From the Storm Trysail Club 1BI Newsletter:
New Shoreham, RI – Thick fog and light winds greeted sailors on the final morning of Storm Trysail Club Block Island Race Week presented by Margaritaville. After an hour-long postponement, the Race Committee ultimately decided to abandon racing on Margaritaville Race Day due to the low visibility and lack of wind.
“Safety is the most important factor in our decision making,” said event chair and long-time PRO, Ray Redniss. “Windward-Leeward courses with multiple fleets is just not feasible for safe sailing.”
Cheers and a few groans could be heard around the dock as Dick Neville, On-Water director, made the VHF announcement at 11am because it was now a certain outcome on which teams would be crowned champions of Block Island Race Week.
. . .
Emoticon – picture courtesy Stephen R. Cloutier
The winner of the [14-boat] J/109 East Coast Championships was Jonathan Rechtschaffer’s EMOTICON. The crew not only won the class but also a bit more silver: the A. Justin Wasley Memorial Trophy as the winner of the largest one-design class and the Island Sailing Club Of Cowes Perpetual Trophy for the overall winner of the Regatta Craft Mixers Round the Island Race.
“Competition is always very key,” said Rechtschaffer. “One of the core reasons I am part of the class is because anyone can finish on top or win any of the races. We also all support each other. My hats off to GOSSIP who started this regatta strong. It’s class racing so it’s about the consistency and my team helped deliver that.”
He attributed early season racing and learning from those mistakes to capitalize on the gains made throughout the week and dedicated the win to his mother who passed away earlier this year.
