The next Chappaquiddick Community Center potluck is on Wednesday March 4 from 6 to 8 p.m. Appetizers start at 6 p.m. Dinner starts at 6:30 p.m. Please bring a dish to serve six.

The next Art Night on Chappy will be on Thursday March 5 from 7 to 9 p.m. at the CCC. Bring a project of your own or an idea to share or draw from a still life set up for the evening. A warm fire, fun and tea await. Call Margaret Knight for more information at 508-627-8894.

You may have heard about the car going overboard from the ferry boat Pelican last week on the run between Miami Beach and Fisher Island. The water was 50 feet deep and ended in tragedy. Twelve years ago, a car went overboard from the On Time 3. Fortunately, it happened in the Chappy slip, the only spot on the run where the water is shallow enough that the passengers were able to climb out the rear window onto the roof.

These days, it’s not easy to tell if a car is actually turned off. Lots of new cars don’t even have a key that you can take out of the ignition to be sure that the engine is off. If your engine is stopped, if your car’s hybrid or battery-powered drive system is turned off and your parking brake is engaged, you won’t end up in the water.

U.S. Coast Guard regulations require that all vehicle motors be off while the vessel is underway. They also require us to chock the tires of the vehicles at the ends of the ferry. The Chappy Ferry traditionally used one chock at each end of the ferry. After the car went overboard we doubled up and started using two chocks at each end. We have big, bright signs aboard the ferries in view of vehicle drivers that request that they don’t start their engines until directed to do so by a crew member.