Hall of Fame: Bill Wakeman (Boating)

Richard Dunn

When Bill Wakeman arrived at Newport Harbor High 30 years ago, the

climate, so typical of Newport Beach, was perfect for sailing.

“I came along at the right time, when high school sailing was becoming

a real sport. It was in its absolute infancy,” said Wakeman, who grew up

sailing the waters off Newport Beach and describes his passion “like a

really fast-moving chess game, where all the pieces are moving and the

game keeps changing. It’s a highly cerebral sport.”

Wakeman, an English teacher at Costa Mesa High the past 10 years,

after 20 years in the classroom at Newport Harbor, has been the Sailors’

sailing coach since 1972 and enjoyed a hotbed of top-notch juniors coming

through the local yacht clubs.

“Like tennis or volleyball,” Wakeman said. “You start them out young,

then they become awesome.”

Wakeman, a 1959 Newport Harbor graduate whose grandfather, Earl,

joined the Balboa Yacht Club in about 1928, has guided the Sailors to an

elite class in the national sailing scene, including two world

championships (1993 and 2000).

“In 2000, we won every major regatta,” Wakeman said. “We won every

cup, every regatta, and I don’t think anybody has ever done that (in the

history of high school sailing, including powerhouse Coronado).”

The Sailors’ highly decorated 2000 squad was the last group of kids

that Wakeman taught to sail when they were 7 or 8 years old. Wakeman

advised not to teach kids any younger to sail because it “traumatizes

them.”

Newport Harbor’s sailing program is supported by BYC, Newport Harbor

Yacht Club and Lido Isle Yacht Club. Under Wakeman, the Sailors have won

several national regattas, cups and titles in fleet racing and team

racing.

“Fleet racing is like a swim meet,” Wakeman said, “and team racing is

like water polo.”

Wakeman’s father, Norm, a former Pasadena City College instructor,

helped launch the Interscholastic Sailing Association, the sport’s

national governing body. The ISSA sanctioned two national championships

this year -- the Mallory Regatta and the Baker Regatta -- in which the

Sailors competed and finished in the top three.

Newport Harbor has won the prestigious Mallory Regatta four times

(Corona del Mar, which also has a strong sailing program, has won it

once.)

“The first real national championship was the Cotton Bowl Regatta in

Texas,” Wakeman said, “and we won that at least seven times over a period

of 10 years. And then they had the Cressy Regatta, which is still being

held, but they changed the format. We won the Cressy at least five times

... we’ve won whatever national championship there was probably half the

time and we’ve gone to the world championships at least five times (and

won it twice).”

Wakeman, a Long Beach State graduate, has lived in Newport most of his

life. “Actually, we were summer people until 1950, then we moved down

from Pasadena,” he said.

An almost lifelong BYC member, Wakeman lived upstairs at the BYC for

11 years in a small room designed in the 1940s and ‘50s for overnight

weekend sailors.

“My room was one of the bigger rooms,” Wakeman said. “It was 9 by 9

and you walked down the hallway to the bathroom. But I had a view of the

bay and (rent) started at $23 a month ... it was $23 a month for

membership and rent.”

Wakeman operated the BYC junior sailing program for a couple of years

and the LIYC junior program for a total of eight years, five in the ‘60s

and three in the ‘80s.

“One of the things that happened when I was living (at the BYC) was

that, suddenly, it didn’t matter if there was an age difference,” he

said. “I still do have a lot of friends, anywhere from 10 years old to

100. Well, make that 9 to 90.”

Newport Harbor, CdM, a Catalina Island school and the now-defunct

Harvard Military School were the original four schools in the Pacific

Coast Interscholastic Sailing Association, which has grown to about 60

member schools, including some in Hawaii and Arizona.

“More and more teams are getting involved and we’re getting more and

more anxious to have Hawaii host (the PCISA Regatta),” Wakeman said. “We

want to go over there.”

Wakeman, the latest honoree in the Daily Pilot Sports Hall of Fame, is

single, but added that he “never thinks” of himself as single, because he

has a brother, Jim, a sister, Caroline, and 15 first cousins, “all of

whom are like brothers and sisters. We’re very close.”