Block Island Race Week presented by Rolex - Day 4
by Rolex Media Centre 24 Jun 2005 09:35 BST
19-25 June 2005
Jack Biddle & Chris Goobey's 'Rum & Java' during Block Island Race Week © Dan Nerney / Rolex
Countdown to victory
It was assured victory for some, but not-so-sure for others, as 190 teams tallied their scores from today's racing at the Storm Trysail Club's Block Island Race Week presented by Rolex and began mentally preparing for tomorrow's fifth and final day of competition. The biennial event, in its 21st year, is hosting 17 classes and more than 2000 sailors on tiny Block Island, ten miles off the coast of Rhode Island.
"I don't think about my comfortable lead," laughed Remedy's John Fries (Waterford, Conn.), whose first-place position is all but insurmountable in the 14-boat PHRF class 2. "I just keep sailing until my crew says I'm finished." Fries, who skippers the Evelyn 32 he owns with his father Bill and won his class at Key West Race Week earlier this year, posted finish positions of 3-1 today to secure 11 points to the 20 held by second-place finisher XLR8 (Bradford Porter, Westbrook, Conn.). "There are some very fast, tough boats in our class; that's why we came. Sometimes it was condition-specific as far as who did well, but you couldn't count anyone out."
Fries described today as a challenge, with the first race started in a dying northeasterly and the second race sailed in a southerly that he was "glad came in as evenly as it did." The scene was duplicated on three of the four circles, necessitating a long wait between races as the wind switched direction. On the fourth circle, the PHRF non-spinnaker class completed one race as scheduled.
Another sure victory is for Titan XII (Tom Hill, San Juan, PR) in IRC Super Zero class. The largest boat in the fleet has showed the prowess of its design and talented crew throughout the week, winning five of its eight races. M&M's (Mark and Mara Ploch, New York, N.Y.), too, cannot be toppled with its string of eight victories in as many races in the Beneteau 36.7 class.
Things are not so comfy, however, for Challenge IV (Jeffrey Willis, Huntington Bay, N.Y.), leader in the J/44 class. Snapping at its heels is overall second-place finisher Gold Digger, which owner Jim Bishop (Jamestown, R.I.) feels is capable of closing a three-point gap tomorrow. "I said the other day that any one of four or five boats could win this class," said Bishop, who has campaigned Gold Digger for 14 years " but I forgot to add 'in the last day.' That's how close it is. In our second race today, nine boats overlapped at the first mark."
Lots of lead swaps occurred today in the races for the Farr 395 class, but Tsunami (Preben Ostberg/Bud Dailey, Edgewater, Maryland) leads overall with ten points to Coyote's (Bill Clemens, West Redding, Conn.) 14. "It's close enough that anything could happen," said MJ Maloof (New York, N.Y.), a crewman aboard Avalanche (Craig Albrecht, Seacliff, N.Y.), which sits in fourth, "but it would have to be extraordinary circumstances for Tsunami to lose its lead. They would have to make mistakes, and they are not inclined to that."
In IRC class 2, Troubador (Mort Weintraub, Larchmont, N.Y.) and Lora Ann (Rich du Moulin, Larchmont, N.Y.) are tied for first with 18 points each. In today's first race, Troubador opted for the right side of the course, as the pressure was clearly better close to shore. They rounded the first windward mark with a substantial lead over Lora Ann. "We had a very good first race," said Troubador's mainsail trimmer Scott Powell. "The game was to get right first. We covered Lora Ann closely." Their second race was less successful: "Our start was bad, and things didn't get any better from there. It's going to be a showdown tomorrow."
The J/120 contest is going down to the wire. Nicole Weaver (Annapolis, Md.), skippering Euro Trash Girl said, " today was a little frustrating, and we had no wind for a long period of time in the first race. We were really hoping for a third race. Points-wise, this is a fairly close group." Euro Trash Girl is currently in sixth with the top three boats-Sunday Driver (Robert Carballal, Centerport, N.Y.), Ricochet (Thomas Lee, Essex, Conn.) and Sarah Beth (Gerald Bertekap, Oceanport, N.J.)--within one point of each other.
Compliments of Rolex, daily video shows of the racing, produced by Annapolis-based T2Productions, are broadcast on-line each night by 9 p.m. on www.t2p.tv. The videos also are shown each day under the "Big Top" tent where all of Race Week's sponsors have a presence. Sponsors are B&G, Gill, Hall Spars, Heineken, J Boats, Jeep, Lewmar, Mt. Gay Rum, 1bigthink, Power Water, the Rhode Island State Yachting Committee, Sailing World, Samson Ropes, UKHalsey Sailmakers, Vineyard Vines, West Marine and Yellow Tail wine.
To follow the racing, go to www.blockislandraceweek.com
Results after Day 4:
RED 1-IRC SUPER ZERO
1. Titan, Rp75 (1-2-1-1-2-1-1-2), 9.5 pts;
2. Numbers, Farr 60 (4-1-2-2-4-1-2-3), 15.5;
3. Hissar, Farr 60 (2-3-5-4-1-3-3-4), 20;
RED 2 - IRC ZERO
1. High Noon, Ilc 40 (2-1-2-1-3-1-2-2), 11 pts;
2. Bandit, Swan 45 (1-2-4-5-1-2-4-3), 17;
3. Boys Are Back, Farr 36 (3-5-6-2-8-3-1-1), 21;
RED 3 FARR 40
1. Warpath, Farr 40 (1-3-2-2-1-1-2-10), 22 pts;
2. Mean Machine, Farr 40 (7-6-1-1-4-3-1-2), 25;
3. Le Renard, Farr 40 (5-1-4-6-3-4-4-4), 31;
RED 4 - IRC ONE
1. Rum Funny, J133 (2-2-1-1-2-3-8-2), 13 pts;
2. Settler, Ctm42 (3-3-6-2-5-2-4-6), 25;
3. Chris Dragon, J130 (4-1-5-3-3-9-11-3), 28.5;
RED 5 - IRC TWO
1. Lora Ann, Exp 37 (2-1-5-1-1-10-4-3), 17 pts;
2. Troubador, Express 37 (1-5-3-2-2-1-3-6), 17;
3. Cabady, Express 37 (4-7-2-3-3-9-5-4), 28;
WHITE 1 - FARR 395
1. Tsunami, Farr 395 (2-1-6-1-3-1-2), 10 pts;
2. Coyote, Farr 395 (1-5-4-3-1-4-1), 14;
3. Fearless, Farr 395 (5-2-2-6-2-3-3), 17;
WHITE 2 - J44
1. Challenge Iv, J44 (1-1-3-6-2-6-1), 14 pts;
2. Gold Digger, J44 (2-2-2-3-6-7-2), 17;
3. Maxine, J44 (4-6-1-9-1-1-9), 22;
WHITE 3 - BEN 40.7
1. Down Time, Ben 40.7 (3-1-3-2-2-7-1), 12 pts;
2. Moon Racer, Ben 40.7 (2-6-2-DSQ-1-2-2), 15;
3. Dame Blanche, Ben 40.7 (1-3-4-1-4-3-DSQ), 16;
WHITE 4 - J120
1. Sunday Driver, J120 (4-6-2-6-2-1-2-), 17 pts;
2. Ricochet, J120 (1-3-1-7-7-5-1), 18;
3. Sarah Beth, J120 (3-2-4-3-3-3-5), 18;
WHITE 5 - J109
1. Phoebe's Phling, J109 (4-3-3-1-1-13-3), 15 pts;
2. Electra, J109 (2-1-4-6-11-2-1), 16;
3. Storm, J109 (3-6-7-2-6-3-4), 24;
WHITE 6 - J105
1. Pretty Sketchy, J105 (2-4-1-3-6-9-9), 25 pts;
2. Savasana, J105 (13-12-7-1-2-1-7), 30;
3. Indefatigable, J105 (1-5-8-2-7-19-12), 35;
BLUE 1 - BEN 36.7
1. M&M's, Ben36.7 (1-1-1-1-1-1-1-1), 7 pts;
2. Jubilee, Ben 36.7 (2-2-3-3-2-3-2-3), 17;
3. Quokka, Ben36.7 (3-3-2-2-3-2-4-4), 19;
BLUE 2 - PHRF 87-108
1. Remedy, Evelyn 32 (2-1-1-2-1-6-3-1), 11 pts;
2. Xlr8, Carrera280 (1-2-10-1-10-1-1-4), 20;
3. Deviation, Sov 33 (3-10-4-9-3-3-4-2), 28;
BLUE 3 -PHRF 111-123
1. Cooch, J29 (2-1-1-3-2-3-2-1), 12 pts;
2. Showdown, J29 (4-2-2-2-1-2-4-3), 16;
3. Exhilaration, X332 (1-3-3-1-6-8-3-9), 25.5;
BLUE 4 -PHRF 129-135
1. Chinook, J30 (1-1-1-7-1-8-5-1), 17 pts;
2. Cymothoe, Sabre 362 (8-4-4-2-4-2-2-3), 21;
3. Pirate, Abbott 33 (3-3-5-3-3-3-3-4), 22;
BLUE 5 -PHRF 156-171
1. Big Time, Cal 33 (1-1-1-1-1-3-4-1), 9 pts;
2. Air Express, Sjn30 (3-5-2-4-2-1-1-2), 15;
3. Mad Cow, J24 (4-3-4-2-3-5-2-5), 23;
GRN 1 - PHRF NON-SPI
1. Rascal, J34c (1-4-2-1), 4 pts;
2. Xenophon, Swan 44 (3-1-1-4), 5;
3. Rogue, Taylor 38 (2-2-3-6), 7;