1st PHRF 3 and 1st PHRF Overall In Block Island Race(Larchmont, NY)– The 70th edition of the Storm Trysail Club Block Island Race yielded winners in ten classes – four IRC (including one for Double-hand), four PHRF, J/44 and Multihull – and a place in the record books for Jim and Kristy Hinze Clark’s new 100-foot Maxi Comanche with past J/24 World Champion Ken Read at the helm. Fifty eight boats started the 185 nautical mile race (from Stamford Yacht Club in Connecticut, down Long Island Sound, around Block Island, R.I. and back to Stamford) on Friday afternoon (May 22) of Memorial Day Weekend, with Comanche finishing exactly one second after 2:50 a.m. the next morning, giving her an elapsed time of 11 hours 25 minutes and 01 second. Speed-wise, Comanche averaged 16.2 knots, crushing the old Rambler 100 record that averaged 14 knots.
“If I could have drawn the weather map, I think it is what I would have drawn,” said Comanche’s Navigator Stan Honey. The favorable conditions included winds of 15-27 knots and outgoing/incoming tides at all the right times, especially at “The Race” and “Plum Gut,” two notoriously difficult passage choices for exiting and re-entering Long Island Sound.
Repeating its PHRF 3 Class victory from last year was American Yacht Club’s J/105 YOUNG AMERICAN, another entry with junior sailors, but in this case, the kids were the majority onboard with Peter Becker serving as the team’s single adult safety officer and coach. “Last year, we won our class and finished third overall, which was a huge moment,” said Becker. “This year, we were first in PHRF division and first overall in PHRF, so we bested our performance by a big margin. The kids are on fire; they love it!”
The YOUNG AMERICAN team was pressured up at the start for their spinnaker run in 25 knots. When the tack of their chute blew out, they switched to a spare and were surfing down Long Island Sound at 15 knots. “We were all hiking off the stern and hanging with the big boats and double-handed boats. They started the double-hands, then small to large classes in order, so Comanche was the last start. It was really cool when it went whizzing by us doing 18-20 knots.” For their offshore feats, the YOUNG AMERICAN crew was awarded the TERRAPIN TROPHY for “Best corrected time in PHRF”!
Behind the YOUNG AMERICAN team was Rick Oricchio’s J/120 ROCKET SCIENCE with a 4th in class and sitting in 7th was Dan Nash’s J/105 MISTRAL.
In the IRC Divisions, several J crews had excellent performances. Most notably, about on par with the kids triumph was Hewitt Gaynor’s J/120 MIREILLE taking 1st in the IRC Double-handed Division. A fellow J/120 duo on ALIBI skippered by Gardner Grant took 2nd! Fifth in class was Rod Johnstone’ J/88 JAZZ (see Rod J’s report below in the Community section) and taking 7th place was Andrew Berdon’s J/109 STRIDER. For their epic win in the Double-handed Division, MIREILLE took home the GEROLD ABELS Trophy for “Best Performance Double-Handed”.
For IRC 2 Class, the J/122 RED SKY helmed by John Pearson placed third overall of eight boats.
The J/44s once again sailed as a one-design class with long-time J/105 champion Joerg Esdorn demonstrating both strong tactics and long-term offshore strategies to pull off their first big J/44 class win since they traded up to the 44s over four years ago. Tough class! Second was veteran 44 class winner Len Sitar’s VAMP and rounding out the podium was Chris Lewis’ Houston, Texas team sailing KENAI (bet they were happy to be avoiding the massive flooding in their hometown!). As a result of their performance in the 44 class, Esdorn’s KINCSEM was awarded the GEORGE LAUDER TROPHY for the “Best performance by a Vintage boat (25 years old +)!
Chairman Redniss said this was a tough year for getting boats prepared for the Block Island Race, which was a week earlier than usual. “It was quite cold and harbors were frozen; yards were simply weeks behind. Overall, we had 68 entries; however, eight notified us before race day that they were not going to make it, and another two did not make the start. Conditions for the race were near perfect, but of course, another 10 or 12 degrees warmer would have been nice! We were cold on the Committee Boat overnight; I can imagine there was a lot of shivering on the rail!” For more Storm Trysail Block Island Race sailing information
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