With its location on Lake Superior, Thunder Bay has featured an active sailing community for many years. Throughout that history, local crews have represented the city with distinction, competing in sailing competitions at the national and international level.
In 1991, Skipper Jim Cameron, Charlie Spence and Janice Allard-Cameron took to the water to compete together in the Open Lightning Class, a sport comprised of a three-person crew sailing a nineteen-foot sloop rigged dinghy. Fresh on the heels of a 17th place finish at the World Championships, Skipper Cameron travelled with his crew to Toronto in June of 1991 to compete in the Canadian Open Lightning Class Championships hosted that year by the Royal Canadian Yacht Club.
On Day 1 of the competition, the Cameron Crew, facing high winds and over two dozen other competitors, raced to 2 firsts and one 3rd place finish on a course comprised of two triangles and a windward leg. On the second day of competition, their seventh, third, and fourth place finishes saw their sailing skills earn them the Canadian championship title.
Going on to compete at the 1991 North American Lightning Class championships in Newport, Rhode Island in August of that year, they once again faced a challenging course. With a hurricane having swept through the area just prior to the competition, they had to sail through debris to finish the course, doing so in 6th place overall, the best showing by a Canadian team at the event.
Inducted into the Northwestern Ontario Sports Hall of Fame, September 28, 2013