Sail Martha’s Vineyard held its annual Vineyard Cup this past weekend, with 58 different boats of all sizes and styles registering to compete.
Ranging from 90-foot yachts to tiny Sunfish, Islanders took to Vineyard Haven and Menemsha Pond to flex their sailing skills.
Despite light winds, SailMV’s race committee managed to run another successful regatta, explained executive director Andy Nutton. “We’re so dependent on Ellen Pesch and co. to roll with the punches,” he said. “They’re an unbelievably good race committee … Professional to the highest degree.”
The regatta featured six divisions: Classic Mark II, Catboats, Herreshoff 12.5, Performance Handicap Racing Fleet non-Spinnaker, PHRF Spinnaker, and Sunfish. The winners of each division were Wild Horses (Donald Tofias), Julia Lee (Charles Bowman), Moonshadow (Frank Sutula), Aprés (Stephen Besse), Truckin’ (Alex Meleney), and the Sunset (Dan Karnovsky), respectively. Besse and Meleney won 2022’s PHRF races as well.
Besse also took home the Donald S. Cohan Trophy, also known as “the Methuselah,” for being the oldest skipper with the best combined, corrected finishing places. Meanwhile, the Amonini (MVRHS sailing team) took home the SailMV Trophy, for best exemplifying the spirit of Island sailing.
“All in all, it was a fantastic weekend,” Nutton said.
