The following story was submitted by Block Island Community Sailing:
The 2020 Thursday Night Sailing Series, a 10-week long sail racing event, in which the island’s most accomplished sailors face off against each other, in around-the-buoys racing, every Thursday evening, has been concluded. The Series was founded in 1999 by local sailors with a goal to foster sailing yacht racing on Block Island. This event is specifically for keel boats which sail under the Performance Handicap Rating Fleet (PHRF) rules, Now in its 22nd year, the Series is run by Block Island Community Sailing, as an advanced racing clinic, with coaching and a weekly newsletter on the Racing Rules of Sailing, boat speed techniques, and racing tactics.
The racing format is typically a windward/leeward course set in the recreational area in the northern section of the Great Salt Pond. The courses are typically about a mile and a half or twenty minutes long which allows three races to be run each evening. The Race Committee was run by BICS Director Henry duPont, and staffed by BICS members Russ Certo, Sue Pazos, Elizabeth Moss, John Doolittle, and Erin Groll who each assisted in setting the race course, timing
