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WALTER CRONKITE DIES AT 92 		Team McLube

 
 


The Publisher
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Jul 24, 2009, 5:48 AM

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SCUTTLEBUTT 2889:

WALTER CRONKITE DIES AT 92
Legendary CBS anchorman Walter Cronkite may have been known as "the most trusted man in America," but Mike Ashford of Annapolis knew him as a friend. Every spring and fall, year after year, Cronkite came to Annapolis to sail; often, he stayed at Ashford's home in the city's Historic District.

"For decades (we were) very, very, very good friends," Ashford said. "We were unquestionably best pals. One of the proudest things I can say I've done or that's happened to me is have him call me his best friend."

Cronkite died of cerebral vascular disease last night (on July 17th) in his Manhattan home surrounded by family, according to Marlene Adler, his longtime chief of staff. He was 92. "I feel very empty right now," said Ashford, owner of McGarvey's Saloon and Oyster Bar in downtown Annapolis. "I knew Walter really as a combination big brother, father and pal. The newsman was kind of a secondary." -- The Capital, read on: http://tinyurl.com/ljsuad


* From Kimball Livingston:
The death of Walter Cronkite will surely prompt an outpouring from those who well knew the man and his obsession with sailing. I knew him barely, but vividly.

We first met in Fremantle, Australia. The year was 1987. Dennis Conner had yet to reclaim the America’s Cup. Walter and I talked journo talk, then he launched into a story about sailing in Maine, in fog, in search of a bell buoy that marked a harbor entrance. The story had an ebb and flow - sailor to sailor -and he told how they could hear the bell through the fog, but first it was coming from here, and then it was coming from there, and he was well into the telling and close to the payoff when a phalanx of phalanxers swept up, and the chief phalanxer announced, “Excuse me, Mr. Cronkite. They’re ready for you.”

With a word of apology, he was gone. Oh well. Two days later I was walking down the street, and there was Walter walking the opposite way on the opposite side of the street. He saw me and crossed. He came up and said, “So anyway, we could hear the bell through the fog… “





- Craig Leweck, Scuttlebutt




The Publisher
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Jul 24, 2009, 5:50 AM

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* From James A. Gretzky:
I had the pleasure to spend a day on the water with Walter in early summer, 1984. It was quite a treat to someone who spent his youth watching him on the evening news. The occasion was the maiden voyage of COURAGEOUS II with her new wing keel. Walter was the guest of the principal backer of the program, Dr. Leonard Greene. I was along to observe the spar package as we had made some “Fremantle’ modifications to strengthen the rig. We were watching her sail trials from the tender. In those days, a tender was a good size Bertram with large fender rolls on the sides and a massive towing bit in the cockpit.

After a couple of hours of sailing, a small private plane started circling the twelve. Walter cried out that it was a spy for Alan Bond and then jumped behind the towing bit in a crouched position and pretended to be an anti-craft gunner intent on shooting the offending spy plane down. It was a refreshing break from a long day and a look at a wonderful and playful sense of humor. We heard many sailing stories from our shipmate that day! Walter…thanks for being you!

- Craig Leweck, Scuttlebutt




The Publisher
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Jul 24, 2009, 5:51 AM

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* From Ken Guyer:
“That’s the way it is.” I remember shortly after the Tet Offensive in Vietnam when Cronkite declared the Vietnam War was a “stalemate”. He was always someone I looked up to as a reporter and his non-bias way of telling it like it was and letting the individual make up their own mind about what to think of the news was refreshing, and unfortunately a thing of the past when compared to today’s news broadcasts.

I had the privilege of meeting Walter Cronkite in October of 1990 when we took him out sailing in San Diego along with Ray Ellis, Art DeFever, and Wally Schirra on the 12 meter Heart of America. Walter Cronkite and artist Ray Ellis had teamed up on a coffee table book “Westwind” and they held a book signing in the city that night. Sailing that day, the CBS newsman only had a CNN baseball cap to wear as protection against the sun out on the bay. He made sure he wore it backward during the cruise lest someone snap a shot of him out of “uniform”. A great man, fair winds and following seas always Walter.


* From David Starck, Buffalo, NY:
In the mid 1990's I had the opportunity to go on an afternoon sail aboard Larry Ellison's maxi SAYONARA with Mr. Cronkite at the helm. It was a typically blustery San Francisco Bay day. Larry stood behind Mr. Cronkite as we sailed upwind, and asked him how the helm felt. Mr. Cronkite responded "this thing is a sports car!" It was pretty cool.

- Craig Leweck, Scuttlebutt


Edmund Flynn
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Jul 24, 2009, 5:54 AM

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I had a "Forrest Gump" crossing of history with Walter Cronkite in September 1978. We did a delivery of his Westsail 42 "Wyntje" (Dutch spelling of his wife Betsy's maiden name) from Edgartown to Annapolis. It was Labor Day weekend, Walter had returned to NY to resume the nightly news, we all had dinner with his mother at his Vineyard house, then left at 5:30 am to catch the favorable tide out of Vineyard Sound. By 7:30 we were in 46 knots of breeze and opted to turn back and wait out what was an unexpected Gale.

The wind settled down in the afternoon and we set out again just before dark. By 9:00pm we were seeing winds again near 40 knots, went to shorten sail and put on the engine to hold Wyntje in the wind. The genoa sheet went over the side during the maneuver and wrapped in the prop. Without the engine, we sailed to the Point Judith Harbor of Refuge to anchor and ride out the storm overnight...and cut the line off the prop.

In the morning, the offending helmsman who ran over the jib sheet went over the side and cut us free. By the time we reached Annapolis, we had sailed in Gale force winds three times in three days. We learned later that the Queen Elizabeth II had "hove to" well offshore in the North Atlantic in this storm and had 90 foot seas breaking over her bow and all meals and social events cancelled and lost part of a railing on the bridge from the seas.

Once in Annapolis, the connection with history unfolded. Walter Cronkite had gained the friendship of both Anwar Sadat, then President of Egypt and Menachem Begin, then Prime Minister of Israel. He had managed to get them both to agree to meet with Jimmy Carter at Camp David. Because of his friendship, he was seen as the person who put together the "Camp David Accord", which started with Carter, Begin, Sadat and Cronkite all together at Camp David in September 1978 while we were on his boat in Annapolis. His boat captain got a call from Walter to "get the boat ready, I'm coming over with some VIPs"....we are all thinking "Carter, Begin, Sadat" as it turned out it was just a team from CBS, including Eric Sevareid.

-Ed Flynn


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Jul 26, 2009, 3:02 PM

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Stories:
http://www.examiner.com/...e--a-sailor-at-heart
http://www.baltimoresun.com/...ul26,0,6590676.story

- Craig Leweck, Scuttlebutt




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