Lifelong Diving Enthusiast Dies Off P.V. Estates

Back in the days before neoprene wet suits, silicone dive masks and sophisticated breathing regulators, Chuck Wakefield did it the old-fashioned way.

When he went skin-diving 40 years ago off the Palos Verdes Peninsula, Wakefield wore nothing but a bathing suit, swim fins and goggles. With a homemade spear and a knife, he would reap a great bounty from the sea--lobsters, halibut, abalone and sea bass.

The retired firefighter’s passion for the ocean never waned. When he waded out of the surf recently, his son Mark recalled, Wakefield took in a deep, satisfied breath and said: “There’s nothing like it!”

Family and friends have found solace in the thought that, when he died last week at the age of 63, Wakefield was doing what he loved.

He had left his home in Redondo Beach at about 12:30 p.m. Thursday to go diving at one of his favorite spots, off Flat Rock Point in Palos Verdes Estates. Marie Wakefield knew that on a good day--when the water was clear and the fish plentiful--her husband might not come home for eight or nine hours.

But on Thursday, her husband was overdue, so Marie and Mark drove to the bluffs near Paseo Del Mar. It was about 11:30 p.m. when they found Wakefield’s truck parked by the side of the road, Mark Wakefield said Friday.

Firefighters and police began to search the beach before midnight, while four helicopters shone their floodlights on the water. The county lifeguard’s rescue boat Baywatch Redondo and a patrol boat from King Harbor in Redondo Beach joined in.

About two hours later, the harbor patrol boat spotted Wakefield’s body, floating face down 150 yards offshore. Paramedics speculated that he may have suffered a heart attack, but an autopsy will be performed to determine the cause of death.

Wakefield’s body was tangled in a bed of kelp, less than a mile north of Lunada Bay, where he took his first dive in 1946.

“He went the way he would have liked to have gone, doing what he loved so much,” said his friend Larry Korchak, who organized that first dive. “It’s quiet. You’re alone. It’s like you and the elements.”

Wakefield was born in North Dakota and moved to Los Angeles with his family when he was 10. He installed tile before he became a firefighter with the Los Angeles City Fire Department. He retired about 10 years ago, after 25 years on the force.

In winter and summer, Wakefield took every opportunity to go diving. He eventually bought a wet suit, but he hardly ever used tanks. Wakefield preferred a snorkel and his own lung power. He would dive down 25 feet and stay under for as long as two minutes looking for lobster and other treasures, said Mark Wakefield, who often accompanied his father.

The 5-foot-11, 220-pounder seemed impervious to the cold.

Father and son dived for lobster Monday night near Flat Rock Point. On Wednesday, Wakefield joined a friend for spear fishing off the Palos Verdes Peninsula. And Thursday, he took his last dive, alone.