Fun, charity for all

Lindsay Sandham

Today is the first of three events in the Bahia Corinthian Yacht

Club’s annual Leukemia Cup Regatta, an event now in its fifth year.

Boats larger than 30 feet will sail a buoy-course race at 5 p.m.

in an effort to raise money for the Leukemia and Lymphoma Society.

The other regatta events include a Duffy boat poker run on May 6 and

a Junior Cup Regatta on May 15.

Nancy Levy, event co-chair and junior advisor at the yacht club,

said they hope to raise $90,000 this year. Last year’s event raised

about $60,000, she said.

Pat Dwight, yacht club member and regatta co-chair, said the poker

run was started a couple of years ago so they could involve members

and people who don’t own large yachts.

“We’re trying to get everybody involved,” Levy said. “Not all of

our members are sailors.”

For the poker run, participants pile into Duffy boats and go

around to seven docks, all owned by club members who are fortunate

enough to live on the water. The skippers collect a playing card from

each dock. The envelope of seven cards is turned in, and judges

determine which boats have the best poker hands, Dwight said.

Although the big boat regatta and poker run are a lot of fun,

Dwight and Levy both said the Junior Cup draws the biggest crowd.

“It’s so much fun to watch,” said Levy, who added that Bahia

Corinthian Yacht Club was the first in the area to hold a Junior Cup

Regatta.

“We feel it’s really important for them [the junior members] to

learn to give back to the community,” she said. “They are very lucky

to live in this area.”

The proceeds go directly to the Orange, San Bernardino and

Riverside counties chapter of the Leukemia and Lymphoma Society. The

money then goes toward research and patient services for the various

types of blood cancer.

“Our mission is to cure those diseases and improve the lives of

patients and families,” said Lisa Truong, campaign manager for the

society.

Emily Olvera, 16, of Santa Ana has been the regatta’s honored hero

for the last three years. She was diagnosed with a rare form of

leukemia just before her eighth birthday.

After undergoing more than three years of intense chemotherapy

treatment, Olvera went through another 2 1/2 years of maintenance

treatments until doctors found traces of a leukemia protein.

“They put me on a newly-developed form of chemo called Gleevec,”

she said.

Gleevec is a target drug, which means it finds the cancer and goes

straight to it, she said.

“Because of the money they raised, I was able to get on this new

form of chemo,” Olvera said. “My immune system’s back up. I can fight

off little colds and coughs that I get -- this allows me to lead a

normal life, and I’m very grateful for that.”

Levy said all of the Leukemia Cup Regatta events are open to the

public.

For more information on any of the events, call (949) 644-9530. To

make a donation, visit https://www .active.com/donate/leukemia

cupors/bcyc.