Racing abandoned on final day of Block Island Race Week

Rhode Island: Thick fog and light winds greeted sailors on the final morning of Storm Trysail Club Block Island Race Week, and after an hour-long postponement, the Race Committee ultimately decided to abandon racing on Margaritaville Race Day due to the low visibility and lack of wind.

“Safety is the most important factor in our decision making,” said event chair and long-time PRO, Ray Redniss. “Windward/leeward courses with multiple fleets is just not feasible for safe sailing.”

Cheers and a few groans could be heard around the dock as Dick Neville, on-water director, made the VHF announcement at 11am, because it was now a certain outcome on which boats would be crowned champions of Block Island Race Week.

Before the cancellation, one of the races to watch today was between two service academies in the J/44s. The US Merchant Marine Academy and the Coast Guard Academy were in a stand-off tie after yesterday’s race. The USMMA ultimately ended up on top due to the rule best result from the last race wins.

The victor was awarded the John Alden Reed Perpetual Trophy for the best performing yacht for a Service Academy.

William Zartler’s Deja Voodoo from Texas won the J/105 class – one of the largest in 10 years with 13 boats.

“As usual, it’s great to be at Block Island Race Week because of the challenging conditions. You have to watch the current and the wind shifts. This team was on top of the racecourse, at all times paying attention, and was ready to change gears quickly,” Zartler said.

The Texan attributes having a team that has sailed together a long time to their victory, a common theme among many of the other class champions. Laura Grondin, skipper of the Melges 24, Dark Energy, echoed that sentiment.

“We have a fantastic team. We’ve all sailed together a fair amount and we had positive teamwork and positive energy on the boat,” Grondin said. “The highlight of the week was definitely the Round the Island Race, as we paid attention to the conditions and got the boat around the course as quickly as possible.”

The winner of the J/109 East Coast Championship was Jonathan Rechtschaffer’s Emoticon. The crew not only won the class but also a bit more silverware; the A. Justin Wasley Memorial Trophy as the winner of the largest one-design class. Emoticon also won the Island Sailing Club of Cowes Perpetual Trophy as the overall winner of the Round the Island Race.

“Competition is always key,” Rechtschaffer said. “One of the core reasons I am part of the class is because anyone can finish on top or win any of the races. We also all support each other. Hats off to the crew of Gossip. They started this regatta strongly.

“It’s class racing, so it’s about consistency and my team helped deliver that.”

Rechtschaffer attributed early season racing and learning from those mistakes to capitalize on the gains made throughout the week and dedicated the win to his mother who passed away earlier this year.

New for 2021, the Isbrandtsen Overall Perpetual Trophy has been rededicated to the best overall performance by a Corinthian team. John Krediet with his J/97 Participant II was crowned this year’s deserving winner.

Lastly, the Everett B. Morris Perpetual Trophy, awarded to boat of the week, is the most coveted of the awards. Since 1967 this has been awarded for the best performance for the Block Island Race Week as judged by the Race Committee and the Commodore.

This year goes to Jack McGuire his J/29, Dirty Harry.

“We have a great group of sailors. We’ve got brothers, friends, and all of our families here, so we go back and hang out together after racing. All that camaraderie just comes together with a great boat to make for a great team,” McGuire said.

McGuire and his crew are childhood friends from East Greenwich, Rhode Island where McGuire first started sailing with the boat’s former owner, John Lavin. When he passed away eight years ago, McGuire purchased the boat from John’s widow and has been sailing it ever since. In 2019, they came very close to the Everett Morris trophy.

“It takes time to build a program and this week we were just hitting on all cylinders.”

Block Island Race Week presented by Margaritaville concluded with awards and a celebratory final party as toasts were made to another week gone by and the countdown starts until June 19, 2023 for the 30th Block Island Race Week.

Final results:

J 44 (One Design – 5 Boats)

1. Vamp YCC, USA4406, Kenneth Luczynski – 1 -1 -2 -3 -3 -1 -2 ; 13
2. Glory, USA4411, Merrill Cline – 2 -2 -1 -1 -1 -3 -3 ; 13
3. Palantir 5, USA4401, June & Amanda Kendrick – 3 -3 -4 -2 -2 -2 -1 ; 17

J 105 (One Design – 13 Boats)

1. Deja Voodoo, USA130, William Zartler – 1 -7 -2 -1 -4 -1 -1 ; 17
2. Boat 63, USA63, Bruce Stone / Nicole Breault – 7 -1 -1 -5 -3 -4 -2 ; 23
3. Honey Badger, USA568, Brian M. Nelson – 4 -2 -3 -6 -2 -8 -4 ; 29

J 109 (One Design – 14 Boats)

1. Emoticon, USA200, Jonathan Rechtschaffer – 2 -3 -4 -1 -2 -1 -1 ; 14
2. Gossip, USA274, Group W – 3 -1 -1 -4 -1 -5 -2 ; 17
3. Big Boat, USA360, William Rogers – 4 -2 -2 -3 -5 -4 -7 ; 27

J 111 (One Design – 7 Boats)

1. Ramrod, USA106, Rodrick Jabin – 1 -1 -1 -1 -2 -2 -2 ; 10
2. Fireball, USA16, Bill & Jackie Baxter – 4 -4 -2 -2 -4 -1 -4 ; 21
3. Skeleton Key, USA115, Peter Wagner – 3 -2 -6 -4 -3 -6 -1 ; 25

ORC C (ORC – 13 Boats)

1. Peacemaker, USA52875, Leo Vasiliev – 2 -3 -7 -1 -2 -3 -1 ; 19
2. Tio Loco, USA4243, Henry Brauer Steve Madeira – 5 -2 -3 -2 -1 -2 -6 ; 21
3. Cool Breeze, USA60432, John Cooper – 8 -1 -1 -7 -8 -1 -13 ; 39

ORC D (ORC – 8 Boats)

1. Wings, USA68750, Ashley Maltempo / Bill Wiggins – 1 -1 -1 -3 -3 -4 -4 ; 17
2. Teamwork, USA52939, Team Syndicate – 3 -3 -5.5 -1 -2 -3 -2 ; 19.5
3. Escape Velocity 2, USA93586, Ben Chigier – 2 -2 -4 -2 -1 -6 -3 ; 20

ORC A (ORC – 2 Boats)

1. Bella Mente, USA45, Hap Fauth – 1 -1 -1 -1 -1 -1 -2 ; 8
2. Gladiator, GBR11152, Tony Langley – 2 -2 -2 -2 -2 -2 -1 ; 13

ORC B (ORC – 5 Boats)

1. Rigadoon, USA103, Jim Grundy – 4 -1 -2 -2 -1 -1 -1 ; 12
2. Interlodge, USA4415, Austin and Gwen Fragomen – 1 -3 -1 -1 -3 -2 -5 ; 16
3. Pterodactyl, USA45045, Scott Weisman – 3 -5 -4 -3 -2 -4 -2 ; 23

PHRF 1 (PHRF_ToT – 8 Boats)

1. Coyote, USA56600, William Clemens – 2 -5 -1 -1 -4 -4 ; 17
2. Christopher Dragon XI, USA39, Andrew & Linda Weiss – 3 -2 -2 -6 -5 -1 ; 19
3. Settler, USA52643, Tom Rich – 6 -3 -5 -2 -2 -2 ; 20

PHRF 2 (PHRF_ToT – 17 Boats)

1. Dark Energy, USA864, Laura Grondin – 6 -1 -2 -2 -2 -1 ; 14
2. Seabiscuit, USA40, Kevin McNeil – 2 -4 -1 -5 -3 -8 ; 23
3. XLR8, USA8001, Brad Porter – 1 -8 -4 -4 -6/SCP -2 ; 25

PHRF 3 (PHRF_ToT – 12 Boats)

1. Dirty Harry, USA40561, Jack McGuire – 1 -1 -1 -1 -1 -2 ; 7
2. Mighty Puffin, USA269, Steve Thurston – 3 -4 -4 -2 -2 -3 ; 18
3. Rumor, USA19, John Storck, Jr – 4 -2 -3 -3 -7 -1 ; 20

Performance Cruising 1 Spin – Rule 26 (PHRF_ToT – 12 Boats)

1. Incognito, USA1, Joe Brito – 1 -2 -1 -2 ; 6
2. Lora Ann, USA40789, Richard du Moulin – 3 -1 -2 -1 ; 7
3. Kalevala II, USA52439, Tapio Saavalainen – 4 -5 -3 -3 ; 15

Multihull – Pursuit (Pursuit – 4 Boats)

1. Nemo, USA6604, Todd Slyngstad – 1 -1 -1 -1 ; 4
2. Thunder and Lightning, USA5, Jim Gibson – 3 -4 -2 -2 ; 11
3. Jammy, USA5504, Thomas Lee – 4 -2 -3 -3 ; 12

Performance Cruising 2 Spin – Pursuit (Pursuit – 14 Boats)

1. Morpheus, USA51850, James Gregory – 2 -3 -1 -1 ; 7
2. Dragonfly, USA52162, Skip Young – 1 -2 -2 -2 ; 7
3. Spectre, USA51356, Brian Prinz – 3 -4 -3 -3 ; 13

Performance Cruising 3 Spin – Pursuit (Pursuit – 14 Boats)

1. Participant II, USA39, G. John Krediet – 1 -1 -1 -2 ; 5
2. Island Spirit, USA1350, Robert Closter – 2 -5 -2 -3 ; 12
3. Kyrie, USA79, Beth Berry – 8 -3 -5 -1 ; 17Performance Cruising

Non-Spin – Pursuit (Pursuit – 9 Boats)

1. Banjo, USA1, Rodney Johnstone – 1 -1 -1 -1 ; 4
2. Venturesome, USA52687, Bob Zannetti – 4 -2 -2 -2 ; 10
3. Veronique, USA60141, Bert Rubin de Cervens – 5 -4 -3 -4 ; 16