Sail-Free Race to Save Sengekontacket

The 19th annual Martha’s Vineyard Oar and Paddle Regatta will take place this Sunday at the Little Bridge in Oak Bluffs. Registration starts at 8:30 a.m.

Paddlers, owners of kayaks, canoes and rowboats will compete for prizes in a two mile race in either Sengekontacket Pond and or Nantucket Sound. A children’s race will take place at 10 a.m.

The weekend before Thanksgiving will be noticeably less festive on the Vineyard this year as school officials this week confirmed that the storied Island Cup football game with inter-Island rival Nantucket has been cancelled for the first time in almost 50 years.

Sandy Mincone, the new athletic director for the Martha’s Vineyard Regional High School, told the Gazette this week that Nantucket pulled out of the long-standing tradition due to financial reasons.

Tennis Tournament

Yoga Trunk Show

A trunk show for yoga clothing, skin care products, jewelry and other related items will take place Wednesday, August 19, from 1 to 4:30 p.m. at the Vineyard Haven Yacht Club. Leslie Sterns and FLY Yogainvite all to peruse new clothes from Hard Tail, Bali Dog, Be Present and other designers. Cash and checks only, please.

Vases wrapped with Xeroxed photographs of a muscled, smiling young man sat on the counter of Island Star convenience store in Edgartown yesterday, accepting contributions for the widow of Elton Barbosa, a 26-year-old Oak Bluffs resident who died on Friday of H1N1 virus, also known as swine flu.

Mr. Barbosa had no known underlying health conditions, officials said. Most swine flu-related deaths have involved other health factors, such as an existing immune deficiency or other medical ailment.

Blood Drive

The next Martha’s Vineyard Community Blood Drive will be on Tuesday, August 18, at the Portuguese American Club on Vineyard avenue in Oak Bluffs. Hours of donation will be noon to 5 p.m. For information call 781-751-4229.