When Alan Lovewell was a young child growing up on the Vineyard, his mother had worked out a summertime arrangement with a local fisherman. Teresa Yuan would exchange her well-respected egg rolls for some of Tom Turner’s weekly catch, creating what was probably young Alan’s first exposure to the concept of a cooperative fishery.

Wow! The new generation of AC 72 yachts (America’s Cup-designed, 72 feet long) are impressive in both design and speed. These new racing machines are sexy, fast and dangerous. They are also exciting and fun to watch at the match race in San Francisco Bay.

In the middle 1970s, trap fishing enjoyed a brief revival on the Vineyard on the site of an old Campbell and Flanders trap near Menemsha Bight. Chris Murphy of Chilmark set up exactly the same type of trap that the old-world Island fishermen were using in the 1930s, only he rigged his netting from floating 55-gallon barrels anchored to the bottom rather than using heavy wooden stakes.

Ten sailboats participated in last Saturday’s 25th annual Pat West Gaff Rig and Schooner Race. The race from the outer Vineyard Haven harbor to Tarpaulin Cove and back began at 11 a.m. in light and variable winds. Zoli Clarke and Ryan Payne of Vineyard Haven sailed the Gannon and Benjamin Hazel 18 to victory.

Of the 10 boats, six were schooners. The Soros/DiBiaso team won the schooner class in their 65-foot Gannon and Benjamin schooner Juno.

This Sunday, Sept. 22, its Kid’s Day at the Martha’s Vineyard Striped Bass and Bluefish Derby. This means children of all shapes and sizes get to fish from the Oak Bluffs Steamship Wharf from 6 to 8 a.m. In days of yore, most everyone fished from this wharf, but that was a long time ago, when the Island was still a lawless backwater.

Two Vineyard teams picked up decisive league wins at home on Tuesday afternoon, with field hockey earning a 4-2 victory over Eastern Athletic Confe