Sailing

 

 

 
There’s still space available in Martha’s Vineyard Coast Guard Auxiliary boating skills and seamanship course. The 10-week course begins Wednesday, March 6 at 6 p.m. at the Martha’s Vineyard Regional High School and will continue through May 15.
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The Edgartown Yacht Club’s Big Boat Buoy Races will for the first time this year be part of the IRC Gulf Stream Series. Part of Edgartown Race Weekend, the Big Boat Buoy Races will provide two days of racing on July 18 and 19. Only IRC-rated boats will qualify for the Gulf Stream Series. For more information, contact the Edgartown Yacht Club at 508-627-4361 or visit edgartownyc.org.
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At the Gannon and Benjamin Marine Railway in Vineyard Haven, shipwrights have stepped back in regional maritime history. They are building a new 28-foot 19th-century whaleboat. The boat is one of nine being built across the country for the last remaining whale ship, the Charles W. Morgan, now undergoing restoration at Mystic Seaport. The work began a month ago. Nat Benjamin, the owner of Gannon and Benjamin boatyard, calls it a great honor to be a participant. The Charles W.
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Ted Box of Vineyard Haven hopes to launch his 70-plus-foot schooner, a scow, in June. The building of the wooden boat in full view on a vacant lot of the Boch property off Beach Road is visually arresting. The boat building project began over a year ago and is picking up pace.

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When Scott DiBiaso and his crew sailed the 65-foot schooner Juno out of Vineyard Haven harbor on Wednesday, Nov. 14, they had a single reef on the mainsail along with a fore staysail. Even with a conservative amount of sail exposed to the cold wind, the 25 knots of northeast breeze pushed the vessel from West Chop, down Vineyard Sound toward Aquinnah at a fast 12 to 13 knots. They were helped along by a three-knot current. It was cold and unlike summer sailing.

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Edgartown selectmen approved new mooring regulations for Edgartown harbor on Monday, stipulating that boats applying for a mooring must pay state excise tax to obtain an annual mooring permit. Harbor master Charlie Blair presented the amendments to mooring regulations, which state that if excise tax is paid to another town in the commonwealth, a copy of the paid bill should be sent to the harbor master before the mooring can be used. Out-of-state excise tax payments will not be accepted.
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