Block Island Race record broken by Rambler 100

by Barby MacGowan on 1 Jun 2011 Stormy Trysail Club's Block Island Race saw a slow start for Rambler 100 but, after a few stops and changing winds, George David’s (Stamford, Conn.) rocket ship broke Boomerang's 2002 record by 42 minutes and 45 seconds.

The Block Island Race is 186 nautical miles and has been held annually for the past 66 years. The race this year began on Memorial Day Weekend with 59 boats in eight classes (six IRC and two PHRF) racing on a course from Stamford, Connecticut allthe way down Long Island Sound, clockwise around Block Island (R.I.), and back. Rambler 100 finished early Saturday morning after sailing for just over 15 hours and 43 minutes, while the last boat finished Sunday afternoon just after 4 p.m.
 
Though gaining an edge in the Block Island Race typically means correctly choosing between two current-ridden passages –Plum Gut and 'The Race'–for the fastest transport to Block Island (and then again coming back from it), this year’s key to success seemed to lie in getting to the Long Island shore as quickly as possible after the start.
 
'Whoever got there got the new breeze first,' said Event Chair Ray Redniss, explaining that the fleet started upwind in 9-12 knots when in past years spinnaker starts have prevailed.  Rambler’s class was the last to start, and the U.S. Merchant Marine Academy’s (Kings Point, N.Y.) Reichel/Pugh 65 Vanquish, sailed by the youthful Oakcliff All American Team, made the move to shore first, while others who were in the middle of the Sound seemed stuck.

According to Rambler 100’s manager and crew member Mick Harvey (Newport, R.I.), his team was becalmed just a half hour after the start but overtook Vanquish about an hour and a half into the race after the southwest breeze kicked in and 'surprisingly held steady' enough to carry the team out of the Sound and around Block Island.  

Rambler 100’s navigator Peter Isler chose to pass through Plum Gut both coming and going, but it was during the return from Block Island to the Gut where the wind lightened to five knots or so for a couple of hours.
 
According to George David, who steered the boat, 'We thought our chances (for breaking the record) were gone over the last 12 miles coming back into the Gut.  This was the lightest sustained air for us...then it changed right at the Gut, and we carried 12+ knots (at the masthead) all the way past Stratford Shoal and up to three miles from the finish.  The record looked more and more likely as we came down the Sound and the breeze held, which we hadn’t expected at all.'
 
Breaking the record despite some light breezes may have had much to do with Rambler 100 being 20 feet longer and 10 tons lighter than Boomerang, with a mast 30 feet higher to harness more wind aloft, but the accomplishment also had sentimental meaning for David. 'We had three runs at it with the 90 footer (Rambler), so we’d have to say we were looking for it,' said David.

Noting that Rambler 100’s mission is to break existing records and establish a new record from Newport to The Lizard (Cornwall, U.K.) in the 2011 Transatlantic Race later this summer, Mick Harvey added, 'If we had had breeze the whole way in the Block Island Race, we might have taken only 10 hours to get around.'

Peter Rugg (New York, N.Y.) on the J/105 Jaded, also saw the advantage of going to the Long Island shore right away, but since he started first in the 11-boat double-handed class (sailing with Dudley Nostrand of Hamilton, Mass.), he had no other classes to follow there.

'The NOAA forecast said five knots out of the southeast for the next couple of days, but because we didn’t have that at the start (it was out of the east and even a bit north of that), we didn’t think it would hold.  We were the first boat to tack to the Long Island shore, and when we saw other boats sailing there in a 15-knot southerly to southwest breeze, we said ‘holy smokes this is important.’'
 
About a mile from Plum Gut, Rugg noted that only those with code zero sails were able to stay high enough on shore to avoid 'running into competing doldrums' in the middle of the Sound.  'When we got close to the Gut, the breeze died, but we had just enough wind to squeak around the corner and be flushed through the Gut on a fair current,' said Rugg.
 
Rugg said Jaded ran into a bit of a drifter on the north side of Block Island, but the south side greeted them with more wind, some chop, and the lasting impression of baby nurse sharks all around.  'The last two miles to the finish were the worst,'  said Rugg. 'The wind dropped, the tide was taking us away from the mark, and we were rolled by another double-handed boat.  We just had to finish before we gave away our time to the other boats.'

Jaded did that successfully, winning not only the Gerold Abels Trophy for the best performance by a double-handed team but also the Harvey Conover Memorial Overall Trophy, awarded to the boat that has won her class and, in the judgment of the Flag Officers and Race Committee, had the best overall performance.
 
Rambler 100 won both the Governor’s Race West Trophy for best elapsed time in the IRC fleet and the William Tripp Jr. Memorial Trophy for best corrected time. It also won the Commodore's Trophy, which goes to the boat that has won her class and has beaten the second and third place boat by the greatest margin of time. 
 
In PHRF class, Threebeans, owned by Christopher Rosow (Fairfield, Conn.), won both the Terrapin Trophy and the Governor’s Race East Trophy (best corrected and best elapsed time, respectively) 
 
The Block Island Race was first held in 1946 and is a qualifier for the Northern Ocean Racing Trophy (IRC), the Double Handed Ocean Racing Trophy (IRC), the New England Lighthouse Series (PHRF), and the Gulf Stream Series (IRC). The Block Island Race is also a qualifier for the Caper, Sagola, and Windigo trophies awared by the YRA of Long Island Sound and the 'Tuna' Trophy for the best combined IRC scores in the Edlu (40%) and the Block Island Race (60%).

Storm Trysail Club’s 66th Block Island Race Overall Results
Finish Position, Yacht Name, Yacht Type Length, Skipper, Hometown

IRC Doublehanded (IRC - 11 Boats)
1. Jaded, J 105, Peter Rugg , New York, NY, USA - 1, ; 1
2. Choucas, Jeanneau SF 36, Frederic Cosandey , New York, NY, USA - 2, ; 2
3. Skye, Farr 395, James T. Anderson , Riverside, CT, USA - 3, ; 3
 
IRC-35 (IRC - Six Boats)
1. Carina, Custom 48 48', Rives Potts , Westbrook, CT, USA - 1, ; 1
2. Afterglow, Express 37 37, Bill Walker , Easton, CT, USA - 2, ; 2
3. Kyrie, Tartan 4100 41.25, John DiMatteo , Centerport, NY, USA - 3, ; 3
 
IRC-40 (IRC - 12 Boats)
1. Beagle, J 44, Philip Gutin , New York, NY, USA - 1, ; 1
2. Christopher Dragon, J 122, Andrew Weiss , Mamaroneck, NY, USA - 2, ; 2
3. Soulmate, J 120, Joseph Healey , Chestnut Ridge, NY, USA - 3, ; 3
 
IRC-45 (IRC - Four Boats)
1. Dragonfly , J 130, Colin McGranahan , Larchmont, NY, USA - 1, ; 1
2. Xcelsior, IMX-45, Todd LaBaugh , Rye, NY, USA - 2, ; 2
3. Tiburon, Swan Club 42, M/N Kevan Stoekler , Kings Point, NY, USA - 3, ; 3
 
IRC-50 (IRC - Eight Boats)
1. Bombardino, Santa Cruz 52, James Sykes , New York, NY, USA - 1, ; 1
2. Gracie, MH Sloop 69, Stephan Frank , Darien, CT, USA - 2, ; 2
3. Magic, Santa Cruz 52, Kenneth Laudon , Croton on Hudson, NY, USA - 3, ; 3
 
IRC-ZERO (IRC - Three Boats)
1. Rambler 100, JK 100, George David , Hartford, Ct, USA - 1, ; 1
2. Vanquish, Reichel/Pugh 65, Oakcliff All American Offshore Team , Kings Point, NY, USA - 2, ; 2
3. Zaraffa, Reichel/Pugh 65, Huntington Sheldon , Shelburne, VT, USA - 3, ; 3
 
PHRF-1 (PHRF - 11 Boats)
1. Patience, Tripp 33, Rick Royce , Glen Cove, NY, USA - 1, ; 1
2. Gringo, Pearson 37, Michael McGuire , Darien, CT, USA - 2, ; 2
3. Audacious, Frers 33, Robert Farnum , Oxford, CT, USA - 3, ; 3
 
PHRF-2 (PHRF - Five Boats)
1. Threebeans, Santa Cruz 37, Christopher Rosow , Fairfield, CT, USA - 1, ; 1
2. Red Stripe, Flying Tiger 10M, Charlie Reynolds , Southport, Ct, USA - 2, ; 2
3. Eagle, J 120, Steven Levy , Greenwich, CT, USA - 3, ; 3
 
66th Block Island Race – Overall Trophies
 
George Lauder Trophy - Best performance by a Vintage boat (15 years old +)
Carina Rives Potts
 
Commodore's Grail Trophy - Best corrected time in IRC below 1.08
Carina Rives Potts
 
Governor’s Race West Trophy - Best elapsed time in the IRC Fleet
Rambler 100 George David
 
William Tripp Jr. Memorial Trophy - Best corrected time in the IRC Fleet
Rambler 100 George David
 
Terrapin Trophy - Best corrected time  –  PHRF
Threebeans Christopher Rosow

Governor’s Race East Trophy - Best elapsed time – PHRF
Threebeans  Christopher Rosow

Gerold Abels Trophy - Best Performance Double-Handed
Jaded Peter Rugg / Dudley Nostrand
 
Roddie Williams Team Race Trophy
Storm Trysail Red Gracie / Skye / Dragonfly
 
Tuna Trophy - for the best IRC combined scores in the Edlu (40%) and the BI Race (60%)
Christopher Dragon Andrew Weiss
 
Commodore's Trophy - To the boat that has won her class and has beaten the second and third place boat by the greatest margin of time.

Rambler 100 George David
 
Harvey Conover Memorial Overall Trophy - Awarded to the boat that has won her class and, in the judgment of the Flag Officers and Race Committee, had the best overall performance.

Jaded Peter Rugg / Dudley Event website