(Block Island, RI)- One of the highlights of summer sailing in northeast
America is Storm Trysail Club’s bi-annual bacchanalian sailing festival
known as Block Island Race Week. Sailing from June 23rd to 29th,
thousands of sailors migrate to the beautiful island five miles offshore
of Rhode Island. It’s a bit of a pilgrimage for many sailors, some are
veterans of more than two dozen BIRW’s; it’s a time to reconnect with
old friends, a time to relax and socialize with hundreds of other
sailors, enjoy the camaraderie of a shared love for the water, for
sailing and for celebrations.The fleet of 125 boats has 57 J/Teams sailing, by far the dominant brand at the event with nearly half the fleet- 46.0% of the total. There are one-design fleets of J/88s, J/105s, and J/109s, plus teams sailing in ORC and PHRF handicap fleets.
There are a half-dozen J/88s with a number of top crews that should be in the hunt, such as Iris Vogel’s DEVIATION, Justin Scagnelli’s ALBONDIGAS, Laura Weyler’s HIJINKS, and Mike Bruno’s WINGS.
As
the largest class in the event, the sixteen-boat J/105 Class has many
top Eastern teams ready to do battle leading up to their J/105 North
Americans later in the summer off Marblehead, MA. Bruce Stone, together
with his wife Nicole Breault, co-own J/105 GOOD TRADE and will be
seeking to defend their title as best in fleet and best overall
performance at Block Island Race Week. The J/105s will be one of the
most competitive fleets at Block Island, with top amateur teams like
JINX (Bob Taylor is a past J/105 NA champion) and DEJA VOODOO (Bill
Zartler from Texas has been J/105 Midwinters Champion). Then, top pro
sailors that own and skipper their boats will certainly be near the top
of the leaderboard; such as LOU LOU (sailmaker Paul Beaudin), SOLUTION
(David Willis), and RAVEN (David Barron); the latter two own boat yards
and their boats are super well-prepped.J/109s have eight teams participating, such at Tom Sutton’s LEADING EDGE, Carl Olsson’s MORNING GLORY, Robert Schwartz’s NORDLYS, and Bill Sweetser’s RUSH. These four boats, in particular, have all won major J/109 championships in one way or another.
The thirteen-boat PHRF 1 Class has seven J/crews; including five J/111s (Andrew & Sedge Ward’s BRAVO, Greg Slamowitz’s MANITOU, USMMA’s BLACK DIAMOND, Bill & Jackie Baxter’s FIREBALL, & Ken Comerford’s MONEYPENNY), Dan Heun’s J/122 MOXIEE, and Skip Young’s J/133 DRAGONFLY.
Racing in the eleven-boat PHRF 2 Class will be the new J/99 AGENT 99 skippered by Rod and Jeff Johnstone from Stonington, CT.
Not surprisingly, the fourteen-boat PHRF 3 Class will again see the famous battles from yesteryear between a number of very-well sailed J/29s. The protagonist? You guessed it. The infamous HUSTLER sailed by John Esposito. The other three J/29s are Jack McGuire’s DIRTY HARRY, Steve Thurston’s MIGHTY PUFFIN, and John Cooper’s COOL BREEZE. Hoping to give them a challenge will be Sam Cushing’s J/80 THE PARTY TREE and John & Corinne Foster’s J/92 SALTIRE.
Six J/Teams are sailing in ORC 2 Class. Those teams include four J/121s (Don Nicholson’s APOLLO, Greg & Sarah Manning’s SARAH, Joe Brito’s INCOGNITO, & Peter Lewis’ WHISTLER) and two J/122s (Paul Milo’s ORION and the Team family (Robin, Alston Colman) on TEAMWORK.
In the nine-boat Performance Cruising 1 Class are two J/120s (Charles Murphy’s TRUANT and Karen Harris’ CYGNI) and Brian Prinz’s J/125 SPECTRE. In the nine-boat Performance Cruising 2 Class are Richard Eytel’s J/95 THE GRIN and John Krediet’s J/97 PARTICIPANT II. While four J/29s will be doing battle in PHRF 3, two J/29s will be dueling in Performance Cruising 3 Class (Peter Hilgendorff’s MEDDLER and William Maher’s RIFT. Finally, in the PHRF Plus 1 Class, Eric Bicknese’s J/105 BIG E.Z. will be taking on a host of other short-handed teams. For more STC Block Island Race Week sailing information Add to Flipboard Magazine.
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