The 20th Doublehanded Challenge presents weather obstacle

Into its 20th year, the Doublehanded Huron Challenge lived up to its name once again. Every year for the last two decades, sailors have taken to sailboats of different shape and size, and made their way north on Lake Huron toward Rogers City. There have been different challenges over the years, but most of them come from the weather. This year it was the lack of weather that presented the biggest obstacle to participants. The lake was fast to start the race, but as the sailors approached the shores of Alpena and Presque Isle counties Sunday night/Monday morning, the wind died down to nothing.

?There were a lot of people that were sitting off Presque Isle in flat water, with no air,? said race committee member Glenn Lahti of Drummond Island. ?They saw the harbor for eight or nine hours before they were able to get moving again.? Rogers City harbor master Ken Rasche said some sailors sat off the shore of Rogers City for 45 minutes to three hours, ?just sitting and watching the town and saying ?I want to be there, but I can?t get there.?? Participants are disqualified if they start their engine prior to crossing the finish line, which is an imaginary line between a buoy, near the rocks of the northeast breakwall, and a trailer on shore. ?Other than (the delay), everything seem to go fine,? said Lahti.

AN AWARDS celebration took place at the Lakeside Park pavilion Monday night. Racers were fed a Plath?s smoked loin dinner. In return for the many great years, race officials footed the bill for an appreciation concert to the people of Rogers City for the many years of hospitality. ?You can?t say enough about the staff at the marina and the city people, generally, and the support they give this race. It?s just unbelievable,? said Lahti. Rasche noticed fewer participants than in recent races, but he said it was a safe event. There are three different courses in the challenge. The shortest is the 126-mile Bay City course along the shoreline.

In the Saginaw Division, ?Unleaded? was the quickest with a time of nine hours, 22 minutes, 35 seconds. In the Tawas Division, Toot2 recorded a time of 12:28:43. The Sarnia course of 168 miles includes two divisions: Rogers City and Sarnia. ?Mental Floss? was tops in the Sarnia Division, while ?Sparkle? shined in the Rogers City Division. The third course, with a start at Sarnia and a trip across Lake Huron from Goderich, Ontario about a 196-mile trip, had seven divisions.

HERE ARE the fastest finishers from their respective division, which were named after Great Lakes ports: Port Huron Division, ?Radio Flyer? (12:02:00); Bayfield, ?Sea Quell? (7:43:50);

Lexington, ?On a Tack? (7:26:10); Port Sanilac, ?Lady Luck? (6:03:45); Goderich, ?Wizard? (5:49:50); Alpena, ?C Spray? (19:20:52); Kincardine, ?Gamera? (15:41:58). ?Everybody looked a little worn out but they got up here,? said John Neville, race committee member. Commodore Phil LePage of Presque Isle said it seems like the race just began its 20-year run yesterday. ?We started this from the stand point of wanting to produce an event that would appeal to the non-racer, to the person who wants to go out and sail with one other person,? LePage said. ?To make it in a safe passage and to do it with a minimal of crew.?

The father and son crew of Mark and Ches Upham of Alpena, while not posting any record time, had a good time during their time on the lake. It takes a lot of air to maneuver their 44-foot craft, Mark said. What wind they did catch, turned them in circles. On the craft ?Star Dust,? a half-dozen 14- and 15-year-olds shadowed a group from Bay City on the journey and learned many of the techniques of operating a sailboat. They kept the log and made the radio calls, as well. In 20 years, it might be the same people making their way up Lake Huron to Rogers City for the 40th anniversary.

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