77th annual Block Island Race

The 2024 Storm Trysail Club Block Island Race was described by some as a race of “chutes and ladders” as the fleet of 76 boats started on May 24 under sunny skies in 5-10 knots off Stamford, CT. There were multiple restarts in the lighter conditions throughout the overnight race before 52 boats successfully completed the 186nm course early on May 26.

The 77th annual race navigates through Long Island Sound, around Block Island, and back with David Greenstein’s Mills 68 Space Monkey as the first to cross the finish line in 27 hours and 11 minutes. However, the ultimate victory in the ORC class was claimed by Andrew Berdon’s TP52 Summer Storm.

Berdon, now on his third Summer Storm, He recounted the significant logistical effort, led by project manager Alec Snyder, to get the boat from Kiel, Germany to the starting line within a few short months. Once on the course, Berdon emphasized the importance of staying in touch with the larger boats and making strategic decisions.

“None of them disappeared over the horizon,” he said, noting how a decisive move north to the Connecticut shore after re-entering Long Island Sound helped Summer Storm stay in the breeze while the wind died down for the rest of the ORC fleet, securing their overall win. “That’s just the nature of racing on Long Island Sound,” Berdon remarked.

In the PHRF fleet, Loki, a J/122 skippered by David Rosow, was both the first to finish and the class winner. Rosow credited their success to strategic positioning in Block Island Sound, staying south of the fleet on both the outbound and inbound legs.

“We seemed to have slightly better breeze and were positioned well for the local current effects,” Rosow explained. Like Berdon, Rosow was new to his boat and expressed his delight with the outcome: “I was thrilled and surprised we produced such a successful result with so little time in the new boat.”

In the doublehanded fleet, John Feleciano and Zach Doerr from NEKA Sailing in the Figaro 2 finished in the top spot for ORC, while Peter Becker and Adrien Blanc finished first in the J/105 for PHRF.

The Block Island Race, as always, proved to be a great race to shake out the cobwebs before summer, especially for the 57% of the teams entered in the 2024 Bermuda Race which starts June 21.

Event information – Race details – Results

Source: STC