Month: August 2024

J/111 PRAVDA Smokes ORC Division
(Newport, RI) – The 19th Ida Lewis Distance Race hosted forty-five teams, including both world-class and recreational racers. The competition’s 24-hour format saw seven classes leave Newport Harbor at 11:00 AM Friday, August 16, and return on Saturday to a finish line sighted from host Ida Lewis Yacht Club where volunteers were on watch to record times and meet each team on the water with a congratulatory bottle of prosecco!!
“With the forecast for light air, we chose a course of 135.0nm for all three ORC classes and a shorter 120.0nm for the four PHRF classes,” said Will Museler, a member of the race team. “Most of the other established distance races in the country have the same set course, from start to finish, each year. Depending on the wind, you can be gone for a day or three days, you never know. Here you know!”
ORC DivisionBy all accounts, the sailors were pleased with the courses, which for ORC took the competitors out to Buzzards Bay Tower, then west past Block Island to a mark off Montauk, back to Buzzards Bay, and home again.
ORC 3 DivisionEdward Kaye’s J/111 PRAVDA from Marblehead, MA finished in 1d 1h 39m 20s to win ORC 3 Division and also take the silver medal for ORC Overall, only missing winning ORC Overall by a mere 5 minutes!
PHRF DivisionPHRF’s shorter course sent the teams first to the south side of Block Island, then east to Cox Ledge, Buzzards Bay Tower, and back to Newport.
PHRF Bagheera DivisionJeff Johnstone’s J/99 AGENT 99 (Newport, R.I.) won this division quite easily and just missed the podium for PHRF Overall by a mere 26 seconds! Johnstone’s AGENT 99 pulled off a daringly strategic downwind start, launching a spinnaker well before it crossed the pin end of the line. The boat rode low on a puff to separate from the fleet and then capitalized on a right shift that eventually enabled the team to get a mile ahead of the fleet within the first hour of racing.
“That start set us up mentally for the next six hours,” said AGENT 99 crew Tom Kirk. “In sailing, anything you do well motivates you; the key is not to let the bad things slow you down.”
Just finishing “out of the chocolates” was EC Helme’s J/92S SPIRIT, settling for 5th place. 
PHRF Coronet DivisionThis ten-boat division saw three J/crews predominate in the top four spots. David Rosow’s J/122 LOKI is on a roll this summer, taking the silver medal and 3rd PHRF Overall. John Pearson’s J/111 RED SKY 4 took the bronze medal and 6th PHRF Overall. Then, Jim Phyfe’s J/44 DIGGER took 4th place and 9th PHRF Overall!
Youth Challenge DivisionWinning the Arent H. Kits van Heyningen Trophy for the Youth Challenge was James Phyfe’s J/44 DIGGER (Cranston, R.I.), which finished fourth in Coronet. Digger had a total of eight youths and two adults on board, and they were up against three other Youth Challenge entries. NOTE- Youth Challenge entrants must have more than 40% of the team reaching their 14th birthday, but not their 20th birthday before August 16.
Ida Lewis Distance Race Gold Sponsor was Contender Sailcloth. Silver Sponsors were Safe Harbor Newport Shipyard and Hogan Associates/Christie’s International Real Estate. Bronze Sponsors were Gold’s Wine and Spirits, Langan Design Partners, Newport Construction Services, Inc., and North Sails. Contributing Sponsors were Toni Mills Graphic Design, Mac Designs, Gosling’s Black Seal Rum, and Stella Artois. Sailing photo credits- BLOCK ISLAND STEVE/ Stephen Cloutier. Follow Ida Lewis Distance Race on Facebook  For more Ida Lewis Distance Race sailing information

(Newport, RI)-  The 2024 Ida Lewis Distance Race has attracted nearly 50 entrants for the revered 24-hour race on August 16 in Newport, RI. From south of Pell Bridge in Narragansett Bay’s East Passage, the fleet heads off to some of the most storied cruising grounds in the Northeast, including Rhode Island Sound, Buzzards Bay, Vineyard Sound, Long Island Sound, and the waters south of western Long Island before returning to a finish off host Ida Lewis Yacht Club.

“It’s a fun distance race that has been enjoyed by veterans and newcomers alike for 18 editions,” said Event Chair Anselm Richards. “Fine-tuning over the last few years has all but guaranteed that every boat will finish in 24 hours, so that makes the time on the water just right: not too long, not too short.”
Richards added that the Ida Lewis Race Course Development Team has plotted a choice of several courses between 100 and 235 nautical miles; before the start, it will determine which class will sail what course, based on weather and handicap ranges for each class.
Teams sail either in ORC (classes 1, 2, and 3) or PHRF (classes Aloha, Coronet, Bagheera, and Double handed) for top-three and overall trophies as well as special trophies for Collegiate and Youth Challenges. The event also is a qualifier for the Northern Ocean Racing Trophy and Double-Handed Ocean Racing Trophy.
Returning this year is perennial favorite Spirit, a J/92 skippered by EC Helme (Newport, RI). “Last year’s race was pretty interesting for us,” said Helme, who finished second in Bagheera class and will sail in that class again. “Being the smallest and lightest boat combined with those steady, strong conditions made it a real test for Spirit and crew, but it made crossing the finish line that much sweeter.
“Being pushed a little physically and mentally is one of the reasons why we keep coming back. The Bay races generally don’t offer that, and the Ida Lewis Distance Race is just the right distance to make it an honest challenge while being ‘reasonable’ on a 30-foot boat.”  For more Ida Lewis Distance Race sailing information