Sunny skies and crisp summer breezes combined with two full days of stellar competition as the Menemsha Pond Racers won the inaugural Vineyard Herreshoff Cup this weekend.

The competition was held June 28 and 29 on Menemsha Pond and featuring sailors from the Edgartown Yacht Club and the Menemsha Pond Racers.

The Menemsha Pond Racers Race co-organizer Edward Miller deemed the weekend “spectacular.”

“We had a lot of everything,” Mr. Miller said in a telephone conversation Monday. “It was beautiful, and everyone had a good time.”

The Vineyard Herreshoff Cup featured sailboats of the Herreshoff 12 ½ design--an easy-to-handle gaff-rigged boat with a large keel. This year is the 100th anniversary of the boat’s design.

Five races were sailed over the two days, with the races managed by Sail MV. As in golf, low score wins, so first place earns one point. At the end of the competition, scores from the top three boats from each club were tallied. Menemsha Pond finished with 53 points. Edgartown Yacht Club finished with 93.

Southwind of the Menemsha Pond Racers earned three first-place finishes and the top spot overall, with 12 points. Mariah, also of the Menemsha Pond Racers, had 17 points, good for second place. In third place was Pippin, another Menemsha boat, which just edged out Sunbeam of the Edgartown Yacht Club, 24 points to 25. ‘Twas Brillig of the Edgartown Yacht Club, and Topsy Turvey of the Menemsha Pond Racers, were tied with 27 points each.

A total of eight boats sailed for Menemsha. Six boats sailed for Edgartown, all of which had to be trekked across the Island, as they could not be sailed to the pond for competition because tides and prevailing winds were unfavorable.

However, the trip home was a different story.

“What’s really cool is today as the tide was coming in, [I led] five of the six Edgartown boats through the channel and out of Menemsha Pond, and they sailed out of the pond,” Mr. Miller said.

And it’s safe to say that Edgartown will be back and the Herreshoff Cup will continue.

“They announced at the trophy ceremony that they couldn’t wait for next year,” Mr. Miller said.