All competitors would have welcomed a bit more wind on both Thursday and Sunday for the Holmes Hole Sailing Association (HHSA) races. A mild seven mph southeast breeze on Thursday just managed to propel everyone to the finish in a little over an hour. The race was a four-mile triangle around the harbor. Will Felder sailed the VHYC Express 37 to victory for the A Division, crossing the finish a full five minutes ahead of the second-place J100, Tango, skippered by Phil Hale. Don Cohan’s Etchells, Encore, took third place.
For the second Thursday in a row, Mead Wyman won the B Division sailing his Alerion 28, Heimkehr. Another Alerion 28, Mo Flam’s Penelope, came in 58 seconds later on corrected time, although she was first across the finish line. Silhouette, a Nonsuch 26 with Beck Colson at the helm, slipped into third place.
Weather dictated the course on Sunday. Although a sparkling day with an eight mph west-southwest breeze, fog was anticipated, and so a course was chosen to keep everyone closer to home. Sailors had to fight a strong flooding current to the finish from the dreaded can 23A. Boats that sailed closest to East Chop fared the best. Along the course, sailors were surprised by the appearance in the harbor of a magnificent 213-foot three-masted schooner, Adix, hailing from London.
The Soling, Pepper, sailed by Bruce Stewart, won the A Division. Tim Gollin, despite a late start, singlehanded his Brenta 38, Scheggia, into second place. Tom and Laurie Welch’s Escape, a J100, came in third. Of the four A boats, the last three finished within 35 seconds of each other on corrected time, after racing for an hour and a half over the six-mile course.
Six boats raced in the B Division. Julia Lee, a 21-foot Catboat owned and sailed by Woody Bowman, took the honors. Stuart Halpert’s Alerion 28, Providence, finished second, and Tyche, a Vineyard 15, skippered by Bow Van Riper, won the third spot.
The 40th annual Moffett Race will be held on Saturday, Sept. 9. Anyone is welcome to enter, and all registration information is to be found at holmeshole.org. A Vineyard tradition, 40 to 50 boats usually compete in this race named for George Moffett, an intrepid sailor and one of the founders of HHSA. The website also provides details of the Thursday and Sunday races, at which all are welcome.