By 3 p.m. on Day One of the second leg in the 2019 Los Sueños Signature Triple Crown, the fleet had surpassed the total release numbers for all of Leg One, with 45 teams averaging 46 fish per boat by the end of the tournament.
Costa Rica’s sailfish bite turned on this year, as Team Galati took the spotlight on the opening day of Leg Two, releasing double after double, passing Big Oh by 300 points and winning top daily boat honors.
The second day of the event was a literal game of hopscotch between Team Galati, Fish Tank and Tarheel, because the three teams bounced around the top positions seemingly by the minute.
Team Galati released a marlin mid-day, launching it 600 points above second-place Tarheel. Meanwhile, Team Sea Angel‘s 26 sailfish releases awarded it the top boat prize for the second day, putting it in contention for a podium finish.
The third and final day continued at a faster clip, but Team Galati could not be beaten, and won the second leg with a total of 8,600 points, followed by Fish Tank and Tarheel, which scored 8,200 and 7,600 points respectively.
The bite report was slow going into the Leg Three, but the fleet surprised tournament control on Day One when Shoe released a tripleheader of sailfish shortly after lines in, and by 8:37 a.m., four marlin had been released, with two more following the next hour.
Fish Tank started a marlin flurry on Day Two of the third leg when five were released in less than 12 minutes. By noon, Fish Tank held the top spot, but Uno Mas managed to jump to first by lines out, going into Day Three with 4,200 points.
Read more about the team’s win in Leg One here.
The marlin were still biting the next morning when the Reel Pushy team hooked up at 8:05. By 8:40 a.m., eight marlin had been released, including a double of stripeys for Bill Royster’s Numero Uno team. But by days’ end, Brooks Smith and the Uno Mas team prevailed, winning the leg with their 40 sailfish and two marlin releases to the tune of 5,000 points—just 100 points more than second and third place.
The 2019 Los Sueños Signature Triple Crown Series top overall team award went to Chris and Laura Jessen’s Hatteras Yacht, Fish Tank, tallying 17,400 release points.
