A small group of boat enthusiasts gathered at Martha’s Vineyard Shipyard for the launching of a wooden skiff last Friday afternoon.

Unlike most significant boat christenings and launchings, this one didn’t call for a lot of ceremony. There were no speeches, no flags or banners flying. A bottle of champagne was present, but no one was interested in consuming it. Only 20 people were in the audience.

Though the little boat will be the talk of the waterfront for years to come, there was nothing flashy about the gathering.

It may come as a surprise to some that growing up on an Island does not always ensure access to sailing. The water is always within reach, but there have long been socio-economic barriers to Island kids interested in learning the sport.

In the early 1990s, a group of Edgartown residents teamed up to tackle the problem. Nancy Hoffman and the late Nancy Haskell spearheaded the effort to found Sail Martha’s Vineyard (now known as Sail MV), a program dedicated to helping Island kids gain access to affordable sailing instruction.

Sail Martha’s Vineyard will give its first Walter Cronkite Award, in the memory of its staunch supporter and honorary chairman who died last July, to the artist Ray Ellis.

The award will be made at Sail MV’s annual Seafood Buffet and Auction at Tisbury Wharf on Saturday, July 10.

“Walter Cronkite might not have wanted this fuss made over him,” Peggy Schwier, president of the Sail MV board, said in a statement, “but he certainly would have approved of Ray Ellis as the first person to receive this award.

Vandals have been targeting the boat house at the Sailing Camp Park in Oak Bluffs, leaving a trail of smashed-in doors, broken windows, floats set adrift in the Lagoon Pond — and, in a dangerous turn, the latest offense this week saw gasoline poured around the grounds.

At the receiving end of all this vandalism is Sail Martha’s Vineyard, the community-supported nonprofit program that leases the boathouse on the Lagoon from the town to teach sailing to Island children.

The sixth annual Vineyard Cup regatta was the best yet. Wind, weather, participation and competitive spirit reached new levels in what has become the Island’s premiere three-day sailing competition. A record 101 sailboats of varying size and construction competed in Vineyard waters, from Menemsha Pond to Cow Bay.

Robert S. Douglas, captain of the topsail schooner Shenandoah, received the Walter Cronkite award Saturday at the 21st annual Sail Martha’s Vineyard Seafood Buffet and Auction at Tisbury Wharf. The award is bestowed to those who have distinguished themselves above and beyond, following the precepts of Sail Martha’s Vineyard’s own goals, to enrich the lives of others.

The second of the Sail Martha’s Vineyard dinner and lecture series at the Black Dog Tavern takes place on Wednesday, Feb. 22, at 6 p.m. The speaker is Dan O’Connor from Life Raft and Survival Equipment Co. located in Tiverton, RI. Mr. O’Connor’s talk is titled Safety at Sea. His presentation will focus on what saved the crew members from the s/v Rambler during the 2011 Fastnet Race.

Like so many Vineyarders do, the high school sailing team gathered Monday afternoon at the Steamship Authority docks to wait for a boat.

Or, more specifically, their six boats, which rolled off the Island Home on the back of a trailer to much applause and cheering.

Thanks to gifts from Sail MV benefactors — the program provides equipment and a home base for the team — the team was able to purchase brand new 420s for the fleet. This is the first new fleet in the program’s history; previous boats were always purchased used.