on Day 2, and first on Day 3. Their first place finish for Leg 3 came after achieving 6,500 points with 25 sailfish and 8 marlin releases. Anglers are Carmine Galati, Pat Healey, Drew McDowell, Erick McDowell, and Thomas "Smalls" Garmany (pro).
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SECOND PLACE: Uno Mas, a 60' Bayliss captained by owner Brooks Smith, finished first on Day 1, twelfth on Day 2, and third on Day 3. Anglers Maria Smith, Taylor Pruden Randolph, Garrett Holden Pherson, Scott Poole, and Jeremy Cerdas Quiros (pro) achieved 5,900 points (14 sails and 9 marlin). Uno Mas placed second in Leg 2 of 2015, first in Leg 2 of 2018, first in Leg 3 of 2019, and first in Leg 2 of 2021. |
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THIRD PLACE: Miss AC is a 51' Scarborough captained by Rob Mahoney. Anglers Chris Perry (owner), Sean O'Donnell, Brad Harbin, Wells Hula, and Tommy Farela (pro) finished twenty-sixth on Day 1, first on Day 2, and eleventh on Day 3, to finish third for the Leg with 5,000 points (25 sails and 5 marlin). This is their second podium finish, having also placed first in Leg 2 of 2022. |
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Maria Smith of Uno Mas was the TOP ANGLER for the 2023 Ladies Only Tournament series with 2,600 points, as well as the TOP ANGLER for Leg 3 of the 2023 Triple Crown with 2,900 points, in addition to being the TOP OVERALL ANGLER for the entire 2023 Signature Triple Crown with 6,000 individual points. Outstanding!
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The Hunt Begins, a 64' Viking captained by Roger Cascante, was featured in the Leg 3 Angler Profile. Owners Tom and Janet Hammond fished with their friends Mark and Peggy Rose, Cathy Hammond, and Bruce and Rebecca Washington during the Triple Crown events. Click on the link to view the show. |
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Photo Credits: "©Los Sueños Resort and Marina | Photographers: Pepper Ailor or Ronald Rojas"
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THANK YOU TO OUR SPONSORS
Your contribution to the Signature Triple Crown and Ladies Only Tournament, presented jointly by Los Sueños Resort and Marina and our beloved friends at Chantilly Air, is invaluable and we are grateful for your continued support! Aside from financial contributions, some of our sponsors also participate in other important ways:
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Our Observers are certified through the International Game Fish Tournament Observers (IGFTO) or our own Los Sueños Observer Certification program, and are indispensable in the effort to conserve our fishery for the next generation!
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Triple Crown Championship
Take-home Trophy
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Artist Sean Tuttle (below), of Metal Ocean: Tuttle Custom Design, has been creating the unique take-home trophies for the Triple Crown Series Champion for a number of years now.
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You can see Sean's work featured at the Hook Up as you go up the stairs and above the Wall of Champions.
Tuttle Custom Design uses aluminum to fabricate our various sculptures and designs. The process starts by cutting the durable metal into the desired shape. Once cut and cleaned, Sean etches details into the metal by using a high-speed disc grinder.
His signature technique creates an amazing holographic effect. The artwork is hand-painted using enamel-based paint that is durable and outdoor safe.
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