They are tallish, spare and almost laconic men. Certainly, 350 years of pragmatic New England roots, courtesy of their mother, Barbara Flanders, is part of it.

For Doug and David Seward, there is another reason. They are identical twins. “Mirror twins” as Doug puts it. They don’t need to talk much though they’re working at talking more, so other people are included in their often soundless dialogue.

They have lived 61 years as intuitive brothers, raised as crickers, a term for Menemsha Creek youth of a certain age.

The 22nd annual two-day monster shark tournament in Oak Bluffs ended Saturday with a total of 27 sharks caught and submitted, the largest of which was a 399-pound thresher. The team on the Waterbury caught the shark Friday, beating the other 200 boats in the tournament. Their prize was an $80,000 boat.

Chilmark police responded to a high number of motor vehicle and moped accidents over the past week, including a two-vehicle accident on Middle Road on Thursday that sent six people to Martha’s Vineyard Hospital.

Chilmark police chief Timothy Rich said the accident occurred just after 10 p.m. near the intersection of Tabor House Road when a 2005 Subaru Legacy driven by seasonal resident Donald Leopold, 18, crossed the center line and collided with a 1999 Volvo Station carrying seven occupants.

Menemsha Coast Guardsmen played a large role in a rescue attempt following a collision between a sailboat and power boat in Buzzards Bay on Friday that left an experienced sailor dead.

Coast Guard personnel aboard the Menemsha-based 25-foot rescue boat responded to a mayday call for help shortly after 1:45 p.m.

Senior chief Stephen Barr of the Menemsha Coast Guard station said the boat crew arrived on scene in less than 35 minutes and found another patrol boat already there.

Sailing Vessel Will Visit

Vineyard Haven Harbor

The Bermuda-based sail training vessel Spirit of Bermuda will grace Vineyard Haven harbor this coming weekend, Friday, July 25 to Sunday July 27.

The Spirit, part of a youth sailing program in Bermuda, is being welcomed by Sail Martha’s Vineyard, a sister organization here on the Vineyard. Two lucky Sail MV sailors will make the passage back to Bermuda as part of the crew.

Michael Pollan knows the rules of the potluck.

Although he is the featured speaker at tonight’s Slow Food Martha’s Vineyard potluck dinner in West Tisbury, the New York Times bestselling author will be bringing the requisite dish to share. “I’m singing for my supper,” he said from his Aquinnah home.

Prices at the West Tisbury Farmers’ Market have long caused shoppers to go into sticker shock when reaching for a bouquet of sunflowers or a bushel of local fingerling potatoes. Bargains have always been few and far between, yet customers continued to arrive before the gates open at nine to snatch up the best of the Vineyard’s hand-picked local produce.

It jumps out at you. In paragraph thirteen of an article written by Mara Liasson in July 1976, then a Vineyard Gazette intern: “Right now in the up-Island swamps the bushes are covered with heavy clusters of cream-colored flowers and purple berries.”

Of course, by the time an elderberry bush bears berries, its flowers tend to be long gone.

An Island institution responsible for giving a bang to the season is having a hard time.

The Oak Bluffs Firemen’s Civic Association, which collects contributions each year to cover the cost for the August fireworks over Ocean Park, is this summer struggling to raise enough money.

“It is getting harder and harder,” said Ken Davey, president of the association.

This year’s fireworks are scheduled to take place on Saturday, August 23.

In just a few months, Island golf phenomenon Tony Grillo will be lighting up the Ivy League when he enters his freshman year at Harvard University and plays on the school’s storied golf team. But this summer he is busy proving once again he is one of the top amateur players in the state — if not the nation.