Edgartown Yacht Club held its first race around Martha's Vineyard Island in the summer of 1938, and except for the years of the Second World War the race has been an annual event since then. The course itself is a splendid sail. The course around the Vineyard passes in sight of the seven lighthouses of Cape Poge, Gay Head, Tarpaulin Cove, Nobska, West Chop, East Chop and Edgartown. In the morning the fleet sails between Martha's Vineyard and Nantucket along the east beach of Chappaquiddick. At midday they are in the open Atlantic Ocean with views of the south coast of the Vineyard. In the afternoon, rounding the gorgeous cliffs of Gay Head, the fleet sails up Vineyard Sound.