Covel's an author. Not a trader.Not everyone is going to bat 100% they will have a few years where they lose monies like everyone else. Still, overall, they will beat most retail investors hands down. If you can get a hold of Michael Covel's Trend Following book, the performance of the top hedge funds are compiled and printed and you see the times the hedge funds did well which is most years compared to the few years they lost monies.
If you have a good tend following system you probably shouldn't lose money. I suppose you could call my methodology trend following (I call it momentum) as it follows trends and exits on trend breaks. Throw in a little risk control and money management and I haven't had a losing year in the last 20.
Possibly the top 5% of the hedge fund industry does well but that 5% changes from year to year.

Just messing with you, Vince