Fleet is ready to race at inaugural ORC North American Championship in Block Island
by Offshore Racing Congress 23 Jun 01:57 UTC
June 22-27, 2025
Block Island Race Week © Stephen Cloutier
Starting tomorrow an assembled fleet of 26 entries divided into three classes will start competing in the first-ever ORC North American Championship, embedded within the 31st edition of the Storm Trysail Club's biennial Block Island Race Week. The race format for the week will consists of several Windward-Leeward races sailed on courses set up in Block Island Sound, and on one day midweek all entries will participate in a coastal race around the island.
The weather forecast looks ideal with seabreeze and sunny skies greeting the sailors each day, setting the scene for fantastic racing. The Race Committee will keep an eye on the McMichael Weather Briefings to pick the perfect day for the Regatta Craft Mixers Round-the-Island Race day. But, as every Race Week veteran knows, anything can change. The island is notorious for serving up all four seasons in a week—from foggy mornings to blasting winds, sideways rain, and those unforgettable perfect southwesterlies - everyone here is hoping the latter holds as predicted.
This fleet ranges in size and speed from the very fastest TP52 entries with pro crews in ORC Class 1 to the pro-am and family teams entered in ORC Classes 2 and 3. Winners of each class will receive 2025 ORC North American Champion titles, with recognition given to the runner-up and third-placed teams as well.
In the ORC 1 Open class, the reigning ORC Class 0 World Champion team is here on Victor Wild's Botin TP52 FOX. Nacho Postigo is the navigator for the all-pro team and a veteran of multiple ORC World and European championships, yet this is his first time here in Block Island.
"This is a wonderful place!" he said. "There are a lot of boats in many different classes at all levels, the sailing out here has the perfect mix of challenge in winds and currents, and the venue is really friendly. I'm excited about a great week of sailing ahead of us and having a chance at an ORC North American title."
This class's other two entries - Andrew Berdon's TP52 SUMMER STORM and Øivine Lorentzen's beautiful Botin-designed Brooklin Boat Yard 43 JAX - cannot be ruled out as contenders as well since both are coming into this event from having earned recent ORC class wins at last weekend's New York YC Annual Regatta in nearby Newport.
The ORC 2 class is the largest of the three classes at this event, with 14 entries sized between 37 and 45 feet. Among them are numerous contenders, one being Leo Vasiliev's Ker 11.5 PEACEMAKER, who won their class here at Race Week in 2021 and is coming off a 3rd place finish at the Annual Regatta in ORC Class B.
Another are the three Club Swan 42 teams who are well-tuned for racing, having battled each other for the past several years in ORC competition. This includes last year's ORC World Championship held at Harbour Court where Henry Brauer's TIO LOCO was the top among them with a Bronze medal finish. Yet at the Annual Regatta it was David Faas's ZAMMERMOOS finishing as the top Swan, finishing second in the competitive ORC D class, and in the last edition of Race Week in 2023 it was the third Swan - Paul Zabetakis's IMPETUOUS - who emerged victorious with an impressive 10 point margin of victory after 7 races.
"Any of us here could pull off the win," said Zabetakis. "I fully expect a very competitive week of sailing here."
There are nine entries in the ORC 3 class, which is the most varied in boat sizes and types, from Stanley Shortz's speedy Donovan-designed GP 26 RATTLE N RUM, which has been in past Charleston Race Weeks the winner of the ORC sportboat class and awarded the overall Palmetto Trophy, to Jeff Johnstone's brand new cruiser/racer J/40 DOV making their ORC racing debut.
Yet just as in Class 2, it is those with the strongest track records as veterans of past Race Weeks and the 2024 ORC Worlds who have to be counted among the favorites. Robin Team's J/122 TEAMWORK will be defending their impressive win in ORC Class 3 in Race Week 2023, but will have to face Al Minella's J/122e THE ROCC, coming off their ORC D class win at the NYYC Annual Regatta last weekend and a strong top-five finish at last year's Worlds in Class B.
Storm Trysail Club Commodore Andrew Weiss's CHRISTOPHER DRAGON XII is also a contender, being an accomplished offshore and inshore racer in all his various boats with this name and having probably put more miles under the keel of his current Italia 11.98 than any other team racing this prolific and successful ORC design.
"We're pleased to have worked with ORC to offer North American championship titles at this year's Race Week," he said. "To us it represents having achieved the right balance of intensity and fun that has been the defining character of this great event. I believe we have thrived for over 60 years because we've evolved alongside the sailors. We're committed to listening to the fleet and delivering the best possible racing and shoreside experience—for the next 60 years and beyond."
For media resources and more information about the 31st Block Island Race Week, visit stormtrysail.org/regattas/blockislandraceweek.