J/Teams Dominate 79th Storm Trysail Block Island Race

(Larchmont, NY)- The Storm Trysail Club’s 79th Annual Block Island Race took place last weekend in the waters of the Long Island and Block Island Sounds. Fifty-eight boats participated in one of the Northeast’s most historic offshore races, with a challenging, 186.0nm course that exits Long Island Sound, rounds Block Island to starboard, before returning to Stamford. A true test of seamanship, this year’s race was also a good training mission for the upcoming 2026 Newport Bermuda Race, with 34 entries appearing on both scratch sheets.

Within the fifty-eight entries, J/Boats had twenty-nine teams- 50% of the fleet!! The race was divided into 12 classes, including dedicated ORC and PHRF Doublehanded divisions.

Competitors faced a demanding mix of conditions, beginning with a wet, cold, long upwind slog out of Long Island Sound, before many crews were rewarded with fast reaching and downwind conditions for the run home.

ORC Division Overall
David Rosow’s J/122 LOKI just missed by three minutes on corrected time for Overall ORC honors, settling for the silver medal. Meanwhile, Andrew Clark’s J/122 ZIG ZAG completed the podium. Both J/122s also topped the highly competitive ORC Class 8 division.

PHRF Division Overall
In the PHRF Division, past Storm Trysail Club Commodore John Storck Jr.’s J/130 BLITZEN captured both PHRF Class 7 and Overall PHRF honors after a strong performance in the changing conditions around the island course. BLITZEN was awarded the Terrapin Trophy for Best Corrected Time in the PHRF Fleet and the George Lauder Trophy as the best-performing vintage yacht over 25 years old.

BLITZEN’s victory was made even more special by the family crew onboard, with three generations of the Storck family racing together. Storck Jr. and his wife Colette sailed alongside their sons, John III and Erik, Erik’s son Hudson, son-in-law Baker Potts, and longtime family friends David Waldo, James Willis, and Josh Parks.

BLITZEN’s game plan was also to stay south of the outbound rhumbline as the wind was to shift right. “We started a bit overpowered with our J1, but knew the wind would moderate in an hour or so. With a roller reefing headstay, we have to make bald-headed jib changes, so we agreed to start with the larger jib, and it paid out, helping us drive through the lumpy sea state. Soon after the start, we tacked to the right, and that put us on top of the competition going out. We got out of the Sound through the Race just before the current turned on us, basically fetched 1BI. Approaching 1BI, there was foul current, but once we rounded and set our A2, we were able to leg out on the other boats. We sailed with the A2 for the rest of the race, taking it down at the finish line.” John also noted that Friday was his wife Colette’s birthday, so the family crew had a cake with a candle to celebrate after dinner that evening.

ORC Doublehanded Division
The ORC Doublehanded division once again showcased the growth and competitiveness of short-handed offshore racing. Todd Aven and Todd Diffee aboard the J/99 THIN MAN claimed victory in ORC Doublehanded and earned the Gerold Abels Trophy for Best ORC Double-Handed Performance after navigating the tactical overnight course against a talented fleet of shorthanded teams.

Aven shared, “We were neck-and-neck with our competition going into Block Island Sound around midnight. Playing the shifts and puffs crossing to 1BI was a bit of chess and a bit of craps. Shortly after the mark, we put up the code 0 and took off from the pack. Staging out of the dead zone near Southeast Light was a game-changer. After that, it was a dozen hours of champagne downwind sailing with the A2 spinnaker, gybing occasionally to stay in the middle of the Sound where the breeze was better. The breeze really came up in the last hour or two of our race. We pulled off a couple of clean inside gybes and got down the spinnaker before the final turn at the Cows. Blasting across the finish line at 9 knots under full main and heavy J1 with 20 knot gusts was a real thrill.”

PHRF Doublehanded Division
In the PHRF Doublehanded division, Peter Becker and Adrien Blanc’s J/105 YOUNG AMERICAN earned both class honors and the Commodore’s Grail Trophy for Best PHRF Doublehanded Performance. The duo also received the Commodore’s Trophy, awarded to the boat that won its class by the narrowest margin over second and third-place competitors.

PHRF 4 Division
Two J/teams sailed in this five-boat fleet. Matt Roleke & Trace Dittenhofer’s J/33 CO-CONSPIRATOR took the silver medal.

PHRF 5 Division
A quartet of J/120s sailed this half-dozen boat fleet. Sweeping the top two spots were Andrian Lubimov’s DUET, winning by 20 minutes corrected time over Richard West’s CHARLOTTE in second place. Then, Brian Spears’s MADISON finished fourth, with William Klein’s SPECK rounding out the top five.

PHRF 7 Division
This half-dozen boat fleet was dominated by J/Crews. Winning PHRF Overall and Division was John Storck & family’s J/130 BLITZEN. Taking the bronze medal was Kevin Kelley’s J/122 SUMMER GRACE, with Bill & Jackie Baxter’s J/111 FIREBALL finishing fourth place.

ORC 8 Division- J/Sweep!
This relatively large eight-boat fleet was dominated by J/Teams and, not surprisingly, was swept by three J/Teams.
David Rosow’s J/122 LOKI won, followed by Andrew Clark’s J/122 ZIG ZAG in second, and Martin Zonnenberg’s J/111 QUICKDRAW taking the bronze medal step on the podium!

ORC 11 Division
This large eleven-boat fleet saw Steve Losik’s J/121 HABIRU finish fourth, Trevor Roach’s J/121 TOUCH OF GREY take fifth, and Len Sitar’s J/160 COUGAR place sixth.

For more Storm Trysail Block Island Race sailing information
https://stormtrysail.org/regattas/block-island-race/