Now in Australian hands the brutal 100-footer Comanche does that power-reaching thing that nobody else can match. Fortunately for the rest – and for the race – the Hobart normally delivers a mix of conditions leaving the world’s fastest supermaxi on paper facing a battle over the 625nm course against slimmer if less powerful rivals like Black Jack and Oats and their much lower-drag hull shapes
or effect, a constant rotation of handicap systems didn’t help either. IOR begat IMS… briefly. Then IRC was tried for a time and in
several areas is still quite active, with ORC an option now too. And throughout there was the background rumble of quick and dirty PHRF, cheap and easy to score and upsetting as many of its users as it pleased (results correlated, of course). The Storm Trysail Club has been a leader throughout this era of
changes, adapting race formats with the times to provide high- quality race and event management, whether it’s the annual midwinter race from Ft Lauderdale to Key West (partnered with Lauderdale YC), a big fleet of 50 teams entered in its annual Inter- collegiate Regatta or its own signature week of day racing, the biennial Block Island Race Week. Storm Trysail also picked up Key West Race Week for its last
two editions ending two years ago, but now has that on hold due primarily to the high costs of running this event and the cost and time constraints on Corinthian teams. An unhelpful combination. Yet this dormancy of Key West Race Week has allowed the club
to refocus on the other core events in its portfolio and make them more relevant for the modern culture of big boat racing on the US east coast. For example, Block Island this year will bring back a lay day, where a day without sailing will give the friends and family teams especially a chance to relax a little. Maybe some pros will have a problem with one less paid day of work, but if they bring along their families they may even enjoy it… In those years when the wind howls and the fog rolls through a day off can be a welcome break in the routine. Another innovation is that among a few designated race areas
there is a ‘Solent Racing’ circle which features a windward-leeward course followed by a coastal course of some variety. In this area of Block Island Sound the currents and shoals can therefore come
26 SEAHORSE
into play, as well as the seamanship needed for navigation in fog and doing sail changes not normally tested in W/L racing. And while the one-design classes may do only W/L racing all
boats in the fleet will participate in the Round the Island Race, a traditional favourite at this event. In general the formats emulate the racing at Cowes Week, the original model for Race Week when it started in 1965. Newly installed STC Commodore AJ Evans also points out other
initiatives to bring more depth to participation in ocean races including the reintroduction of team competition within races. ‘We are working on agreements with other clubs to create new Storm Trysail trophies to award for the winning three-boat teams representing a club that are entered in the Transatlantic Race (New York YC), the Chicago-Mac (Chicago YC) and the Transpac (Transpacific YC),’ said Evans. This is not new in the history of ocean racing in the Atlantic but it is a new concept for the Great Lakes and Pacific coast. Indeed, being a paper club without physical assets but a wealth
of enthusiasm and talent in its membership, Storm Trysail has thus been flexible in trying new ideas to benefit not just members but all those who participate in their events. STC’s sister organisation, the Storm Trysail Foundation, also
has a key role in the sport in its funding of important build-the-sport programmes, such as the Junior Safety at Sea seminars and the Intercollegiate Offshore Regatta where young people gain a taste for getting out of dinghies and into big boats. The US teenagers who sailed the former ILC40 High Noon to be the second monohull to finish the 2016 Bermuda Race were alumni of these programmes. A result for a voluntary youth programme that it was hard not to be impressed by. Dobbs Davis
KURT ARRIGO/ROLEX
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