Ficker still has renown

Chris Yemma

In the competitive sailing world, there’s good, and then there’s Bill

Ficker.

A Newport Beach resident since 1953, Ficker, 77, was the first

person to win the trifecta of major sailing championships, and, to

this day, is one of two people to have accomplished the feat.

Jack Nicklaus has won 20 major championships in golf, the New York

Yankees have won 26 World Series titles, and Ficker and Dennis

Conner, of San Diego, are the only two sailors in the world who have

successfully defended the America’s Cup, won the Star Class world

championship and won the Congressional Cup.

Considered the granddaddy of competitions in sailing circles, the

America’s Cup is the oldest continuous trophy in sports. And, from

its birth in 1851 until 1983, the U.S. hadn’t lost in the event.

Ficker, skippering Intrepid, successfully kept the cup in the

hands of the New York Yacht Club in 1970 and Conner defended it in

1980. But Conner made history in 1983, as he was the first American

to lose the America’s Cup, as the trophy was taken home by Australia.

Ficker, who has been a member at the Newport Harbor Yacht Club for

55 years and was the commodore in 1968, won the Star Class world

championship in 1958 and capped his career-bests with a 1974

Congressional Cup victory.

But winning the America’s Cup was the highlight of his sailing

days.

“It was obviously the most prestigious win for me,” said Ficker,

who made a career as an architect in Newport. “Being the oldest

trophy in sports, that in itself gave it substantial prestige, but

pitting country against country gave it even more.”

For centuries the dominant naval force of the seas, Great Britain

challenged the U.S. to a sailing race in 1851 to test its supremacy.

The challenge was accepted and the NYYC immediately spent $45,000 to

build the 90-foot schooner named “America.”

Britainlost the race, and, for 132 years, America kept the trophy

in a glass case at the NYYC. It was once said that the head of the

skipper who lost the cup would replace the trophy in the case.

It didn’t happen in 1983, but the loss did bring the sport to the

forefront of society.

Ficker said it was never a goal of his to win the cup, considering

he was from the West Coast and wasn’t part of the East-Coast sailing

culture, a society that raised children from birth to compete in

these events. In his days, he said, the West didn’t receive the time

of day regarding the sport.

Of course, the climate played to the advantage of the West, he

said.

“We’d be sailing 12 months of the year,” Ficker said. “When we

went to races in April or May, the East-Coast yacht clubs would be

pulling their boats out of their snow-covered garages.”

But he received his due after he won the Congressional Cup in ’58.

“It is considered one of the most prestigious in match racing,” he

said. “There’s always one-upmanship in the sport, and, if you haven’t

won the [Congressional Cup], the other wins don’t count. It’s what

separates the men from the boys.”

Ficker, doesn’t sail competitively anymore, but is still a member

at Newport Harbor Yacht Club and is still connected to the sport.

And every year or so, he is asked to sail in a regatta race.

“They’re always willing to have an America’s Cup champion.” he

said.