For Phil Hale, winning the Walter Cronkite Award from SailMV this summer was an honor that came with extra meaning.

The longtime owner of Martha’s Vineyard Shipyard, Mr. Hale was personally acquainted with the late broadcast journalist, a devoted sailor who summered in Edgartown for three decades before his death in 2009.

“I knew Walter Cronkite more than just as a newscaster or a customer at the boatyard. He was a pretty good guy,” Mr. Hale told the Gazette this week, during a waterfront interview at the shipyard on Vineyard Haven harbor.

No matter how busy Mr. Cronkite might be in New York City, Mr. Hale recalled, he always took calls from the shipyard about his yawl, Wyntje.

The Walter Cronkite award is given to someone who has continued the broadcaster's legacy of conservation and maritime tradition. — Jeanna Shepard

Mr. Cronkite also was a constant and generous donor to Island nonprofits, from animal welfare to community services.

He was honorary chairman of SailMV, which was founded 35 years ago to teach Island children how to sail and race.

It became one of Mr. Cronkite’s favorite causes, Mr. Hale said, citing a conversation the two men had in 2006 that he still marvels at today.

“He said to me, ‘Phil, my involvement with SailMV is one of the most important things I’ve done in my life.’ True story,” Mr. Hale told the Gazette.

“This [was] Walter Cronkite, who’s reported on history for 50 years, from the Second World War, Jack Kennedy, the moon landing … Think about that,” Mr. Hale said.

The annual award from SailMV honors the late Mr. Cronkite by recognizing someone on the Island who has continued his legacy of conservation and maritime tradition.

Mr. Hale considers his award a family affair, and said so in his acceptance speech at the SailMV banquet last month.

“It really isn’t about me. It’s about the fact that the Hale family has been working on the waterfront for 65 years,” said Mr. Hale, who bought the shipyard from his father Thomas in 1986 and is now vice-president to his son James.

“Three generations have run the business now, and it’s about our great staff and the community that supported us for all these years,” he said. 

It was 1961 when Thomas Hale moved his young family to the Island and bought Martha’s Vineyard Shipyard, which had had multiple names and owners over the previous century.

Phil Hale grew up doing odd jobs around the shipyard, learning the business from his father.

“[I did] everything from picking up trash, painting bottoms, rigging boats, checking on wooden boats that might have sunk overnight,” he recalled.

“After college, I ran the boat building program for seven or eight years, and then I bought the boatyard from my dad,” Mr. Hale said.

Martha’s Vineyard Shipyard stopped building sailboats in the late 1980s, outcompeted on labor costs by skilled shipyards in Maine.

“Rather than fight it, we said ‘Well, let’s fix boats,’” Mr. Hale said.

The company also handles boat storage, as well as a winterizing service for boat owners who have their own storage.

The plastic wrap used to protect the boats is recycled after it comes off, Mr. Hale said.

Over the past few years, the Hales have now installed heating in all their boat sheds so repairs and maintenance can continue 12 months of the year. 

“We now have between 28 and 30 year-round [employees],” Mr. Hale said.

As a result, he said, the shipyard only hires two or three extra workers in the summer.

“It’s really changed our workflow,” Mr. Hale said.

Another thing that’s changed, he said, is the mix of boats that come in for repairs.

Sailboats have gone from 60 per cent to 40 per cent of the shipyard’s business, with powerboats zooming from 40 per cent to 60 per cent, Mr. Hale said.

“One member of the household loves the boat, the other person wants to get to the destination,” he said.

Mr. Hale himself is a lifelong sailor, an active member of the Holmes Hole Sailing Association and an avid small-boat racer — whether or not there’s a competition under way.

“If there are two boats on the water, somebody’s racing,” he said with a smile.

He’s particularly fond of sailing upwind because it calls for the most skill, Mr. Hale said.

“Sailing is my thing. When I’m doing it, that’s what I’m thinking about. Nothing else seems as important,” he said.

“With all the complexities in the world, it’s nice to have that space,” Mr. Hale said.

Walter Cronkite, he said, would have agreed.