In the grand reception room of a storied and opulent New York City nautical club, the Florence, Italy-based watchmaker Officine Panerai kicked off its North American Circuit of the Panerai Classic Yachts Challenge season with an event to honor the non-profit Sailing Heals and Memorial Sloan-Kettering Cancer Center. The summer-long racing series, which began on May 23, is the largest international circuit of regate for classic yachts.

Sailing Heals, a philanthropic organization, backed by Panerai, creates special sailing experiences for patients by taking them on sails with professional yachtsmen and women. “At the very crux of it, we offer a day of sailing for cancer patients and their caretakers,” said Mylissa Tsai, a Sailing Heals board member and cancer survivor who is regrettably once again a cancer patient.

Over a stately spread of fine wines, cocktails and antipasti, she discussed her experience with the charity. “How often do I get to go out on a boat and get on the water and wash away all my responsibilities and sort of put life into perspective?” Ms. Tsai  asked rhetorically. “It’s a special experience.”

The launch was a casual but moneyed affair. Attendees milled about the yacht club, exploring the model ships that adorned the gilded walls, schmoozing as Duran Duran’s original "Rio" music video ran on loop overhead.  (Apparently it was  filmed on Panerai’s restored 1936 ketch, Eilean.)

“In Boston, we’ve committed to at least ten sails with Mass General [Hospital’s] Cancer Center—that’s significant! Newport, Marblehead, Nantucket…” gushed  Ms. Tsai about Sailing Heals’s 2012 calendar. “Ambitious,” The Observer noted, especially considering that Panerai fleets will compete from May through September in the Atlantic North East, British Isles and Mediterranean (see the slideshow for the full details).

“How do patients and their entourage get to these posh locations?” The Observer wanted to know.

“We personally reach out to people who have registered through our VIP guest registry form at sailingheals.org,” Ms. Tsai explained.

The Observer was fortunate enough to see what  a “VIP cancer sail” entailed. On a sunny and sweltering day this Memorial Day week, Panerai’s Michele Gallagher invited us aboard a 1938 vintage yawl called The Black Watch. It won the Panerai Classic Yachts Challenge North American Circuit in 2011.

“That’s my mortgage!” yelled one guest, marveling at the immense yacht before hopping aboard. As the vessel drifted out into New York Harbor, participants were offered Dramamine pills or wristbands to avoid seasickness. The Observer, a hearty seafarer, passed. Before we knew it, a dashing young man was passing out glasses of wine, seltzer and beer. Next, gourmet amuse-bouches including prosciutto di parma, seared yellow fin tuna, shrimp and Aberdeen Angus beef with black truffle oil were passed around. More wine was poured. Indeed, Panerai’s Sailing Heals voyages are VIP.

The Black Watch sailed past Liberty Island, Ellis Island and southwest of Governor’s Island. “The city’s skyline is so different from this perspective,” commented one voyager. For several on board, the evening marked their first sail ever.

“This is such a unique time to just meet fresh faces that have all been touched by cancer, but the focus is sailing and the beautiful views—not cancer itself,” said one woman in between sips of her beer. A widower, whose wife had recently passed away after a bout with cancer, brought his daughter, who had served as her father’s caregiver—he, too, had battled cancer. Others came solo, knowing no one else onboard, but understanding that cancer is a common denominator that does not discriminate, no matter who you are. A young social worker at Memorial Sloan-Kettering Cancer Center spoke openly about her experiences at the hospital, supporting patients and their loved ones. Angelo Merendino, who lost his wife to cancer in 2011, talked about how he launched a photography website in her memory  to detail her fight against breast cancer. It is an emotional study of their experience and the reaction of others.

As the scorching sun began to set and The Black Watch headed back to the North Cove Marina, we felt a blanket of panic about our return to reality. We weren’t alone.

“Can we go on another one?” asked one eager caregiver, a man well into his retirement years. He was told that Sailing Heals opportunities are popular and rarely happen more than once a year for individuals—but you never know. (The last time The Observer was aboard chartered sails this nice, there was a $10,000 tab!)

The Observer left in awe—not only of the marvelous views and sumptuous grub—but of how truly therapeutic a few hours  at sea can provide the right dose of escapism for someone in a constant fight for their life.

"I was really upset when I saw it," Ms. Streep said of Bully. "When I watched it, it brought me back to New Jersey in ninteen fifty. . .—a long time ago. I was eight years old and up a tree and a group of kids was below me and my nemisis, this one bully, was hitting my legs with a stick until they bled," she said. "It was very lord of the flies—a very nice Republican community."

We're not touching that last one.

Although Martha Stewart can't recall being bullied—she was "pretty big and strong and certainly didn't bully anybody—" she attended the screening because bullying is a phenomena that needs to be publicized and addressed.

Billie Jean King, like Meryl—but unlike Martha—also remembers being bullied.

"I'd be going home and he'd stop me and start just making me feel really scared, and obviously, being gay was really difficult."

Ms. King told Velvet Roper that she'd hid her sexuality for a long time until finally being outed in her thirties—the decision to publicly identify as a lesbian—or not—had been taken away from her.

"People called me a slut and called me a horrible person and then I could tell who my real friends were though," Ms. King said. "You start to learn about yourself and about the world, the way it really works."

"I think it's ridiculous," Julie Taymor said, when asked what she thought about Bully''s R rating. But this isn't the first time the MPAA has caught Ms. Taymor's ire. "On Across the Universe we had to fuzz out one nipple of the character Lucy, how is that going to endanger anybody?" she mused. "And also in Titus, I had to fight for an R rating because there was a little bit of nudity. I think that the MPAA is completely on the wrong end of things. It's okay to have violence but you can't have love . . ? I find it appalling what is allowed and what isn't allowed."

As far as Mr. Ravi is concerned, Ms. Taymor, is uncertain how he should be treated.

"I don't know about the sentence for him," she said. "I don't know whether it was a hate crime or whether it was really just being mean and nasty . . . It is terrible, but is he a murderer? I don't think that was his intention and there's plenty of hate crimes where that is the intention. Bullying yes, it probably was bullying."

Ms. King agrees. without a precedent, it's unclear how this case should be treated.

"I think it's probably a little bit of an overreaction but I think it brought the subject matter to the forefront, which is good," she said. "He didn't kill him. I'm not sure what the sentence should be exactly . . . He's young too and you hope he can change. I hate it when I see a young child make a huge mistake and not have a chance to change."

Mr. Hirsch, described Mr. Clementi's death as "a total tragedy," adding that he's spent the last three years reading about suicides all over this country that don't make national headlines.

"Each one is so upsetting and many of them don't receive [that] kind of attention, but for me, because it's the work that I do, I'm engaged with so many of these families and it just always breaks my heart." Mr. Hirsch said. "His death, of course was a heartbreak. Any death like that is so sad."

Mr. Hirsch said that despite the tough topics he tackles in his work, the reward outweighs the hardship.

"I get a lot of energy from the people that write us and tell us that we're making a difference for them," he said. "I'm probably on a huge deep well of adrenaline and just feeling like this is the moment and I've just got to push as hard as I can and keep trying to make that difference. I'm tired but I'm also energized all the time."

Ms. Taymor said she believes strongly in hate crime legislation and believes it should be extended to cover transgendered and gay persons as well as women.

"I think what goes on everywhere all over the world with the bullying that women go through with honor killings and rape," she said. ". . . With what's gone on in the Middle East and Africa, as well as the United States with how women are constantly bullied. But I think we take it for granted. We just say, 'Oh, that's private, it's in the home,' but I don't think that, so I hope it just explodes into talking about women. They're bullied and they're abused and they're frightened and that's a hate crime because men do it because they can and because women are considered less, less than human."

Before the film began, Regency Boies told a story about her time in high school with Ms. Streep's duaghter, Mamie.

"I saw her, on more than a few occasions, come to the rescue of some of our classmates that were being ridiculed, when none of the rest of us were brave enough to defend them," Ms. Boies said. "I know that it is the integrity and the kindness that you instilled in Mamie that is bringing you here today and thank God we have your voice."

When Ms. Streep heard this she was almost moved to tears, covering her mouth with her hands.

"I didn't know that story about Mamie, she said as she introduced the film. "Now I have to recover because that's just so great to hear. You never know what they're doing at school."

The crowd laughed and Ms. Streep added one more sentiment.

"A team is stronger than a bully . . . Tell absolutely everyone that it (Bully) should have the MPAA rating of PG-13 . . . or PG."