More than 300 sailors and water-lovers from around the country made an appearance at the 8th Annual Winter Anarchy party in Chicago, IL. We blew our fundraising goal out of the water with $4,000 being donated to The Skin Cancer Foundation.
Other than the cheap admission for an open pour, the raffle evoked a lot of excitement with “experience” prizes featuring a spot in the Sea of Alboran Race with Atlantic Charters Racing. Other hot ticket items arrived that day like a few certificates for an America’s Cup experience in Chicago from Next Level Racing and a Zhik Aroshell Jacket, and of course all the awesome Sailing Anarchy gear!
I was so stunned and hungover this morning going through the numbers that I convinced myself that something was wrong, that we hadn’t met our goal. It was only after a nap and some Advil that I allowed myself to accept that we had done it – we had kicked some serious cancer ass. So cheers to everyone who came out, to all of our sponsors and my fellow planning committee members, I cannot thank everyone enough!
Share the SPF
Several attendees were doling out high-fives to congratulate skin cancer survivors. It was then that I realized that this event that actually had a deeper meaning and was connecting people to a threat all too real in our world on the water.
In 2011, my sister was diagnosed with malignant melanoma and had surgery to remove the lymphnodes and a tennis ball-sized piece of her left cheek. A week later, she was working at the Chicago Match Race Center with me and feeling extremely self-conscious with a bandage covering the side of her face when a high-profile sailor came up to her and said, “I know what that is. Do what you have to do, and move on.” Since then, she has gotten married, ran a marathon, backpacked through Patagonia and been a participant in Project Skin Watch – a melanoma research study.
While I can’t force everyone to go get an annual skin check, it is my hope that we all share a dab of SPF out there on the race course. “If I could offer you one tip for the future, sunscreen would be it.”
We are already planning Winter Anarchy 2016, so if you’d like to be involved or become a sponsor, shoot an email [email protected]. – Morgan Kinney.
