William F. Buckley

William F. Buckley died at his desk yesterday in Stamford Connecticut. Our paths have crossed several times. One was on Long Island Sound. I was out alone in my 24 foot Bristol sailboat for a late season afternoon sail. I came across another sailboat and noticed a member of the crew looking at my boat through binoculars as I drank my hot coffee from a thermos. I waved and he waved back. As the boat passed I noticed the name and recognized Buckley and the sailboat he had used when he sailed across the Atlantic. He wrote about this passage in such books as Airborne. Sometime later I met Buckley on land and went up to him and introduced myself as a fellow sailor and said that our paths have crossed on Long Island Sound. His eyes widened as he said "Oh my Gawd, I hope I did not run into you?"