Christmas Cove concluded its summer sailing with season awards for the CC-21 one design fleet championship going to Brigham Prescott and his father Neal aboard Dancer. In the handicap class, season PHRF honors went to Sherman Scott aboard his Alerion.

This summer marked the 30th consecutive year racing for the Ruth Tracy trophy for overall season winner of the local Hodgdon Bros. designed 21 ft. CC-21 class. Of the 23 boats built by Hodgdon Bros. and John Williams boat yards since 1971, 20 sail and race off Ocean Point in the mouth of the Damariscotta River with crews of two or three.

The summer season series consisted of 16 races with two sailed each Saturday in July and August. One throw out is allowed in each month, with all but one counted for the summer series. A traditional low point system is used with 0.75 points for first place, 2 points for second etc. To encourage participation throughout the season, sailboats not racing are actually penalized with one point plus the number finishing that day.

The July series was won by Mason Sears and his father Herb aboard #32 Sunshine with 4.75 points. August was won by Dancer #11 with 2.25 points. As usual, the summer series came down to the final race day with Dancer narrowly squeezing out a win with a 2.25 point margin over early season regatta winner High Rustler #33 sailed by the indomitable team of Ted Dey and Brook Spaulding.

Summer highlights also included distance races to and from Lewis Cove in Linekin Bay and Poor House Cove in John’s Bay. While the oldest boat Dancer and the newest boat High Rustler battled it out, individual races were also won by #13 Cove Girl, #19 Pied Piper, #28 Blue Skies and #32 Sunshine, attesting to the durability of the Hodgdon design and the fairness of class rules which seek to keep all boats equally competitive. Sail numbers indicate the boat’s order of launch. Limiting new sail purchases to once every seven years helps minimize the cost of campaigning a boat.

For the hearty, the fall series will soon be underway culminating in a Pumpkin Championship over Columbus Weekend.