2005
Michigan - Ontario District Championship
August 6-7
By
John Gallagher DYC/Chair
The championship of the Michigan-Ontario Districts continues to remain the private preserve of two rival Scot sailors, multiple-year champions Forest Rogers and Paul Lee. In the latest match-up the weekend of Aug. 6-7, Rogers won the Districts title, with Lee finishing second, giving each five championships in the past 10 years.
August winds were typically light and variable on Lake St. Clair near Detroit when 17 boats headed out to the race course for the regatta hosted by the Detroit Yacht Club. Rogers, the former FSSA District governor who sails out of the Crescent Sail Yacht Club in Grosse Pointe, and Lee, from the Detroit Yacht Club, often face each other in weekly races. In this year’s Districts, Rogers got the jump early when winds were so light in the first race that a couple of boats never even crossed the starting line. Rogers won that first race with Lee finishing in seventh place.
Winds picked up somewhat for the final two races of the day, and on shortened courses Rogers continued to dominate, winning each of the next two races while Lee took a third and a second. Also in the hunt going into Sunday’s final day was Brian Hawkins of the Portage Yacht Club and Bill Brusilow of the DYC.
On Sunday, with winds still on the lighter side, the race committee opted to go for one longer triangle/windward/leeward course instead of two shorter races. The lead boats jockeyed for position around the marks but in the end Lee crossed the line first, with Hawkins second, Brusilow third, and Rogers taking a seventh. The final standings saw Rogers with 10 points and Lee with 13.
With four different Flying Scot fleets represented in the top five positions, competitions remains alive and well in the Michigan-Ontario District.
In the small Challenger
fleet, Bill Harmon of the DYC took first, with Mark Pytell, sailing out of
the Crescent Sail Club, finished second.
