(September 17, 2006) — Lambert Lai never heard Syracuse University basketball coach Jim Boeheim's much-maligned claim that he'd rather live and work in Syracuse than Hawaii. But the Hawaiian native who has called Rochester home for a quarter of a century wouldn't argue with Boeheim.

Sailing brought Lai here and Lake Ontario and a Fairport woman convinced him this was a good place to drop anchor.

"I grew up three blocks from the beach," Lai, chairman for the J/24 North American Championship Regatta at the Rochester Yacht Club, said about his years in Honolulu. "I surfed and dived and sailed. My uncles brought me up on the water."