Wow! The new generation of AC 72 yachts (America’s Cup-designed, 72 feet long) are impressive in both design and speed. These new racing machines are sexy, fast and dangerous. They are also exciting and fun to watch at the match race in San Francisco Bay.

Sept. 21 marks the 75th anniversary of the Great New England Hurricane of 1938. Although in many respects the hurricane of 1944 was much worse (it killed more people around the Vineyard than any storm in the 20th century), the 1938 hurricane is the one that stands in the record books.

Last swim in the ocean. First fire in the fireplace. Tomatoes simmering on the stove, ready for the freezer or canning jars. Ditto apples and beach plums. Fishermen silhouetted on the shoreline, casting into the silvery light of a harvest moon.

These are the benchmarks of September, the month when seasons shift along with the rhythms of Island life. The hectic pace of August is just a memory now, replaced by the decidedly more measured pace of fall. Warm sunlight remains abundant but summery days are fleeting and everyone feels it.

In the middle 1970s, trap fishing enjoyed a brief revival on the Vineyard on the site of an old Campbell and Flanders trap near Menemsha Bight. Chris Murphy of Chilmark set up exactly the same type of trap that the old-world Island fishermen were using in the 1930s, only he rigged his netting from floating 55-gallon barrels anchored to the bottom rather than using heavy wooden stakes.

Offered By Tea Lane Associates
This antique farmhouse is perched on a hill with expansive water views overlooking Quitsa and Menemsha Ponds. Offered with the abutting buildable waterfront lot, this is a rare opportunity.

Rymes Propane Gas recently announced its first donation of $5,000 to Martha’s Vineyard Hospital as part of its Pink Ribbon propane truck effort. In the spirit of local community involvement, Rymes has partnered with Martha’s Vineyard Hospital to support breast cancer awareness through its Pink Ribbon propane truck. “Few things draw more attention than a pink truck. We want every person who stops and asks the question ‘Why is that truck pink?’ to become more aware, not only of the disease, but also of what they can do to promote early detection,” owner Jim Rymes said.

The Martha’s Vineyard Regional High School committee voted this week to sell a $1.8 million bond as part of a plan to finance a nearly complete roof replacement at the high school. At their Monday meeting, the committee voted unanimously to sell the 10-year bond to UBS Financial Services of Boston.

For the first year, the district will pay the bond holders only the interest rate of 2.077 per cent, but starting in fiscal year 2015, the district will begin making payments on the bond. The first payment is due Sept. 15, 2014.

Ten sailboats participated in last Saturday’s 25th annual Pat West Gaff Rig and Schooner Race. The race from the outer Vineyard Haven harbor to Tarpaulin Cove and back began at 11 a.m. in light and variable winds. Zoli Clarke and Ryan Payne of Vineyard Haven sailed the Gannon and Benjamin Hazel 18 to victory.

Of the 10 boats, six were schooners. The Soros/DiBiaso team won the schooner class in their 65-foot Gannon and Benjamin schooner Juno.

Laughter hung in the air over Sunday lunch at Debbie Lesser’s Chilmark home as a group of women traded stories about their children. It had been more than 30 years since the group had met weekly as young mothers.

With colic, breastfeeding and all the other things associated with new motherhood well in their past (though some are now experiencing these things as grandmothers), the women came together 33 years after their first meeting on the Island. They all had their children in 1980, and met weekly to vent, cry, share stories and support each other.

Fall officially arrives on Sunday at 4:44 p.m. Daylight is becoming a precious commodity.

Already maple trees are changing their colors and Virginia creeper is turning brilliant red.

Stars overhead have changed significantly from summer. The Milky Way, a long ribbon of billions of stars, now rises in the northeast, moving high across our western sky and setting in the southwest.