East Coast Expedition Distance Sailed: 9 nautical miles
Yesterday, we held our first port stop event in Newport, RI, hosted by Epilepsy Foundation New England. Over 40 people with epilepsy and their families braved the rainy forecast to join us under tents on the Sail to Prevail pier. Everyone learned to tie some knots, learned how to find the north star, and helped make a flag that we’ll fly from the boat on future voyages. It was rewarding to see the Sail For Epilepsy concept become a reality, where we met with members of the epilepsy community, heard some of their stories, and inspired them to live fuller lives.
Some of the participants decided to become Virtual Shipmates, by signing up for our One More Step Challenge. Waylon is going to teach his classmates and friends about epilepsy. Alison is going to write in her journal every day. Micaela is going encourage her son to challenge himself – even when she’d rather protect him. Henry is going to find ways to safely play on the playground with his epilepsy. We applaud everyone who is going to find a way to live a fuller life – please let us know how your challenge is going!
In the evening, we were hosted at a private home and continued to spend time speaking with members of the local epilepsy and sailing communities. One of our goals is to connect to people outside of the epilepsy community to raise awareness and educate about epilepsy and we enjoyed the chance to share a brief slideshow about our mission and some of the stories of our Virtual Shipmates.
The brief transit from Portsmouth, RI, where we keep the boat, to Newport, RI for this event was just a warm-up for the longer voyages the rest of this month and next. The plan had been to depart Newport today and sail east of Cape Cod and around to Provincetown, where Cepheus would have been on a mooring for a few days before the transit up to Portland, ME. However, the potential of hurricane Henri making landfall in Rhode Island this weekend has caused us to change plans and delay the voyage to Portland until early next week.
The Portland port stop event will be on August 28th and we’re looking forward to meeting those who will be joining us in Bug Light Park for another afternoon of family friendly nautical activities. Sign up here for that event if you’re going to be in the area!
Actually taking One More Step! 
Phil with Virtual Shipmate Anthony 
Thanks for joining us! 
Learning to tie knots 
Members of Sail For Epilepsy and representative from Admiralty level sponsor Neurelis 
Phil talks to event participants 
Evening reception