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2023 Races and Regattas
For previous Regatta results, please click here
Wednesday Night Racing
For: All boats, including BIC Colgates, 420s, Sunfish, and Optis
When: Every Wednesday
First Gun: 6 pm
Entry Fee: Suggested $10 donation payable at the BIC
The BIC Wednesday Night Racing program is an informal, drop-in racing series. Races are scored each week. The event is open to all sailors and all boats to achieve a casual but competitive evening of racing.
Sponsors: We always look for member families to sponsor pizza following the race on Wednesday nights.
Kiley Cup
For: All dinghy sailors of all abilities (Opti, Sunfish, Laser, etc.)
Date: Saturday, July 15th, 2023
Skipper’s Meeting: TBD
First Gun: TBD
Prize Giving: TBD
Entry Fee: $10 per boat
The Kiley Cup is a Block Island Club tradition, a race for all Junior Sailors to come out and enjoy a beautiful Block Island morning on the water. The Cup is open to all dinghy boats to promote sailing across Block Island. Sailing is a vital part of the Block Island Culture; thus, the Kiley Cup is a landmark event for the island.
Kaufmann Cup
For: Dinghy sailors of all abilities (Opti, 420, Sunfish, Laser, etc.)
Date: Saturday, August 5th, 2023
Registration: TBD
First Gun: TBD
Awards Ceremony: To Follow Last Race
Entry Fee: $10 per boat
Parent / Child Regatta
Click Here for Race Registration
For: Parent + Child dinghy sailors
Date: Wednesday, August 2nd, 2023
Meeting: 6 pm
Prize Giving: 730pm
Note: Race 1 was worth double the points of race 2, and paddling in both races was strongly encouraged.
The Hal Madison Race
Click here for Race Registration.
For: All sailors, dinghies, and keelboats
Date: Saturday, August 19, 2023
Skippers' Meeting: TBA
First Gun:
Prize Giving:
Entry Fee: $40 advance registration / $50 day of registration
Registration is open!
The Hal Madison Yacht Race traces its roots to a weekday morning at the Club in summer of 1983. Jamie Spallone, then head sailing instructor, and Tim Larkin, his assistant, were talking while sailing students were competing in a practice race during an intermediate sailing class. At the time the only local big boat race was an annual Mary D Cup Race in late August, a keelboat race to raise money for the Mary D Fund. Jamie and Tim felt that as the center of sailing on the island, the club should host a keelboat race. They quickly set to work, putting up handmade posters around town for the race they dubbed "The Block Island Club Cup," sending a press release to the Block Island Times, and even going boat to boat with the club Whaler, handing out flyers about the race to visiting sailors. Remarkably, a number of families interrupted their vacations to race. Jamie and Tim borrowed a taffrail log from a local sailor to measure the course in those pre-GPS days, and Tim's dad's Mako Dangerous Dan, for a committee boat. They scrounged up some signal flags and studied the rules governing big boat starts and protest hearings. In addition to keelboats, dinghies and sail boards turned up, as the poster said "any boat may enter." A good party at the club followed, and a tradition was born. In 1984, the Board of Governors, under the leadership of then president Dan Larkin, commissioned an impressive, silver permanent trophy (that Dan ordered and picked up in New York) to be awarded the boat with the best overall corrected time in the race.
The trophy was named in honor of Harold ("Hal") and Virginia Madison, founding club members and early supporters of the junior sailing program. Hal Madison was an early board member and consummate club volunteer, always fixing or building something to improve operations. An early photograph of Hal Madison can be found on the second floor of the club building. Over the years, members of the Gaffett family, the Madisons' children, and grandchildren have presented the trophy at the post-race ceremony. Another Hal Madison tradition is the club sailing instructors serving as the race committee in most years. This gives young people the opportunity to take on a task often reserved for their elders with decades of racing and race administration experience and reflects the origins of the race.