Block Island Race Week's top-three to win Rolex Watches

by Barby MacGowan on 5 Sep 2003 Larchmont, NY - Just because the Storm Trysail Club's Block Island Race Week XX presented by Rolex was sailed in late June doesn't mean the regatta is over. In fact, tradition has it that the best of this ever-popular race week is saved for fall, when the Storm Trysail Club hosts its Annual Awards Dinner at Larchmont (NY) Yacht Club. This year the Awards Dinner takes place November 7, and it is then that the Club will reward the best overall performance in each of three racing fleets with a Rolex watch.

The Rolex award goes to the boat on each circle which, in the opinion of the Race Committee, has turned in the most outstanding performance. In the Red Fleet, the Committee focused on the Farr 40 class and perennial favorite Solution whose owner/driver John Thompson (Port Washington, N.Y.) will wear the Rolex watch home. After a hard-fought rise to the top of his class, Thomson finished the week tied on points with Riot, skippered by Marc Ewing of Glencoe, Ill., but the tie was broken in favor of Thomson based on his having posted one more first than Ewing.

In Blue Fleet, Pretty Sketchy stood out in the J-105 class in more ways than one. Skippered by Thomas Enright of Bristol, R.I., and steered by his 18-year-old son Charlie, Pretty Sketchy shot out to an early lead, posting only 13 points for its seven-race series while its closest competitor turnedin 39 points. Before being chosen as one of the three Rolex watch winners, Pretty Sketchy had--back in June--won the regatta's top prize, the Everett B. Morris Trophy, and the A. Justin Wasley Memorial Trophy for being the overall winner of the one-design class with the largest number of entries.

In White Fleet, the PHRF 39-78 class yielded the third and final Rolex watch winner. Settler, co-helmed by two brothers, Jim and Tom Rich (Southold, N.Y., and Middletown, R.I., respectively), won three of eight races to claim 12 points in overall scoring and a 12-point spread on its closest competitor.

This was the 20th anniversary of the country's biggest and oldest race week for ocean racers. The Storm Trysail Club hosts Block Island Race Week and this year Rolex Watch U.S.A., a supporter of the event in the past, became the event's presenting sponsor. Other sponsors included: Mt. Gay Rum, Jeep and the Tri-State Jeep Dealers, Lewmar Marine, Gill, Hall Spars & Rigging, Sailing World magazine, UK Sailmakers, Heineken, The Rhode Island State Yachting Committee and US SAILING.