Block Island (Rhode Island) June 21, 2002- Sailing Central’s inaugural running of Block Island Race Week was concluded with many class winners surviving closely fought battles. This year, "The Block" provided 5 sunny days of sailing with only Thursday ‘s early arrival of fog shorting the day’s racing. The committee wisely delayed the harbor start giving the sailors the morning to relax while waiting for the fog to lift and the sea breeze to develop.

The largest class racing in this years event was J Boats rapidly growing J-105 Class with (28 boats) competing. After racing 8 races that allowed the competitors one throw-out, Doug Esdorn’s Kinesem eventually won over Carl Olson’s Morning Glory by a single point. Going into the last race Morning Glory had to win the race with Kinesem finishing no better than thirteenth. Glory did what she had to do by winning the last race however, Kinesem held on to an eleventh to win the class by only a single point. The close racing was evident throughout the evenly matched one design boats. Dr. Robert Salk’s Picante, Don Priestly’s Wet Paint and Sorenson’s Wet Leopard rounded out the top 5 with only 5 points two days and four races Class A found itself in a three way tie with Tim Woodhouse’s custom Thompson 35 Rumours, Dr. Gino Bottino’s custom IMS racer Tripp 43 Raven and Prebben Aras’s new Carroll Marine built one design racer/cruiser Farr 395 Tsunami. Wednesday’s running of the "Round Island Race" finally broke the tie with Tsunami coming on strong on the final leg to the finish. Sailing in a freshing breeze and a strong following tide Tsunami corrected over Rumours which finished 5th and Raven’s 4th to break the tie. Steve Garland’s Wired who started slowly on Monday’s racing has come on strong with a 1st in race 3 and now a 2nd in the Round Island Race. After three days of racing Tsunami sailing with a largely new crew find themselves leading Class A. Little did they know they would go on to dominate the class with finishes (2-4-1-1-1-1-2) winning over Rumours in 2nd and Raven in 3rd.

At the conclusion of the event sailors from all the classes expressed their thanks to Sailing Central and Zuse for picking up the event after Premiere Racing announced its intention of dropping the event from its current events it currently manages. Sailing Centrals’ Block Island Race Week 2004 will continue in the tradition of great sailing events.

For race reports and results, visit http://www.birw.net or http://www.sailingcentral.com

Ted Zuse of Zuse, Inc organized the Block Island Race Week 2002 and Guy deBoer, Publisher Sailing Central. Sailing Centrals’ BIRW is held every other even year. The next event is scheduled for June 2004.

Special thanks to our supporting sponsors:

J-Boats, Douglas Gill, Mount Gay Rum, Contender Sailcloth, Harken, Zuse, Inc., Yachtshots.com, Kappa Sails, Red Hook Beer, UK Sailmakers, The Oar, Rock Cafe