BIRW News Wednesday.pdf

“This event is great,” said an elated Goldman. “I have to tell you, I was a wreck coming here as I have never done a regatta before – I race Wednesday nights and a few Sundays during the summer. The option to come and race NonSpinnaker made all the difference in attending. The Race Committee makes it very clear what they are intending, and that has helped a lot!”

Tom Lee’s Melges 32 Jammy Beggar (Essex, CT) leads PHRF 1, just one point ahead of Dave & MaryEllen Tortorello’s J/111 Partnership (Fairfield, CT). “The racing is extremely close in the class – there are a lot of extremely talented people sailing,” said Lee. “The boat likes light air…at this point two years ago, we had already broken two rudders.”

The standings in PHRF 4 have been shuffled, with Paul Jennings’ Noe 27 En Charette (Branford, CT) running in first place. With Amy & Doug Stryker’s Santana 30/30 Project Mayhem (Cranford, NJ) and John Storck, Jr.’s J/80 Rumor (Huntington, NY) each only 0.5 points behind En Charette, this class is one to watch.

With a string of three bullets, Jim Swartz’s TP 52 Vesper (Park City, UT) is leading IRC 1 by 5 points. In IRC 2, Lawrence Dickie’s brand new Ker 43 Ptarmigan (Greenwich, CT) has a perfect scoreline and a 7-point lead. “This is the first real test and we’re very pleased,” said Dickie. “We got what we wanted in this boat, particularly downwind in a breeze…I am so pleased that the RC got in two races today.”

John Cooper’s Mills 43 Cool Breeze (Springfield, MO) holds second place in IRC 2. “The racing and competition are great,” said crewmember Wally Henry.

“We’ve had great crew work, but we’ve left something on the racecourse…it’s not close to being over yet!”

John Hele’s Daring (Newport, RI) has risen from fourth to first in the Swan 42 class, and there are only five points between Daring and Jon Halbert’s Vitesse (Dallas, TX) in fifth place “We had a fourth in the first race and we won the second,” said Paul Stroup, Vitesse’s navigator/pitman. “We had a great start and extended our lead, but then we got a wrap in the kite on the last downwind leg…I think we beat the second place boat by one second!”

Tsunami, a Farr 40 owned by Preben Ostberg, Todd Olds and Bud Dailey (Rockville, MD) had a first and a third yesterday, and has a 2-point lead in the Farr One-Design class. Sewerman Ben Poucher attributes their success to having “really good barbecue sandwiches on board.”

Athough they’re trailing the J/44 class, the U.S. Coast Guard Academy’s Glory (New London, CT) is showing improvement. “This is the first big boat regatta for a lot of our crew,” said bowman Matt Engle (2/C). Headsail trimmer Breanna Hite (2/C) added, “We’re gonna hang out with the other J/44 sailors and learn as much as we can.”

Race Week is the first major event for Team Chance, a Groton, CT-based organization created to get more junior sailors into big boat racing. Their Evelyn 26 Stealth is 5th in PHRF 4. “We had a little tougher day than Monday,” said Team Chance co-founder Taylor Walker. “We had some trouble getting off the line well, but our crew work came together and we made a lot of good comebacks. Hopefully, we can put it all together today.”

With a win in Race 3, Craig Albrecht’s Farr 395 Avalanche (Sea Cliff, NY) rumbled from second to first place in IRC 3, although Greg Manning’s X-41 Sarah (Warwick, RI) finished second in both races and is only 1.5 points astern. “We had good starts, good crew work and a fast boat,” said tactician Tom Fallon.

“There are 13 boats in our class, all capable of winning a race, so we’ll need to stay consistent and get lucky.”

No one was luckier yesterday than the crew of Bill Ketcham’s J/44 Maxine (Greenwich, CT), who enjoyed a banner day of racing…and fishing. “We caught a shark!” exclaimed Joey Moffitt (port pit). We cast a lure while we were waiting for wind and hooked a four-footer. We let him go, and then pulled off a bullet in the first race and a second in the second.” Reportedly, Bill Ketcham nearly earned the nickname “Four-finger Bill” while extracting the hook.

There are many more sharks in the Sound – and much larger ones – so you might consider a run to Block Island Fishworks for some bait and tackle should the breeze remain morning shy.

Storm Trysail Club 2011 Block Island Race Week News • Wednesday 3