Block Island Race

The 69th Storm Trysail Club Block Island Race, which started on the Friday of Memorial Day Weekend, attracted 69 boats. While George David’s custom 90 footer Rambler won IRC on both handicap and elapsed with a fully professional crew, the polar opposite was true of the J/105 that won the hearts of everyone at the awards ceremony on Sunday. That team was Young American, the J/105 that won PHRF 1 and represented American Yacht Club with its junior offshore team aboard. According to the team’s coordinator and adult crew member Peter Becker, “The seven Young American juniors are part of the club’s junior big boat program, which sees 35 kids between the ages of 14 and 17 spending a huge amount of time on the water learning sailing and seamanship skills. Beating out the Sound, we were under-powered, and there was a funny sea wave, but they magically called a couple of shifts, got inside some big lifts and were in good company. The biggest problem was the big boats, which were in better wind and better current, while the smaller boats had the current turn on them. Coming back we were in foul current, which was not enjoyable at all.” Finishing around 4 a.m. on Sunday, the Young American team thought they had done horribly but soon learned they were first in PHRF Class 1 and third overall. The team also won 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. Becker’s son Key who was one of three designated skippers onboard, summed up the experience by saying, “It was pretty light, but instead of getting frustrated, we held it together, worked as a team, shared our ideas and made it work.”