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silver lining showed itself in the clouds that scuttled across River Dunes and the Neuse River on Sunday morning. The gray skies brought rain, but also wind, something that had been in short supply for the weekend of the Leukemia Cup Regatta. Sail racers embraced it for a few hours.

Gerry Crowley’s Rhodes Reliant 41, “RiRa” took second place in the Cruising A Division of the Leukemia Cup Regatta on Sunday. Moments after crossing the finish line, Cheryl Crowley, in white shirt, celebrated. At the helm during the race was John Bloom, who two winters ago underwent a stem cell transplant to treat multiple myeloma, one of the blood cancers that was the focus of the fundraising weekend.

The sailboat race set for Saturday afternoon had been delayed two hours as organizers waited for better wind and was then abandoned shortly after it started because even more still air settled in. So, for sailors wanting to get in a sailboat race, the bit of rain Sunday morning was brushed off, the cloudy skies ignored and boats were pushed toward marks and finish lines.

At left, Henry Frazer’s Oriental Express, an Etchells 30, approaches the mark that David Furna’s Viper, “White Snake” had just turned. Oriental Express finished first in both elapsed and corrected times in the Leukemia Cup’s Spinnaker A division.

The Leukemia Cup drew dozens of boats to River Dunes, filling the marina at Grace Harbor for the weekend. The NC Leukemia and Lymphoma Society’s Executive Director, Tiffany Armstrong says the response “far exceeded expectations.* For a first year event she says, they’d been hoping for 40 boats to register. Instead, 53 did and the weekend grossed $90,000 in funds raised. It’s money that goes toward the Society’s work in finding a cure for blood cancers and for helping improve quality of life for the patients and their families.

In the slips at River Dunes Saturday morning, some of the boats that would venture out to race in the Leukemia Cup Regatta .

In addition to the racing and raising of money, the Leukemia Cup weekend also aimed to raise awareness about leukemia and related cancers, such as myeloma and Hodgkins disease. Before a dinner on Friday night, Pamlico County resident Eugene Seward spoke about his decade-long fight with multiple myeloma. He had a stem cell replacement operation 10 years ago, he said, and since a recurrence in the past year, is again receiving treatment at Duke. On Friday , he had raced back to Pamlico County Friday to be able to speak at the event.

Eugene Seward who lives just down Broad Creek from River Dunes. He underwent a stem cell replacement operation for multiple myeloma ten years ago and is receiving treatment again. He said one of the things he misses is being able to mow his lawn, something he can’t do with a compromised immune system.

Multiple myeloma was also something well known to at least one of the sailors taking part in the regatta. A few years ago, John Bloom underwent a stem cell replacement at UNC in Chapel Hill. On Sunday, he was at the wheel of Jerry Crowley’s sailboat, “Rira” which came in second in its class.

Results of an off the water race, in which the objective was to raise the most money for leukemia research. Bill Scott, at left raised the most, followed by David White, at right and Ken Small, middle.

Burlington resident — and frequent Oriental visitor — Bill Scott took the top prize for pledges of money in fundraising for the Leukemia and Lymphoma Society. David White came in second in that competition, and Ken Small third.

Sherry Homme (and crew and husband, George) on her Ranger 22, “Tenacity” which came in second in the Cruising B division.

Out on the water, the top boats in the six divisions were Henry Frazer’s “Oriental Express” in Spinnaker A, Margaret Alexander’s “Orion” in Spinnaker B, Dyk Luben’s “Bodacious” in Jib & Main, John Jackson on “Aquila” in Cruising A, Roy & Sheila Harvey’s “Aeolus” for Cruising B and Bill Scott on “Marvana Dawn” in the (as he noted) uncontested Multihull division. To download the complete results of the sailing on Sunday, click here.

Jean and David White. They took second place for amount of money raised. In addition to being behind the big glasses, Jean was also a key organizer of the Leukemia Cup event. (That’s Tillman, looking to port.)

The Leukemia Cup that took place this weekend may well be called the first annual. On Tuesday, Tiffany Armstrong of the Leukemia Society told TownDock.net that plans are underway to “do this again” this same time next year at River Dunes. A date, she says, will be set “pretty soon.”

More photos of boats racing, as well as the results of Sunday’s Leukemia Cup racing on the following pages.

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Posted Tuesday June 7, 2011 by Melinda Penkava

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