On June 19, 2023, at 0800, Fearless crossed the finish line of the double-handed leg of the Bermuda 1-2. This completes a grueling roundtrip sail between Newport, RI and Bermuda, totaling nearly 1,400 nautical miles sailed in two separate voyages. Phil sailed the first leg solo and was joined by co-skipper Jim Rudser for the return trip. By sailing back in 3 days 21 hours, Phil bests his previous time on board Cepheus (4 days 23 hours) by over 1 full day. The total corrected time of 201 hours and 48 minutes gives Fearless a 4th place finish in the class and 13th overall in the fleet.
During both the solo and double-handed legs of the race, Phil connected with the epilepsy community in a variety of ways. He wrote regular blogs describing this experience, as well as supplied photos and videos from offshore. These were posted to the Sail For Epilepsy website and across all social media channels, with an estimated combined reach of over 113,000.
While sailing offshore Phil made a video highlight of one of his followers, Shelley, to commend her educating herself about her epilepsy and working to raise awareness. Additionally, Phil connected live via video with Virtual Shipmate Lynn, to show her what life at sea was like and learning more about her journey with epilepsy. During the entire race Phil enjoyed being sent the many messages of support from the epilepsy community and as always was inspired by their determination to do more with their lives, despite epilepsy.
Recognizing 26
To highlight the prevalence of epilepsy (1 in 26 people will develop epilepsy in their lifetime) we have set a 2023 goal of sailing at least 2600 nautical miles consisting of at least 26 independent legs. Each time we sail, we will be sailing for our Virtual Shipmates. Completing the Bermuda 1-2 sees us with over 2,000 miles sailed so far in 2023, on 12 separate voyages. There are several more offshore sails and races planned for the remainder of the year and we invite you to follow along.