John Oakeley

Sir John Oakeley was the 8th Baronet Oakeley of Shrewsbury and his father, the 7th Baronet, better known as Atholl Oakeley, was a pioneer of professional wrestling in Britain in the 1930s. Atholl was himself the first British heavyweight champion and was also the 1932 European Heavyweight Champion before becoming a promoter and trainer. John did not follow his father’s footsteps in to wrestling ring, choosing sailing as his preferred sport instead, and after winning the Merlin Rocket Championship three years in succession between 1956-58 he went on to become one of Britain’s most successful dinghy racers in the 1960s and 70s and enjoyed a memorable three month spell in 1967 when, with David Hunt, the 1972 Olympic Tempest Class silver medallist, he retained both his British and European Flying Dutchman titles before going to Montréal to win the world title. Oakeley was also a World Championship bronze medallist in the Soling class at Poole in 1970.

Despite being a reserve for the 1968 Flying Dutchman class, Oakeley competed in just one Olympic Games, finishing fifth in the Soling Class with Barry Dunning and Charles Reynolds at Kiel in 1972. They were playing ‘catch-up’ after finishing 20th in the first race, but a win in race four saw them up to second and with one race to go they still held the bronze medal position but lost it after finishing 11th in the final race.

In 1978 Oakeley, managing director of a sail making company, was appointed skipper and helmsman of the British America’s Cup challenger Lionheart but, shortly after the start of the challenger series of race at Newport, Rhode Island in August 1980, Oakeley was dramatically, and controversially, replaced as skipper by Lawrie Smith.