3 Races Remain as HHSA Season Rushes to a Close

Photos by Susan Waldrop
Photo Captions:

 

They're Off: 21 boats crowd the starting line for last Thursday's race with Penelope in the lead.

 

Bellas Finish: Two Gannon & Benjamin-designed Bellas cross the Holmes Hole SA finish line in last Thursday's race.

 

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 Holes

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 which made

fetching the Wood's Hole mark difficult for some.

 

Jim Dixon's At Last made it a 1-2 finish for the Alerions as 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 with

Commodore Jerry Goodale on Stormalong 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 are in third in the season standings and 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.

 

Upcoming Events

Sailors should be planning to sign up for the annual Moffett Race which will

be held on Saturday, September 6th. Registration is now open at

http://www.regattanetwork.com/event/8966#_home or visit the Holmes Hole

website at http://www.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 Chappaquidick with a 10 am start.