Wet and cold Block Island Race

The Storm Trysail Club’s 79th Annual Block Island Race delivered a classic offshore challenge as just over 60 boats took on the wet and cold 186-nautical-mile course from Stamford, CT, around Block Island and back.

After the May 22 start, competitors faced a demanding mix of conditions, beginning with a long upwind slog out of Long Island Sound before many crews were rewarded with fast reaching and downwind conditions for the run home.

The race once again served as a proving ground for many teams preparing for next month’s 2026 Newport Bermuda Race, with more than 30 entries appearing on both race scratch sheets.

Taking Overall ORC honors and the prestigious Harvey Conover Memorial Overall Trophy was Linda and Storm Trysail Club Commodore Andrew Weiss’s Italia 11.98 Christopher Dragon XII, which also topped ORC Class 6 after correcting out ahead of an exceptionally competitive fleet.

The team additionally claimed the William Tripp, Jr. Memorial Trophy for Best Corrected Time in the ORC Fleet and the Tuna Trophy for the best combined ORC scores in the Edlu Race and Block Island Race series.

“As we approached the end of the Sound, we were expecting the wind to be further right,” recalled Andrew Weiss, “but the wind went left and the boats that were further south going through Plum Gut found themselves in foul current while we had a knot push going through The Race. Then, the wind backed along the Rhode Island shore and we made a big gain there over the boats south of the rhumbline.

“We set our A3 at 1BI and shifted to the A2 at Southeast Light. We found ourselves sailing among the next two larger class’ boats. We wanted to reenter the Sound through Plum Gut, but conditions led us to go through the Sluceway with a 5-8-mile lead on our division. We tried to work south gybing down the Sound with the A2. We pretty much sailed the plan we made at our kitchen table Friday morning!”

Christopher Dragon XII narrowly edged out David Rosow’s J/122 Loki by just over three minutes on corrected time for Overall ORC honors, while Andrew Clark’s J/122 Zig Zag completed the podium. Both J/122s also topped the highly competitive ORC Class 8 division.

In the PHRF Division, Past Storm Trysail Club Commodore John Storck Jr.’s J/130SD Blitzen captured both PHRF Class 7 and Overall PHRF honors after a strong performance in the changing conditions around the island course. Blitzen was awarded the Terrapin Trophy for Best Corrected Time in the PHRF Fleet and the George Lauder Trophy as the best-performing vintage yacht over 25 years old.

Blitzen’s victory was made even more special by the family crew onboard, with three generations of the Storck family racing together. Storck Jr. and his wife Colette sailed alongside their sons, John III and Erik, Erik’s son Hudson, son-in-law Baker Potts, and longtime family friends David Waldo, James Willis, and Josh Parks.

“We started a bit overpowered with our J1, but knew the wind would moderate in an hour or so,” noted Storck Jr. “With a roller reefing headstay, we have to make bald-headed jib changes, so we agreed to start with the larger jib and it paid out, helping us drive through the lumpy sea state.

“Soon after the start, we tacked to the right and that put us on top of the competition going out. We got out of the Sound through the Race just before the current turned on us, basically fetched 1BI. Approaching 1BI there was foul current, but once we rounded and set our A2 we were able to leg out on the other boats. We sailed with the A2 for the rest of the race taking it down at the finish line.”

The ORC Doublehanded division once again showcased the growth and competitiveness of short-handed offshore racing. Todd Aven and Todd Diffee aboard the J/99 Thin Man claimed victory in ORC Doublehanded and earned the Gerold Abels Trophy for Best ORC Double-Handed Performance after navigating the tactical overnight course against a talented fleet of shorthanded teams.

“We were neck-and-neck with our competition going into Block Island Sound around midnight,” said Aven. “Playing the shifts and puffs crossing to 1BI was a bit of chess and a bit of craps. Shortly after the mark, we put up the code 0 and took off from the pack. Staging out of the dead zone near Southeast Light was a game-changer.

“After that, it was a dozen hours of champagne downwind sailing with the A2 spinnaker, gybing occasionally to stay in the middle of the Sound where the breeze was better. The breeze really came up in the last hour or two of our race. We pulled off a couple of clean inside gybes and got down the spinnaker before the final turn at the Cows.

“Blasting across the finish line at 9 knots under full main and heavy J1 with 20 knot gusts was a real thrill.”

In the PHRF Doublehanded division, Peter Becker and Adrien Blanc’s J/105 Young American earned both class honors and the Commodore’s Grail Trophy for Best PHRF Double-Handed Performance. The duo also received the Commodore’s Trophy, awarded to the boat that won its class by the narrowest margin over second and third place competitors.

At the front of the fleet, Oakcliff Sailing’s RP 86 OC-86 posted the fastest elapsed time in the ORC fleet to capture the Governors Race West Trophy, while Oakcliff Farr 40 Blue earned the Governors Race East Trophy for the fastest elapsed time in the PHRF fleet.

The ORC Class 11 division featured some of the closest and most competitive racing in the fleet. Dubois/ Eaves/ Krow/ Roseberry’s GP42 ARMA secured the class victory over Chris Schoen’s Xp 44 Phantom. Together with Peter McWhinnie’s In Theory, those three teams delivered the overall performance needed for Larchmont Yacht Club to earn the Roddie Williams Team Race Trophy.

Additional class winners included:
• Cathexis (Bryan & Kara Schapperle) — PHRF Class 4
• Duet (Andrian Lubimov) — PHRF Class 5
• Oakcliff Farr 40 Blue — PHRF Class 9
• MXM (Roman Brushtein) — Plum Island Course

Bryon Ehrhart’s Juan K 88 Lucky claimed Line Honors after battling tough upwind conditions around Block Island before finding a fast downwind run home to Stamford. The powerful 88-footer completed the course in just under 23 hours. While the record may have been on their minds, the predominantly upwind conditions made any challenge to Comanche’s blistering 11-hour race record from 2016 unrealistic.

Event information – Race details – Results

Source: Kate Somers