In July, the sailing community and the world lost a giant figure when former news anchor Walter Cronkite passed away. A lifelong sailor, summers found Cronkite boating in the waters around Edgartown near his home in Martha’s Vineyard. He also sailed to Rhode Island and Maine. During the winter, he often sailed in the Caribbean. He owned a variety of boats, all named Wyntje, including a Westsail 42, a Sunward 48 and a Hinckley 64 ketch.

Cronkite summed up his love of sailing well in his autobiography, where he wrote, “There is nothing more satisfying than dropping anchor in an otherwise deserted cove just before sunset, of pouring that evening libation and, with a freshly roasted bowl of popcorn, lying back as the geese and ducks and loons make your acquaintance and the darkness slowly descends to complement the silence.”

The Edgartown Yacht Club is located on the island of Martha’s Vineyard in Edgartown, Massachusetts. Edgartown is the oldest city on Martha’s Vineyard. Founded in 1905, the private club is located on Dock Street in downtown Edgartown. Since 1923, the Edgartown Yacht Club has sponsored a Junior Yacht Club, one of the first such clubs to be established. The Edgartown Yacht Club also sponsors a tennis program where teams complete against other yacht clubs, including the Nantucket Yacht Club.

The Edgartown Yacht Club 86th Annual Regatta will be held July 16-18, 2009. Several hundred boats are expected to participate in this annual event in Edgartown Harbor. For spectators, there are a vaiety of inns and hotels in Edgartown which provide accommodations for the weekend.