FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE:
Contact: Barby MacGowan, Media Pro Int’l, 401-225-0249 (on-site mobile), barby.macgowan@mediapronewport.com
or Marcy Trenholm, STC, 914-834-8857, stormtry@aol.com

Storm Trysail Club Block Island Race Week XXII Presented by Rolex

Fog Fails to Foil Racers

BLOCK ISLAND, R.I. (June 20, 2007) -- Fog mixed with rain dampened the air but not the racing atmosphere at the Storm Trysail Club's Block Island Race Week XXII presented by Rolex. After yesterday's around-the-island race, the event's 2000 sailors competing on 183 boats were anxious to get back to buoy racing to add bulk to their score lines. Though the southwest winds generally blew lightly, the race committee managed two races for 17 of 18 classes on three courses: White (One-Design), Red (IRC) and Blue (PHRF).

Though the first-ever Rolex US-IRC National Championship will be decided this week, competition in the one-design classes is every bit as intense. The largest one-design class at the event is the J/105 with 24 entrants. The leader in this class, Brian Keane (Weston, Mass.) aboard Savasana, is the defending champion here and says Block Island Race Week is one of the better J/105 regattas in the country. With a 1-8 today, Keane is nine points ahead of his closest competitor Paul Strauch (Douglaston, N.Y.) aboard Andiamo. His strategy going into tomorrow is simply to stay clear. "We're sailing pretty quick; just don't make the big mistakes," said Keane.

The newer J/109 class is at its historical high for this event at 19 entrants. The majority of the J/109s are fresh off their East Coast Championships, where Stephen Tedeschi's Tastes Like Chicken (St. Petersburg, Fla.) won. TLC was leading its fleet as of yesterday but struggled in today's race one, being "caught between two winds." After posting finishes of 4-2, TLC slipped in the overall standings to one point behind David Jannetti's (Southampton, N.Y.) Jibber Jabber, which scored 2-1.

"All my respect goes to Jibber Jabber for their beautiful races, said Tedeschi. "They lined up with the puffs and stayed out of the holes. But we are meeting our goal of all top-four finishes and being in contention for winning after three days of racing."

A whopping 40 percent of the entrants at Block Island Race Week are J Boats of one kind or another, and the company's founder/designer Rod Johnstone (Stonington, Conn.) is sailing his J/92S Banjo in PHRF class 1, where he is currently fourth overall, while several other members of the Johnstone family are also competing.

In the J/44 class, Jeff Willis (Huntington, N.Y.), who has sailed in all but three of the 22 Block Island Race Weeks ("I started young," he said), posted two bullets today aboard Challenge IV to round out three seconds in his series. "The key with one-design sailing is clear air and being bow out at the start, so you can keep your options open," said Willis. Willis says the J//44 class is successful because costs are kept to a minimum with several innovative rules, including the requirement to rotate suits of sails among the boats each season.

Other one-design classes sailing here are the J/120 and Beneteau 36.7, where Luis Gonzalez (Grand Isle, Vermont) aboard k2 and Curt Schwab (Washington, DC) aboard Volition are leading, respectively.

Winning both races today to maintain perfect score lines were XLR8, the Carrera 280 owned by Brad Porter (Westbrook, Conn.) in PHRF class 1; Freightrain, the Frers 36 owned by Dick Hyde (Belmont, Mass.) in PHRF class 2 ; Magic Glove, the Ker 50 owned by Colm Barrington (Dublin, Ireland) in IRC class Zero; and Tumbleweed III, the J/122 owned by Jim Johnstone (Newport , R.I.) in IRC class 4.

The PHRF Navigator Non-Spinnaker class completed one race today, with Xenophon, the Swan 44 owned by Paul Pakos (Sudbury, Mass.), winning to make three victories in as many races so far.

Today was Rolex and Sailing World Race Day, while J Boats and B&G sponsored the official party under the event tent

Compliments of Rolex, daily video shows of each day’s racing, produced by T2Productions, are broadcast on-line each night by 9 p.m. at www.t2p.tv. Race Week sponsors are Rolex, Jeep, Mt. Gay, Caithness Energy, Vineyard Vines, Lewmar, B&G, Gill, Hall Spars, J Boats, the Rhode Island State Yachting Committee, Sailing World, UKHalsey Sailmakers, West Marine, Gowrie, Barden & Brett, Summit Performance Yachts, WindCheck Magazine, Sailing World, Heineken, Yellow Tail wine and Bitter End Yacht Club.

Race administration and scoring is by Yacht Scoring (www.yachtscoring.com). For more information, visit www.blockislandraceweek.com

(end)

(Top-three Results Attached)

PHRF1 (PHRF - 10 Boats)
1. XLR8, Carrera 280, Brad Porter, Westbrook, CT, USA - 1, 1, 1, 1, 2, ; 6
2. J Bird IV, Olsen 30, David Janes, Newport Beach, CA, USA - 4, 2, 5, 3, 1, ; 15
3. Banjo, J/92, Rodney Johnstone, Stonington, CT, USA - 2, 4, 4, 4, 3, ; 17

PHRF2 (PHRF - 8 Boats)
1. Freightrain, Frers 36, Dick Hyde, Belmont, MA, USA - 1, 1, 1, 1, 1, ; 5
2. Sirprize, Sirena 38, Bill Healy, Hartford, CT, USA - 2, 2, 3, 2, 3, ; 12
3. Borderline, C&C 35, Bishop / Asch, Greenwich, Ct, USA - 3, 4, 2, 3, 5, ; 17

PHRF3 (PHRF - 6 Boats)
1. Hustler, J/29, John & Tony Esposito, Mohegan Lake, NY, USA - 1, 1, 1, 2, 1, ; 6
2. Divided Sky, J/29, Vin & Kristy McAteer, Warwick, RI, USA - 2, 2, 4, 1, 4, ; 13
3. Cool Breeze, J/29, John Cooper, Springfield, MO, USA - 3, 3, 2, 3, 2, ; 13

PHRF4 (PHRF - 16 Boats)
1. Rumor, J/80, John Storck, Jr, Huntington, NY, USA - 1, 3, 2, 6, 1, ; 13
2. Cymothoe, Sabre 36, David Alldian, Brick, NJ, USA - 4, 4, 4, 1, 6, ; 19
3. Hokus Pokus, J/80, Donald Suter, Cutchogue, NY, USA - 7, 5, 1, 4, 5, ; 22

PHRF5 (PHRF - 6 Boats)
1. Air Express, San Juan 30, Chris Fesenmeyer, Norwalk, CT, USA - 2, 2, 1, 1, 1, ; 7
2. One Up, Wyliecat 30, Lincoln Schoenberger, Shelton, CT, USA - 1, 1, 3, 2, 2, ; 9
3. MadCow, J/24, David German, Tampa, FL, USA - 3, 3, 2, 3, 3, ; 14

Navigator Non Spin (PHRF - 6 Boats)
1. Xenophon, Swan 44, Paul Pakos, Sudbury, MA, USA - 1, 1, 1, ; 3
2. Rascal, J/34C, Kel Weber, Wilton, CT, USA - 3, 2, 3, ; 8
3. Glass Slipper, Catalina 320, Douglas Dalessio, Stony Brook, NY, USA - 2, 3, 4, ; 9

IRC Super Zero (IRC - 6 Boats)
1. Blue Yankee, Reichel Pugh 66, Bob and Farley Towse, Stamford, CT, USA - 1, 1, 1, 2, ; 5
2. Moneypenny, Swan 60, Jim Swartz, Park City, UT, USA - 4, 2, 2, 6, ; 14
3. Rima2, ReichelPugh 55, John Brim, New York, NY, USA - 5, 5, 4, 1, ; 15

IRC Zero (IRC - 7 Boats)
1. Magic Glove, Ker 50, Colm Barrington, Dublin, Ireland - 1, 1, 1, 1, ; 4
2. Sjambok, RP45, Michael Brennan, Potomac, MD, USA - 3, 4, 3, 2, ; 12
3. Tomcat, Farr 53, Midn 1/c Christopher Hamilton, Annapolis, MD, USA - 5, 2, 2, 5, ; 14

IRC1/NYYC Swan 42 (IRC - 8 Boats)
1. Tsunami, NYYC Swan 42, Preben Ostberg/John Aras/Bud Dailey, Rockville, MD, USA - 3, 3, 1, 2, ; 9
2. Arethusa, NYYC Swan 42, Phil Lotz, New Canaan, CT, USA - 2, 1, 6, 3, ; 12
3. Bandit, NYYC Swan 42, Andrew Fisher, Greenwich, CT, USA - 4, 6, 2, 1, ; 13

IRC2 (IRC - 10 Boats)
1. Cracker , Ker 11.3, Hunt Lawerence, New York, NY, USA - 2, 1, 1, 1, ; 5
2. Jammy Beggar, Melges 32, Tom Lee, Essex, CT, USA - 1, 5, 6, 2, ; 14
3. Yellow Jacket, Farr 40, Bulman, Scholz, D'Amato, Bethesda, MD, USA - 3, 7, 2, 4, ; 16

IRC3 (IRC - 10 Boats)
1. Coyote, Farr 395, William Clemens, Riverside, CT, USA - 3, 1, 2, 5, ; 11
2. Sarah, X-41, Gregory Manning, Warwick, RI, USA - 7, 2, 4, 1, ; 14
3. Avalanche, Farr 395, Craig Albrecht, Sea Cliff, NY, USA - 1, 5, 1, 11/OCS, ; 18

IRC4 (IRC - 14 Boats)
1. Tumbleweed III, J/122, Jim Johnstone, Newport , RI, USA - 1, 1, 1, 1, ; 4
2. Christopher Dragon, J/122, Andrew Weiss, Greenwich, CT, USA - 2, 6, 2, 2, ; 12
3. Partnership, J/122, David Tortorello, Fairfield, CT, USA - 3, 3, 4, 4, ; 14

IRC5 (IRC - 14 Boats)
1. Lora Ann, Schumacher 37, Richard du Moulin, Larchmont, NY, USA - 7, 3, 1, 3, ; 14
2. Cabady, Taylor 42, Randall/Matt Baldwin, Ridgefield, CT, USA - 3, 4, 2, 5/SCP, ; 14
3. Xhibition, X-35, Richard Casner, Dedham, MA, USA - 1, 2, 4, 13/SCP, ; 20

J-44 (One Design - 6 Boats)
1. Challenge IV, J/44, Jeffrey Willis, Huntington, NY, USA - 2, 2, 2, 1, 1, ; 8
2. Resolute, J/44, Don & Rick Rave, Huntington Bay, NY, USA - 3, 1, 1, 4, 3, ; 12
3. Gold Digger, J/44, James D. Bishop, New York, NY, USA - 1, 3, 5, 2, 4, ; 15

J-120 (One Design - 6 Boats)
1. Flying Jenny V, J/120, David and Sandra Askew, Annapolis, MD, USA - 4, 4, 1, 1, 1, ; 11
2. Windborn, J/120, Richard Born, Lutherville, MD, USA - 3, 2, 2, 2, 2, ; 11
3. k2, J/120, Luis Gonzalez, Grand Isle, VT, USA - 1, 3, 3, 3, 6, ; 16

Beneteau 36.7 (One Design - 7 Boats)
1. Quokka, Beneteau First 36.7, Tom Peelen, Dartmouth , MA, USA - 2, 3, 5, 1, 4, ; 15
2. Volition, Beneteau First 36.7, Curt Schwab, Washington, DC, USA - 1, 1, 6, 4, 5, ; 17
3. Team Aegis, Beneteau First 36.7, Jim Kershaw, Leesburg, VA, USA - 5, 5, 1, 3, 3, ; 17

J-109 (One Design - 19 Boats)
1. Jibber Jabber, J/109, David Jannetti, Southampton, NY, USA - 4, 1, 6, 2, 1, ; 14
2. Taste Like Chicken, J/109, Stephen Tedeski, St. Petersburg, FL, USA - 2, 3, 3, 4, 3, ; 15
3. Mischief, J/109, Mike Brown, Yardley, PA, USA - 3, 2, 5, 3, 8, ; 21

J-105 (One Design - 24 Boats)
1. Savasana, J/105, Brian Keane, Weston, MA, USA - 1, 3, 2, 1, 8, ; 15
2. Andiamo, J/105, Paul Strauch, Douglaston, NY, USA - 3, 2, 9, 7, 3, ; 24
3. Woody, J/105, Larry Hennessy, Middlefield, CT, USA - 8, 4, 5, 5, 5, ; 27

Media Pro International
41 Memorial Blvd.
Newport, RI 02840
+1 (401) 849-0220
+1 (401) 225-0249 mobile