People said it would never work. But people were wrong. Vineyard Haven boat builders Ross Gannon and Nat Benjamin have a partnership that has survived 30 years, including a devastating fire that left them with nothing but the will to start over again. Today Gannon and Benjamin is a household name on the Vineyard, synonymous with wooden boats and Island values.

Interviews by Rachel Nava Rohr

Ross Gannon:

Most people think of the shark as the ultimate symbol of dread, giants with cold lifeless eyes who cruise the ocean looking for swimmers they can tear from limb to limb. The very word itself is used to describe people in society who prey on others or who engage in deceptive practices.

There is probably not an animal in the world more despised or feared then sharks, ranking right down there with snakes and spiders.

Most people think of the shark as the ultimate symbol of dread, giants with cold lifeless eyes who cruise the ocean looking for swimmers they can tear from limb to limb. The very word itself is used to describe people in society who prey on others or who engage in deceptive practices.

There is probably not an animal in the world more despised or feared then sharks, ranking right down there with snakes and spiders.

Oak Bluffs selectmen on Tuesday looked ahead to an unsettling future, one in which the landscape of the Island is strewn with construction sites, construction trucks and traffic jams. But instead of pondering some hypothetical or even worst-case scenario, they were staring in the face of reality.

Is there a gene for how you play a D chord on a guitar?

Ben Taylor jokes that his father reckons there is, for Ben forms the chord in exactly the same unorthodox way James does. Ben says it's just that as a self-taught player, he copied the moves of the musician he admires most - his dad.