They're having a great time up in Rhode Island this week. Sailors participating in the 2015 Block Island Race Week have seen conditions that you really only dream of during the summer: Monday saw westerlies in the 8-20 knot range (yes, that's a big range), Tuesday brought in winds at 20 knots (at 11 a.m.) that only built to 30 knots and five-foot seas during the 'Round the Island Race; Wednesday featured calmer conditions with the breeze chilling at 10-17 knots from the west.
“I give the race committee heaps of credit for running that race today,” said Ken Read, the president of North Sails who is sailing aboard Watermark, the Bermuda 50 in IRC 2. “It would’ve been easy for them to say it was too windy, but for many it was an epic day that they’ll remember forever.”
The J/109s and the J/105s are using BIRW as the host for their North Americans and East Coast Championships, respectively, and Bay boats are high on the leaderboard in each class.
Bill Sweetser's Rush is currently in second place with 28 points in the J/109 fleet, and Andrew Kennedy is currently in fifth place onboard Bat IV in the J/105 fleet. Don Santa is also still in the running with Santa's Reign, Dear, planted firmly in the middle of the pack.
In PHRF 1, Kevin McNeil is cleaning up on Seabiscuit, the Farr 30, racking up only 18.5 points in seven races. Another Farr, Dax Ansley's Farr 40 Ranger, is right behind him in third place. Walt Thirion's Themis, the gorgeous C&C 30, is having a great week with six bullets in seven races. You can watch a great video of Themis wiping out at the SpinSheet facebook page.
Glenn Doncaster and Stephen Bowes are both in the PHRF 2 class. Nanuq, Doncaster's Sabre 426, is currently in fifth place with 44.5 points while Apparition, Bowes's Frers 41, is in sixth at 49 points.
In PHRF 3, Incommunicado, the Omega 36 owned by Ed Tracey and Tim Polk, is doing well at second place with 19 points in seven races. In the Cruising Spinnaker class, Ted Ruegg's Jeanneau Sun Fast 3600 is in third place, with Earl Schubert's Azzurra right behind him by 6 points.
Definitely one of the prettier boats in Block this week, Alan Krulisch's Cambria 40 Crackerjack, suffered headstay damage at the start on Tuesday, so they have retired from the regatta after winning on Day One.
Follow along with the full results here.
