There are changes: a new date, new race courses, and new events, but the same fun and hospitality in the most beautiful setting for winter sailing in the desert - Lake Pleasant, Ariz.

The Arizona Yacht Club's "First in the Nation" Leukemia Cup and Birthday Regatta will be held on President's Day Weekend, Friday to Sunday, Feb. 17-19. The new date will eliminate conflicts with multiple other events that take place on the Martin Luther King weekend in January, while increasing the likelihood of warmer weather and better breezes.

The new courses will include gates and downwind finishes. The new events will include standup paddle boarding ("SUP") demos and instruction, SUP yoga, and SUP touring and racing. Also new for 2017 is the "Club Challenge" Cruiser race between the AYC, LPSC and TSC.

And what about the fun and hospitality? Don't take my word for it. Sailing World describes the regatta as taking place at a "sacred Sonoran Desert outpost" with the "allure of Lake Pleasant and the surrounding Sonoran Desert."

We are proud that for the past 16 years, AYC has hosted the first calendar-year Leukemia Cup Regatta in the United States. The regatta also is an opportunity to celebrate the club's founding in 1958. That means you're signing up for a three-day birthday party.

Can't make all three days? No worries. Check out the activities each day. You just want to watch? Go for a VIP cruise aboard The Phoenix on Saturday, Feb. 18, from 3 p.m. to 4:30 p.m. The cost? A donation to the Leukemia & Lymphoma Society.

They say it's our birthday. We're gonna have a good time. So have fun and make a difference at the same time.