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classic sailboat race returns to the Neuse River this Labor Day Weekend, and a companion race returns once again to Oriental.

After more than half a decade’s absence, the Michelob Cup race between Oriental and New Bern is back this year. It will be happening on Sunday September 5.

Leading up to it, the day before, Saturday September 4, will be the 27th running of the John Walsh Memorial Oar Racefrom New Bern to Oriental. It will be a feeder race for Sunday’s Michelob Cup.

The Michelob Cup is of course named for the beer and brewing company which has sponsored such races across the country. The Oar Race is a more homegrown affair — with at the same time some very international connections. Bill Jarvis, who is organizing the weekend’s events, says that the Oar Race stemmed from a New Bern man’s link to a celebrated part of naval history — the evacuation of Allied troops from Dunkirk during WWII.

Olwen and Bill Jarvis with the Fairfield Harbour Yacht Club holding the oar and trophy associated with John Walsh. Olwen is the Club’s first female Commodore. To date, the plaque features the engraved names of 26 previous winners.

From May 27 to June 4, 1940, as German troops advanced, over 330,0000 Allied troops were evacuated off the beaches of Dunkirk, France by a fleet of more than 800 small vessels – a mix of small private boats and larger commercial craft that had sailed across the English Channel from Britain to rescue the troops. Many of the “Dunkirk little ships” never made it home, sinking in the English Channel.

Bill Jarvis says that the oar from the “Clara”, one of the boats at Dunkirk, eventually made its way into the hands of an innkeeper in Brightlingsea, England. That’s where John Walsh found it years later and eventually brought it to Fairfield Harbour, where it has hung on the wall of the Community Center.

In the mid-80’s the oar became the centerpiece of the sailboat race down the Neuse which Walsh had organized. After Walsh passed away in 2000, the race was renamed the “John Walsh Memorial Oar Race.” Each year, the race winner’s name is added to the trophy bearing the Dunkirk oar.

While the Oar race trophy has a permanent home at Fairfield Harbour Yacht Club, race winners are given a prize they can keep. The winning skipper receives a plaque bearing a miniature version of the oar from the “Clara”.

A trophy to keep: the smaller replica of the oar used at Dunkirk.

About 7 years ago, the Michelob Cup stopped happening. Not so th Oar Race.. Even though the Oar Race didn’t have another race to “feed”, the Fairfield Harbour Yacht Club staged its race, adjusting it so that racers sailed from New Bern’s marker #17 to Minnesott Beach, and back the following day. This year, with the Michelob Cup restored, the Oar Race will once again end in Oriental.

On Saturday the 4th, the Oar Race sets out at 11am and brings the boats down the Neuse. On Sunday, the feature race, the 26th Michelob Ultra Regatta, will see the competitors racing 30 miles from Oriental back to New Bern. The starter’s gun goes off at 10a on Sunday. At 5:30p, the awards ceremony, complete with Octoberfest Beergarden, gets underway at the New Bern Farmers’ Market.

The Michelob Cup is sponsored by R A Jefferies Distributing Company in conjunction with The Neuse Yacht Racing Association. The Oar Race is sponsored by the Fairfield Harbour Yacht Club.

The regatta officially begins Friday, September 3 with a welcome dinner and late registration held at Fairfield Harbour and Red Sail Park. Monday, September 6, the regatta closes with youth Optimist sailing off Point New Bern. Registration form and event schedule for the 2010 Michelob Cup and Oar Race are available here.

Posted Tuesday August 24, 2010 by Bernie Harberts