David McDonough sailed his C&C 37, Trinity, to victory on Sunday in the Holmes Hole Sailing Association race to Chappaquiddick. Under cloudless skies, on a calm sea, with a good 10- to 15-knot southwest breeze, it was a pleasure for all nine skippers and crew. The race had a pursuit start, meaning that each sailor is assigned a start time, with the slower boats going first, the fastest going last, all in the hope that they will arrive at close to the same time, a hope that was realized: Only 10 minutes separated the first and last finishers in the two-hour race. Altius, Alan Wilson’s Stuart Knockabout, was four minutes behind Trinity, and Michael Loberg crossed the line 45 seconds later, sailing Masquerade, his Morris 36. The last two over had a photo finish. Congratulations to Bow Van Riper, sailing Tyche, who won for the third time in a row on Thursday evening. (No good deed goes unpunished: His handicap gains another 10 seconds).
The light and variable breeze favored the smaller boats. Altius, a Stuart Knockabout sailed by Alan Wilson, took the second spot one minute later, and a VHYC Sonar was 25 seconds later than Altius to finish third. Three Herreshoff 12½s raced their shorter course, and finished in the following order: Whirlwind, Bazinga, Pandora.