The fourth of July weekend began and ended with three Holmes Hole SA races that produced five different winners.

Eleven skippers and their crews opted to spend Independence Day on the water in a Thursday evening race that was close with the top five boats finishing all within a minute of each other.

Whit Hanschka’s Sally took first place honors by eight seconds in 34 minutes flat on corrected time on a beautiful evening with 12 boats on the starting line. Mo Flam on Penelope took second followed by Dan Culkin on Magic Time.

Wicked and crew win the Vineyard Cup. — Louisa Gould

Steve Besse’s Apres captured line honors again, but ended out of the money on corrected time, prompting observers to conclude that he had been finally saddled with a handicap too severe to overcome.

That thought lasted only until Sunday when Apres took the A Division morning race over Jerry Goodale aboard Stormalong. Michael Loberg skippered Masquerade to third, finishing just 11 seconds later.

In the morning B Division Beck Colson aboard Silhouette comfortably put the fleet behind him, finishing strongly ahead of John Stout in Isabella in light air.

By afternoon the wind had freshened to 12 knots out of the WSW and Frank Satulla aboard Soma Holiday grabbed his first A Division win of the season with 15 seconds to spare over Masquerade and Penelope.

In the B Division, seven boats came to the line and yet another skipper and crew finished the day with smiles on their faces as Stuart Halpert in Providence got the win. Beck Colson on Silhouette and Bow Van Riper finished out the top three.