Holmes Hole Sailing Association
Membership Roster with Pictures
Click on Picture to enlarge.
Boat Name: Magic Time Make: Vixen 29
Skipper: Commodore Dan Culkin
Magic Time is Hull No.13 of the family of Vixen 29's designed and built by Tom Hale. Magic Time was launched in 1975...sailed out of Mystic Conn. for several years....I bought it there in 1985 from a very skilled sailor-engineer named Micheal Powell. I learned a lot from him and, with four small children, Sally and I cruised to Block to Cuttyhunk, The Vineyard and Nantucket. Hugh Schwarz organized Vixen rendezvous annually and I recall meeting a lot of Vixen people at Newport, Padanarum, Vineyard Haven and elsewhere. We moved the boat to its present home at the shipyard and in the VH mooring field in the late eighties where we've enjoyed good sailing and good friendships. As Pat West used to say "Vineyard Haven is a sailor's town!"
Usual Crew Members: Sally Culkin, Eric Bates, Bob Harris, Ivo Meisner
Boat Name: Julia Lee Make: Stimson Cat
Skipper: Woody Bowman
"Julia Lee was built for us by boatbuilder David Stimson in the woods of West Tisbury, her keel laid in September 2002 and launched in June 2003. She's a close adaption of the classic Cape Cod catboat, notably distinct by the run of her cockpit coaming. Susie and I were drawn to a catboat so that we could readily share our love of sailing with others, and, with a large cockpit and an easy-to-handle rig, Julia Lee often has a crowd on board, especially of FOCUS students, volunteers, and staff. Because of my summer commitments with FOCUS, I'm routinely racing Julia Lee with a pick-up crew of 2 - 3 drawn from the pool of volunteers at FOCUS. Julia Lee is set up for camp cruising, and we hope to do more overnights in the future, especially to explore the shoreline of Cape Cod."
Boat Name: Stormalong Make: Pearson 31
Skipper: Fleet Captain Jerry Goodale
The Story: (Please provide a little background about how you came upon the boat, What's good or not so good about it? Anything of interest.
Boat Name: Avanti Make: Cape Cod 270
Skipper: David Lott
The Story: (Please provide a little background about how you came upon the boat, What's good or not so good about it? Anything of interest.
Usual Crew Members: Elise Ryan
Boat Name: Apres Make: J-120
Skipper: Stephen Besse
The Story: (Please provide a little background about how you came upon the boat, What's good or not so good about it? Anything of interest.
Usual Crew Members: Pam Besse
Boat Name: Silhouette Make: Nonesuch 26Skipper: Beck Colson
The Story: (Please provide a little background about how you came upon the boat, What's good or not so good about it? Anything of interest.
Usual Crew Members: Windel Colson
Boat Name: High Tide Make: Marshall 22 Cat
Skipper: Alan Wilson
The Story: (Please provide a little background about how you came upon the boat, What's good or not so good about it? Anything of interest.
Usual Crew Members:
Boat Name: Eastaway Make: Vixen 29
Skipper: Tom and Laura Welch
Retired:
Usual Crew Members:
Boat Name: Isabella Make: G&B Bella Class
John and Lisa Stout
The Story: (Please provide a little background about how you came upon the boat, What's good or not so good about it? Anything of interest.
Usual Crew Members:
Boat Name: Falcor Make: Bluebird 26
Skipper: Sandy Alexander
The Story: (Please provide a little background about how you came upon the boat, What's good or not so good about it? Anything of interest.
Usual Crew Members: Bonnie Alexander
Boat Name: Masquerade Make: Morris 36
Skipper: Michael Loberg
The Story: (Please provide a little background about how you came upon the boat, What's good or not so good about it? Anything of interest.
Usual Crew Members: Melinda Loberg, Polly Brown
Boat Name: Rocinante III Make: 1972 Tartan 34 Classic
Skippers: Ernie Mendenhall and Kathy Logue
We bought ROCINANTE III the winter of 1979-80 when we were still living in
New York City. She has sailed us as far away as the Reversing Falls in the
St. John River of New Brunswick, Canada and many ports in between. We don't
cruise much anymore, but just cannot seem to give her up! She is now on her
third set of sails since we bought her, and Ernie has probably rebuilt the
Atomic 4 engine that many times as well, over the last 30+ years. At 14,000
pounds, she is not exactly a sleek racing vessel, but we love sailing her.
Usual Crew Members: Brad Mendenhall, Lisa Strachan and Megan Mendenhall
HHSA Members are encouraged to send in Pictures of their boats and to tell a little about them, fresh pictures are always welcome.
Boat Name: Evelyn May Make: Nonsuch 26
Skipper: Mike Hoff
The Story: We purchased our Nonsuch in 2007 after 22 years of sailing our 26' Pearson Commander, Francine out of Lake Tashmoo. Starting with a long list of boat names, I eliminated each until two choices remained. When my wife vetoed "Steph-an-Me", my mother's name, "Evelyn May" was left to grace the transom.
While our Tashmoo mooring makes it tough to make it to weekday harbor races, we enjoy weekend races when we can. A career cruiser, new to racing, with an inability to sail upwind and a propensity to navigate the race course backwards, PHRF-NE has ignored my annual pleas for a mercy rating. We did have one great moment last August when light wind and a dead run all the way favored our Nonsuch to an accidental class victory in the Holmes Hole to Chappy race. Unaccustomed to our leading position as we crossed the finished line, I didn't know how to act or what to do. Stephanie offered a high five and a fist bump so that's what we did. We were excited to actually win a race but our victory is likely to remain a one-hit-wonder. The Shipyard has switched our bottom paint to non-skid.
Usual Crew Members: Stephanie Hoff
Boat Name: Tyche Make: Vineyard Haven 15
Skipper: Bow Van Riper
Tyche, all 21 feet of her, is probably the smallest (and certainly the wettest!) boat in the fleet. She’s a Vineyard Haven 15: the fiftieth, and last-built, of a class designed by Erford Burt in 1934. She was built by Tom Hale for Tony Van Riper (Bow’s father, Katie’s grandfather) in 1970, and has been in the family ever since; Bow crewed for his father on her in the 1970s, and now Katie is continuing the tradition. Tyche (rhymes with "Nike") is actually the third Fifteen the family has owned over the years, after Vitesse (VH 4) in the mid-forties to mid-fifties and Boreas (VH 5) in the late sixties. The mast, boom, keel and some of the hardware from Boreas (launched in 1936) were installed on a brand new fiberglass hull to create Tyche, giving her a classic mid-thirties look without (quite) the yard bills to match, and making her – parts of her, anyway – the oldest boat in the Holmes Hole fleet. Bow and Katie have website devoted to the history of the Fifteen class at www.vineyardhaven15.net, with more information about her and her 49 sisters.
Usual Crew Members: Katie Van Riper
Boat Name: Tango Make: J 100
Skipper: Phil Hale
Built 2005
Hull number 50
Owned by Phil Hale
Helmsman Rob Hale
Regular crew
Emma Mandler, Ray Laporte, Greg Johnson.
H.H.S.A. sailor's sail and race at a very high level, the competition is great and fun. With frequent race dates on the calendar we all have a time and place to sail competitively. To those of you, who have yet to join, come have some fun and try keep even with our fleet. Vineyard and Nantucket sounds are a great place to sail with good winds, strong currents, and a few shoals all of which makes the sailing challenging and rewarding.
Boat Name: Gloria Make: C&C 24
Skipper: Vice Commodore Roger Becker
I bought Gloria used in 1985. It needed some repair work and a new mast because of damage from Hurricane Gloria. I named the boat after the hurricane because she saved me so much money. That huge 150% genoa is an original 1977 sail but the others are replacements from over the years. I've had great success racing the boat in the Edgartown Yacht Club's Round the Island race, winning my class in 2006 and 2008. This after several unsuccessful attempts which left me overnight in Menemsha once and with a broken rudder on my first attempt. Gloria's high free board keeps me dry in the choppy sound, her silly looking high up boom keeps my head safe and her bright red paint job makes it hard to hide. At 4000 lbs she will never keep up with the Kirby 25 or a J 24 but she is light enough to keep moving when some of my long time competitors need more wind.
Usual Crew Members: Don Corner, Louis and Margot Becker, Peter Rodegast
Boat Name: Escape
Make: J 100
Make: J 100Skipper: Tom and Laurie Welch
