Winter Lecture Series

Thank you for a wonderful return to live and in-person winter lectures.

We’ll post an update here in early 2025!

The Ocean Twilight Zone:
New discoveries from the earth’s last frontier:

On Wednesday March 20^th, 2023, Simon Thorrold of WHOI shared his insights into ecosystems under the waves. The mid-water depths of the open ocean – the Ocean Twilight Zone – is home incredible biomass and biodiversity of fishes and invertebrates. We will “dive” into the ecology of these remarkable creatures, highlighting some of the discoveries that WHOI engineers and scientists have recently made off the coast of southern New England, and how important this zone is to the future of humanity on planet earth.

Dr. Simon Thorrold is a Senior Scientist at the Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution (WHOI). His group at WHOI is dedicated to achieving a rigorous scientific basis for the conservation and sustainable management of fishes throughout the world’s oceans. They work in local waters off Cape Cod and in Papua New Guinea, the Azores, the Red Sea, the central tropical Pacific Ocean, and on the Great Barrier Reef.

In Foresails and Ferries, February 2024, John Wilson shared the history and legacy of two Edgartown institutions. The Chappy Ferry is a service lifeline, and the film about it touches on the unique and vital role the ferry has played over the years. It tells stories that you will only hear on the 527-foot ride from the foot of Dagget Street to Chappy Point. Legacy, 100 Years of Sail, celebrates the founding and century-long success of the Edgartown Yacht Club Regatta and the impact it has had on Martha’s Vineyard. The first Edgartown Regatta launched this area as a premiere racing destination.

The Winter Lecture series returned, live and in person, on January 24th, 2024. Mark Alan Lovewell and Molly Conole presented Songs of the Sea: Shanty or Chantey? a lively presentation that started off with “The Wellerman,” a 19th Century song from New Zealand that became a surprise hit on TikTok in 2021. Mark moved on to the world’s best-known chantey, “What Shall We Do with the Drunken Sailor,” “Cape Cod Girls,” and Molly Conole’s “Sea Talk.” The evening concluded with “Rolling Home.” You can see a video of the performance on Mark’s YouTube channel.

Recordings of past years’ lectures below:

February 7, 2022, Recording: Storm Surge and Coastal Flooding

Be it from wintertime Nor’easters or summertime tropical cyclones, coastal flooding and storm surges are a concern for those along coastal areas. In this Winter Lecture, Alex Avalos of Weather Routing Inc. (WRI) described what causes storm surges and coastal flooding, the elements involved in creating these phenomena, and various tools to help predict them. WRI is Sail Martha’s Vineyard weather partner each summer for custom forecasts during the Vineyard Cup Regatta.