State and federal environmental officials have formally designated the waters surrounding Martha’s Vineyard and south of Cape Cod off limits for the discharging of boat effluent. The designation means that nearly 95 per cent of state waters around Massachusetts are closed to effluent discharge. State Energy and Environmental Affairs and U.S. Environmental Protection Agency officials made the announcement on Friday at a gathering at Aselton Park in Hyannis.

With much of the nation suffering from drought or drought-like conditions — it’s the hottest year on record so far, according to the National Weather Service — the Vineyard is going through its own oppressively hot and dry season. But this still may be one of the most comfortable places to be on the East Coast this summer.

Rainfall, which was above normal last year, has slipped well below normal so far this year.

Temperatures are unseasonably hot, though the highs abated yesterday.

Atlantic bonito are here.

It was a sailor’s weekend in Edgartown. Over 200 one-design sailboats of all sizes competed in the Edgartown Yacht Club 89th annual regatta. The boats measured as short as eight feet to as long as 30 feet. The sailors and their sailboats came from all around Southeastern Massachusetts.

Bill Roman, manager of the Edgartown Yacht Club, said the Thursday through Saturday racing went well, though sailors were challenged by the variability of the wind.

There is a resurgence of activity in Menemsha this summer, and it is all related to getting seafood from the boats to the consumer. Every morning, visitors to Menemsha find fishing boats going in and out of the harbor. In the late morning they return from the fishing grounds laden with product