Lido Isle Yacht Club - www.liyc.net

The Lido Isle Yacht Club's Junior Sailing Program is legendary! Generations of Lido residents and family members have participated in the summer sailing program and are committed to offering the same quality sailing experience to generations to come.

We know we are lucky to enjoy our special community and the unique lifestyle it provides, so we are extending our sailing program year-round and providing an opportunity for family members of current residents and sponsored non-residents to join the fun!

For more information on joining the sailing program, please contact the Sailing Director, Ashley Simpson (asimpson.sail@gmail.com) or Vice Commodore, Jim Bailey (bailey@westmac.com).

LIYC - Sail Smart. Sail Fast. Have Fun!

Our history...Lido Isle (mistakenly called Lido Island) is a man-made island, incorporated as part of the City of Newport Beach in 1906. At that time - It was part sandbar and part mudflat.

Just two years prior in 1904, Henry Huntington became a partner with William Collins in the Newport Beach Company, and in exchange for extending the Pacific Electric Railway to Newport Beach, Huntington received 250 acres and a 100-foot wide right-of-way for the railway. The part sandbar and part mudflat was included in the land given Huntington. Over the next twenty years this mudflat became known as Electric Island, then Pacific Electric Island, and finally Huntington Island.

In 1923, Huntington Island was purchased from Pacific Electric by W. K. Parkinson for $45,000. Parkinson, a former conductor on the Pacific Electric, who made a fortune from land investments, would spend more than a quarter-million dollars dredging the harbor and using the fill to raise the isle more than ten feet above the mean high tide line; and hired The Griffith Company to build seawalls, a bridge, roads and piers. There were no commercial facilities on the island, except one; and its only link to the city was a small wooden bridge.

The development of the isle was one of the first master planned communities in California and was conceived to resemble a European resort. Parkinson envisioned the space as a resort similar to those in the Mediterranean. After dredging was complete, the island was renamed Lido Isle in homage to Lido di Venezia near Venice, Italy. As a master-planned development, the community was one of the first in Southern California to be built with underground utilities.

As part of the Mediterranean-theme Lido Isle was built with streets named after many Mediterranean cities, including Barcelona, Genoa, Nice and Ithaca. The names of its two main streets, Via Lido Nord and Via Lido Soud, also reflect this theme. Most homes were built in a Mediterranean Revival Style architecture, with some Cape Cod and modern style homes as well.

The geographic and social center of this "semi-private" community became the Lido Isle Club House, which hosts many community clubs and organizations, including the Lido Isle Yacht Club; and is the location where the only commercial facility on the isle is located – the snack bar. Lido Isle Yacht Club was incorporated on September 29, 1928, but was not active until after the Depression years.

After World War II and with sailing in the blood of the residents on the isle several parents on Lido started teaching sailing to their children. With the help of such families as the Rutter’s, the Hill’s, the Henderson’s, the Pabst’s and others, LIYC was activated.

Tom Rutter was elected LIYC’s first Commodore in January 1947, and the club’s burgee was adopted. Since that time, LIYC has had sixty four (64) Commodores, including our present Commodore, Ken Wirgler; plus four (4) Honorary Staff Commodores. LIYC’s burgee is a combination of the burgee of St. George’s Royal Yacht Squadron from which we get the white background and red cross, and the burgee of the South Coast Corinthian Yacht Club from which we took the blue anchor. The Royal Yacht Squadron is the most prestigious yacht club in the United Kingdom and arguably in the world. Its clubhouse is located in Cowes Castle on the Isle of Wright in the United Kingdom; and in 1851, the Club’s Commodore visiting the Great Exhibition in New York City issued a challenge for the Squadron’s 100 pound sterling Cup for a race around the Island. The New York based “America” representing the New York Yacht Club triumphed in this race giving its name to one of the oldest and most coveted trophies in yachting throughout the world – The America’s Cup. South Coast Corinthian Yacht Club, now located in Marina Del Rey is among the oldest on the Pacific Coast, also tracing its incorporation to the depression years. Lido Isle Yacht Club was granted membership to the Southern California Yachting Association in 1948, and was admitted to the Yacht Racing Union of Southern California in 1965.

From the Club’s activation in the early 30’s, the junior sailing program has been the principal activity of LIYC. From 1946 to 1948, Dora Hill and Mr. Rutter taught the young sailors. Around 1949 George and Vera Ward began organizing races and started giving instructions to the youth that lived on the isle. Then in 1953 Commodore Howard Lewis hired Dick Sweet as our Club’s first Junior Sailing Director.

LIYC is well known for its excellent junior program and has seen many of its juniors go on to win major national and international titles. In the 1950’s, the Helms Foundation honored three of our junior sailors for outstanding contributions to junior sailing. As the Sabot gained prominence in southern California, LIYC junior sailors continued to distinguished themselves at Junior Sabot regattas. In the 1980’s our sailors excelled in not only Sabots, but also in the Lido-14 and Laser championships; and in the 90’s added finishes in the CFJ National championship regatta as well.

In 1993 the Newport Harbor High School Sailing Coach Bill Wakeman (a former LIYC Jr. Sailing Director) formed and led the high school sailing team which was composed mostly of LIYC sailors to become the No.1 ranked high school sailing team in the nation. In 1994 this same team was recognized by the United States Sailing Association with its highest award; and in 1998, the CFJ team won the Team Challenge Regatta in Detroit, Michigan.

LIYC is proud of the fact that many of its young men and women have gone on to college sailing teams and raced internationally, and even prouder of the fact that some have become outstanding sailing instructors and directors at yacht clubs located all over America.
In closing, the Lido Isle Yacht Club has contributed greatly to making Lido Isle a very special place for over three quarters of a century through one of the most fun and challenging activities on the water – sailing!