Mo Flam and his Alerion 28, Penelope, continued on track for their golden summer with their third first-place finish of the season in the Holmes Hole Sunday series race. A strong field of 11 A Division boats turned out for course No. 5, which directed the fleet out into the Sound to Falmouth-Woods Hole and back.
A brisk west-southwest breeze blowing 14 mph enabled the boats to cover the 10.2-mile course in short order, despite a fast-flooding current that made fetching the Woods Hole mark difficult for some.
Jim Dixon’s At Last made it a 1-2 finish for the Alerions when he grabbed his runner-up spot 28 seconds behind Penelope on corrected time. Irving Gates piloted his Sabre 38 to third a minute and a half later.
Flam leads the A Division season standings by just seven points. Commodore Jerry Goodale on Stormalong is hard on his heels with just three races remaining.
B Division Race
The B Division presented a solid field of nine entrants from which David McDonough captured the win with the best corrected time of the day. McDonough’s sleek 37-foot C&C Trinity came across the line in 1:26:43.
Frank Desimone came in second, six minutes behind, on his Columbia 32, followed by Bow Van Riper on the Vineyard 15, Tyche. Van Riper still has some distance to make up if he is to catch division leader David Lott and Avanti. John and Lisa Stout, who are in third in the season standings, stayed in the hunt with a fifth place.
Dan Culkin and his Vineyard Vixen, Magic Time, are also within striking distance of an in-the-money season finish. It all shakes out over the next two Sundays.
Sailors should be planning to sign up for the annual Moffett Race which will be held on Saturday, September 6. Registration is now open at regattanetwork.com/event/8966#_home or visit the Holmes Hole website at holmeshole.org/.
The next HHSA event is the regular Thursday night race with dinner afterwards on the deck at the Vineyard Haven Yacht Club. All are welcome. Sunday, August 24, will be the annual race to Chappaquiddick with a 10 am start.
