09/21/2009

The Leukemia Cup fundraising regatta is our big annual outing where we head upriver to the Savannah Yacht Club for a day of racing, followed by an afternoon of telling stories about each other, followed by an evening banquet where many of us are joined by our spouses and we tell stories about each other. This year we had four boats make the trip with a combination of veterans of previous trips and newbies€¦we like having the newbies along since then we can tell our old stories and jokes and feel as though they€™re fresh.

Contrary to the forecast, the weather was perfect. A steady breeze with occasional gusts and lulls to keep you alert, and comfortably warm temps, and no rain. We attended the pre-race briefing where they misinformed us about some of the details the conduct of the race. That led to some confusion and hasty communication on the water but we got our collective act in harmony with them in time for the first race. There was a fifth Rhodes 19 in our class, the Hornet, sailed by some J24 sailors from SYC. It was good to have them show us the way€¦and they were interested in learning about our schedule and meeting us in the future for our races.

Sinbad€™s crew of Todd Williams, Sue Gotch and Bailey Cronin took the honors for The Landings boats (we€™ll leave The Hornet out of this part of the discussion). The races were tightly contested with lots of close crossings and crowded mark roundings. Our fleet raced concurrently with two Melges scows and one of them got knocked down in the path of the other resulting in a solid collision (no injuries). In the final race we had three boats rounding the lee mark and there was contact in that crowd resulting in minor boat damage and major discussions about who was guilty. Bearboat, steered smoothly by Grace Palmer, neatly avoided the accident scene and scooted past.

The results below are the €œuncorrected€ order of finish. The Leukemia Cup is a fundraiser and each boat is awarded points for its order of finish, and additional points for the contributions raised by its crew. For the fifth consecutive year, the crew of Grace Palmer, Joe Witten and me took the first place trophy thanks to Grace€™s pursuit of contributions for this worthy cause. She was also the top Junior fundraiser, and the second biggest fundraiser overall. Grace got involved with this event when she was not quite thirteen years old and she turns seventeen next month and is still an active supporter. And this is just one of this young woman€™s many contributions€¦keep it up, Grace!

By the way, Bearboat was almost caught in our shameless purchase of the winner€™s trophy by Dorothy€™s Slipper and Mike Rouzee€™s very generous, but ultimately second best effort to buy the lead. Your contribution is greatly appreciated, Mike€¦and there€™s always next year. Thanks also to all those who contributed in support of The Leukemia and Lymphoma Society. I€™ll provide a more complete breakdown of the overall Savannah Yacht Club results when I receive them.