Saturday’s Leukemia Cup Regatta & Poker Run in Seattle saw 77 boats out on Elliott Bay with good wind under overcast skies, raising a total of $170,000 for The Leukemia & Lymphoma Society.

“It was the best sailing in the last three years,” said committee member David Rogers, who captained Zoe in the race. “We were going seven-and-a-half, eight knots.” Previous regattas had suffered with light winds and drizzle, but Saturday saw a steady 15-knot southeasterly powering the boats around the course.

The winner of the sailing race was Irv Alpert on Skededel, who beat 62 other boats to the finish line. But Heidi Hackler, who raced on Due West, won something more important: the satisfaction of raising the most—just over $27,000—among participants in the Seattle regatta.

As Brian Watkins, race committee member, past chair and captain of Declaration of Independence, explained at the skippers’ meeting, “The race is pretty much relaxed—we all know why we’re here.”

Speed may not be at the heart of this sailing race, but the poker run is another matter.

“The poker run boats can go at like 85 knots,” Watkins said. “They get back with these huge grins on their faces, telling all these stories of how high they got out of the water.”

Fourteen powerboats throttled up and made it around the five-stop course to collect their poker cards. The winning hand belonged to Rob Haines on Fast Forward: a full house, nines full of aces.

This year the committee wanted to invite more cancer patients and survivors to come and sail in the regatta. Sara Puckey, 27, and Sara Hanson, 34, both had Hodgkin lymphoma when they were in their teens, were treated with chemotherapy and survived. They were happy to be able to offer support to the crew of Whistler, whose friend had just been diagnosed with the same type of cancer.

From left to right: Sara Puckey and Sara Hanson, Hodgkin lymphoma survivors, with Kelly Romeo, a leukemia survivor.

After the regatta and poker run concluded, boaters headed to a party at the Bell Harbor International Conference Center, with dinner, awards and both silent and live auctions. The event was hosted by Jeff Renner, chief meteorologist at KING 5 news and local honorary chairman of the Leukemia Cup.

Event director Allison Miyauchi was upbeat about the fundraising success stories this year. Although the Seattle race did not beat last year’s $192,000 figure, it came pretty close. More than $40,000 was raised on Saturday alone and money is still trickling in.

“It’s the largest charity event in boating,” Miyauchi explained, with 37 regattas nationwide and Seattle in the top 10 for fundraising.

Since it began in 1993, the Leukemia Cup Regatta has raised more than $27 million for cancer research, patient services, education and advocacy. The national chairman is America’s Cup racer and world-class sailor Gary Jobson.

Emily Mansfield is a freelance writer and the former editor of Pacific Yachting PNW magazine.