On the Vineyard Haven waterfront you can see, smell and hear the bustle of activity. The town's boatyards are all party to boat building and launching. Anyone who walks the shores of the town will discover a wide variety of vessels undergoing extensive work. It was a busy winter and there is evidence everywhere.
Maciel Marine, Martha's Vineyard Shipyard and Gannon and Benjamin boatyards are witness to a resurgence in interest in Island built and restored vessels.
Down to the Sea with Love: They Come to the Island for a Memorable
Voyage
By JOHN BUDRIS and JAMES D'AMBROSIO
For three magic days they were not heart transplant patients or the
leukemia kids in the next ward. They were neither stuck with needles,
nor looped through high-tech machines.
For three magic days their parents forgot about blood counts, organ
rejection and the next visit to yet another specialist at Boston
Children's Hospital.
Alabama Crew Member Falls to Death on Board Tall Ship Off West Chop
By MAX HART and JAMES KINSELLA
A crew member working aboard the tall ship Alabama fell to his death
on Friday morning while the ship was heading out on a day sail.
Benjamin Sutherland, 18, of Concord, was aloft in the rigging 30
feet up when he apparently slipped and plummeted to the deck below.
Emergency responders who were rushed to the boat were unable to revive
Mr. Sutherland, who was later pronounced dead at the Martha's
Vineyard Hospital.
A fatal accident aboard the schooner Alabama during a day sail out of Vineyard Haven in the summer of 2006 involved no violation of U.S. Coast Guard regulations, a report by Coast Guard investigators has found.
On Saturday, at the bow of the historic schooner Alabama, Capt. Ian Ridgeway addressed a group of Martha’s Vineyard Public Charter School fifth and sixth grade students who had just returned from a five-day sail at sea.
“This is a bond that the 20 or so of us will all have together for the rest of our lives,” he said. “You are now ambassadors for this boat.”
