WindCheck Magazine
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 Usually it’s the sailors who get an
eyeful of majestic scenery while racing
around the island during the Storm
Trysail Club's biennial Block Island
Race Week presented by Rolex, but
today, spectators ashore oohed and
aahed at the magnificent site of 153
boats trying to hold it together in
raging winds on the Atlantic Ocean.
The spectacle was best viewed from
Southeast Lighthouse, perched on a
150-foot cliff at the southern-most tip
of tiny Block Island, which for these five week days is serving as the epicenter of
sailing in the Northeast. A mass of colorful spinnakers paralleled the shore – some of
them flailing wildly during broaches and a few becoming unwanted anchors when
waves rose like jaws to snag them.
 The Solent-like conditions (surely a
nod from Neptune to Race Week’s
origins as a take-off on Cowes Week)
led to several mishaps, including a
man overboard (and safely
recovered) on Steve and Heidi
Benjamin’s (Norwalk, Conn.) Tripp 41
high Noon in IRC 40A class and some
hull damage (fixable by tomorrow’s
racing) when Chuck Townsend’s (New
York, N.Y./Newport, R.I.) NYYC Swan
42 Blazer apparently tried to duck
Gary Jobson’s (Annapolis, Md.)
Mustang in a port-starboard crossing situation.
 Ramrod, the Farr 40 owned by
Rodrick Jabin (Annapolis, Md.) caught
a four-foot sand shark on its keel,
which might have seemed the most
unusual happening save for the fact
that several other boats experienced
the same thing. “We were going 12-16
knots downwind, then all of a sudden
we were doing 11-13; we had to back
down to shake him free,” said
Ramrod’s mast man Matt Weimer
(Annapolis, Md.). The diversion didn’t
cost them much, as the crew, which
sailed to seventh last year in the Rolex Farr 40 Worlds and was top American boat,
won its one-design class on corrected time.
 John Boone (Tiverton, R.I.), jib
trimmer aboard Kevin McNeil’s
(Annapolis) Nightshift, which finished
second to Ramrod, loved the 18-25
knot winds that tested his team’s
boathanding skills as well as their
endurance. “Our class started with the
Swan 45s, and we were going about
the same speed as them and the
J/120s, so it wasn’t like we were off
sailing by ourselves,” he said. “It was
great racing, really fun, especially on
the spinnaker run.”
When Austin Fragomen (Portsmouth, R.I.), skipper of the NYYC Swan 42 Interlodge,
was asked about others in his class who may have had trouble keeping upright on the
 downwind leg, which stretched for
more than a third of the 23-mile
course, he laughed,” I was too busy
trying to not wipe out to notice anyone
else!” He described a tacking duel
with Phil Lotz’s (New Canaan, Conn.)
Arethusa near the finish line that
allowed eventual winner Tsunami, co
owned by Preben Ostberg and Bud
Dailey Jr. (Rockville, Md.) to sneak in
and cross the line ahead of them,
while Interlodge finished second.
According to his tactician Geoff
Ewenson (Annapolis, Md.), “We didn’t put them (Tsunami) far enough in the corner
and gave them an avenue to escape.”
 While some teams have been coming
to Block Island Race Week for years,
even decades, Fragomen and others,
such as Roger Sturgeon (Ft.
Lauderdale, Fla.), with his STP65
Rosebud/Team DYT, are here for
their first time.
“High wind? This isn’t high wind,”
joked Sturgeon, although he admitted
he didn’t want to blink or he’d miss the
beauty Block Island had to offer those
rounding it today. “No, really, it was exciting. There are a lot of good boats, a lot of
good sailors here. I finally had to come.”
 Rosebud/Team DYT finished the race
in one hour and 43 minutes and was
not only first-to-finish but also top
performing IRC boat overall, which
won her the special prize of a Rolex
Submariner watch. This is not
Sturgeon’s first Rolex, which is a
coveted prize at some of the world’s
most prestigious sailing competitions.
He also won a Rolex in 2007 for
winning the Rolex Sydney Hobart
Yacht Race.
At the end of the day, the fleet retreated to New Harbor, nestled at the most inland
edge of the Great Salt Pond, and took shelter in the large protected harbor before
indulging in a giant tent party sponsored by Caithness Energy (which also sponsored
the race day) and Summit Yachts.
 Competing are four IRC classes (33
boats total) taking part in the 2009
US-IRC Gulf Stream Series. Forty
PHRF boats are divided into five
classes (one of those being
“Navigator” for non-spinnaker), while
making up the balance are eight One
Design classes (Beneteau 36.7,
NYYC Swan 42, Farr 40, J/122, J/44,
Farr 30, J/109, and J/105).
Media Pro International
Barby MacGowan
Photos: BlockIslandRI.net |
