Bad communication between the bridge and the deck contributed to the ferry boat accident that nearly drowned a crew member a week ago. A top inspector with the U.S. Coast Guard, Lieut. Joshua Pennington, told the Gazette on Friday: "I blame communication overall. There was poor communication between the crew lowering the vessel [rescue boat] and the bridge. Typically they communicate by radio, but they weren't using radios at the time."

Katama Association president David Finley made it clear Saturday that his association, while interested in the future of Katama Farm, is not a part of the group of aggrieved neighbors seeking to stop FARM Institute from leasing the 190-acre farm.

Two Vineyard fishermen barely survived a boating accident south of Noman's Land on Wednesday morning. Scott Terry, 51, a West Tisbury artist and avid commercial rod and reel fisherman, has a black eye and a few bruises, but is very much okay after the boat he was operating flipped in a rogue wave. He and his crewman, 13-year-old Mitchell Pachico of Vineyard Haven, were both in the water for a short time.

A 55-year-old Steamship authority crew member is in Providence Hospital, recovering from a near-drowning suffered yesterday when a routine man-overboard drill aboard the Steamship Authority ferry Islander went suddenly and catastrophically wrong.

Farmers' Lament: Quarter Inch of Rain

By MARK ALAN LOVEWELL

The corn is ready and the season's garden tomatoes are not too far behind. Island farmers are in the midst of their season. If one were to summarize the season in only three words, those words might be: dry, deer and arugula.

The weather in the last month has been too dry. Deer are doing a lot of harvesting before the farmhands get out in the morning. And there's a big rush on arugula at the West Tisbury Farmers' Market every Saturday and Wednesday.

Vineyard Haven harbor was lit up on Saturday evening by a fully involved boat fire. Tisbury firemen and harbor masters from two towns responded to a blaze aboard a 30-foot Catalina sailboat called Tippy Canoe, owned by Tyler Weggel of Port Washington, N.Y.

There were no injuries. The vessel, a total loss, now lies partially submerged, a black shell, in shallow water at the foot of Grove street.