Mark Alan Lovewell
Eight-year-old Donald O’Shaughnessy of Edgartown won the 26th annual Kids’ Mini Derby on Sunday. Mr. O’Shaughnessy caught a 14 3/8 inch scup, the largest fish of the contest. It was the first time an angler had won the morning contest with a scup. The youngster caught his fish at about 7 a.m., at a time when most Island youngsters were at home asleep.
The boy was aglow at the 8:30 a.m. awards ceremony at the Oak Bluffs Steamship Authority wharf. He also received a plaque of a good looking mounted scup, made by Janet Messineo of Island Taxidermy.
Capt. Wayne Iacono and a number of other Menemsha lobstermen are having a better autumn this year because of the help of a local draggerman, Capt. Craig Coutinho of the fishing boat Viking.
“If it wasn’t for Craig we’d all be in trouble,” Captain Iacono said.
Tomorrow calls for an all-Island end of summer celebration and Oak Bluffs is the host.
Organizers of the 30th annual Tivoli Day want the rest of the Island to know their party belongs to the whole Island. Nothing better would please Dennis daRosa and Bob Glover than to see their friends from around the Vineyard turn out for the events planned.
In addition to the street fair on Circuit avenue, there is a parade, an antique bicycle performance and serious and not-so-serious kite flying at Ocean Park.
With the 62nd annual Martha’s Vineyard Striped Bass and Bluefish Derby now at full speed, two events are running along on the side.
One is for youngsters. The other is a kayak fishing contest. Both start on Sunday.
While plenty of big fish were caught by grown adults in this first week of the derby, attention shifts Sunday morning to the youngest of anglers. Soon after sunrise, as many as 200 young children will gather for the Mini Kids’ Day Derby at the Steamship Authority wharf in Oak Bluffs.
Autumn foliage change has come early to the Vineyard and much of southeastern New England, not so much because it is September, but because it is dry.
Near-drought conditions have taken their toll. Maple and beetlebung trees, as water-sensitive trees, are stressed and already have turned color. Many of these and other trees are already dropping their leaves.
Island firefighters are at a high level of alert.
A 42-foot wooden schooner called Phra Luang won the 30th annual George Moffett Memorial Sailboat Race on Saturday.
The captain, Jeffrey A. Robinson of Vineyard Haven, was jubilant at the news. He built the schooner in Bangkok in 1984, and has sailed in Moffett Races since 1986.
Winds from the southwest were as high as 30 m.p.h. and there were a few sailors at the awards ceremony at the Vineyard Haven Yacht Club who thought it blew higher. Wind and waves and the course favored big boats with great reaching capability.