Sailors make it through rough finish to 26th Doublehanded Challenge

by Angie Asam, Staff Writer

For the 26th time the Huron Challenge doublehanded sailboat race ended in Rogers City this weekend. The first boats began to arrive Sunday evening and the last boat arrived just before midnight on Monday. More than 40 boats participated in the 2010 race, which is about a 20 percent increase from the 2009 race, something organizers see as promising. The storm that rolled in to Rogers City on Monday morning delayed some of the boats, causing some to turn off in safe harbors and some to retire.

Committee chair for the Huron Challenge and vice commodore of the Doublehanded Sailing Association Jim Lieder still had concerns about one boat at the time of the awards banquet and dinner held Monday evening. ?They are tough sailors but these are tough winds. We are going to see if some boats in the Presque Isle Harbor can reach them by radio, we think we might be out of range,? said Lieder.

According to Rogers City harbormaster Brian Wagner before the boat was reached by radio they had notified the Coast Guard that it had been six hours since they were heard from. All ended well, however, as that sailboat arrived in the Rogers City Marina just before midnight on Monday night.

?We really enjoy finishing in Rogers City. A lot of the boaters take off to the North Channel or Mack

inaw Island from here, while others can just head back south,? said Lieder. Racers started Sunday in Port Huron and Caseville. Racers can choose either the shore course, a direct course to Rogers City or the Goderich Course, which takes racers on a direct course to a turning mark in Goderich, Ontario before they proceed to Rogers City. ?Rogers City has been great to us for 26 years. We really enjoy the hospitality we get here from Brian Wagner, mayor Beach Hall and chamber of commerce director Dave Snow. They are all great, and it is a great place to finish; we enjoy coming back here every year,? said Lieder.

Monday evening at six p.m., the racers and their families were treated to a Plath?s smoked loin dinner in the Lakeside Park pavilion hosted by the Rogers City Area Chamber of Commerce before they conducted their awards banquet. Following the banquet, some racers headed for home while others spent the night in Rogers City before they headed to their next destination.