78th Annual Block Island Race at Storm Trysail Club
by Storm Trysail Club 28 May 03:49 BST
May 23-25, 2025
Zig Zag, Skye, and Loki at the Start for ORC 6 - 78th Annual Block Island Race © Rick Bannerot, Ontheflyphoto.net
The 78th edition of the Block Island Race, hosted by the Storm Trysail Club, delivered classic Northeast spring conditions and a course that tested every sailor's resilience, tactics, and teamwork. Sixty-two boats departed Stamford on Friday afternoon for the 186-nautical-mile lap around Block Island, facing a mix of light air starts and heavy upwind slogs in the race's signature "around-the-island-and-back" format.
On the heels of a powerful nor'easter, the weather left its mark. Friday's start began in light, variable air, but as the starting window progressed over 90 minutes, the breeze steadily filled from the southwest.
From there, it was a game of staying in phase and out of trouble. Most of the fleet hugged the Long Island shore to avoid adverse current, gybing down coastline in the westerly breeze before rounding 1BI at the northern tip of Block Island. As night fell, the boats circled the island in a quick reach, before turning into a beat straight into the wind—lasting up to 20 hours for some teams.
"I think we did about a thousand gybes," joked Libby Alexander, sailing the doublehanded entry Byte. Her co-skipper and husband, Rob, added: "What made the difference was never giving up. Everybody makes mistakes—you just have to put it behind you and keep going." Their SunFast 3300 finished 2nd in ORC doublehanded.
In the crewed ORC division, the racing was especially tight. "We had one of the most competitive ORC classes in recent history," said Storm Trysail Club Commodore Andrew Weiss, who finished third on Christopher Dragon behind Loki and Zig Zag—both J/122s. "It was just fantastic racing, and the Weather Scoring really held up to making everything more fair."
Taking the win in ORC 6, David Rosow aboard Loki credited the win to preparation, execution, and a great crew. He had Devin Santa and Ed Cesare and onboard, navigators who went 1-2 in the Bermuda Race last year, along with Hound, skipper, Dan Litchfield.
"We had a lot of talent onboard and did a lot of prep. We paid close attention to the tides and hooked into the northerly. The most exciting moment? When Zig Zag passed us near the finish—we fought hard to stay with them, and it was thrilling racing."
Art Santry's Temptation/ Oakcliff took both Line Honors and the ORC Overall win, the JV66, the fastest in the fleet, finished at 12:52:57 on Saturday with an elapsed time of 23:37:37. Santry shared with the Race Committee upon finishing he, "came through the Race [the bottleneck at the opening to Long Island Sound where current runs quickly] reefed with a #4 doing five knots and getting our teeth pounded out," indicating that even the big boats had a tough sail on the return leg.
The first PHRF boat to finish was the J/160 Cougar, skippered by Past Commodore Lenny Sitar, racing in his 36th Block Island Race.
"That was one of the most exciting races I've done. We were going 9-10 knots and just plowed through the water—like the current was standing still," he said.
The overall PHRF Trophy went to Bill Baxter's J/111, Fireball nearly 30 minutes ahead of second place's Blitzen, sailed by three generations of Storcks. John Storck Jr.and his wife Collette, were joined by their two sons, John III and Erik, son-in-law, Baker Potts, and 9 year old grandson Hudson on his first race.
"Despite a little seasickness, Hudson had a great time," said dad Erik.
Stories of camaraderie and fresh connections were everywhere. Ian Milward, racing his J/109 in his first overnight race, recruited young Canadian sailors from the Intercollegiate Offshore Regatta.
"Beating into 20 hours of upwind chop isn't fun," he said, "but I had a great crew that made it all worth it—and we finished third in class!"
In the ORC Doublehanded class, victory went to Doug McKeige aboard his brand new J/99 Save the Sound, co-skippered with offshore legend Rich du Moulin. The pair also claimed the Harvey Conover Memorial 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.
"You couldn't do anything except sail the boat," said McKeige. "15 to 30 knots, short steep waves—it was punishing. But the boat was fast, we were faster than the competition, and sailing with Rich was a fantastic collaboration."
Special thanks to Raymaine, Sebago, IHG Hotels and Resorts, Litchfield Distillery, Regatta Craft Mixers, and UK Sailmakers NE for supporting the 78th Block Island Race.
Quick Links:
Results: YachtScoring
Tracker: YB Tracker - thanks to Raymarine & Sebago
Photos: StormTrysail.org courtesy of ©2025 Rick Bannerot, Ontheflyphoto.net
Videos: Head to YouTube, Instagram Facebook for start line coverage, updates, and behind-the-scenes content!