The 23rd instalment of the biennial Bermuda One-Two Yacht Race begins today.

This year’s race will see an expected 26 boats depart from Newport, Rhode Island, under the auspices of the Newport Yacht Club and set sail to St George’s Dinghy and Sports Club with an expected arrival between Monday and Tuesday next week.

As its name portends, the first leg consists of a lone skipper navigating his way to the island and, after a brief layover, being joined by a co-skipper for the double-handed return leg to Newport. This year, an additional boat in Bermuda will be joining the fleet for the second leg.

As well as providing a serious test of preparation, seamanship, navigation and meteorology, the objective of the race — first initiated in 1977 — also encourages safety, communication, and ongoing gear and technique development and testing. It is an event designed to accommodate and challenge both single-handed cruisers and racers.

One of the participants for this year’s race will be Philip Haydon, an internationally recognised neuroscientist, who is the Annetta and Gustav Grisard Professor and chairman of the Department of Neuroscience at Tufts University School of Medicine, and has medically controlled post-traumatic epilepsy.

He runs an active laboratory researching a multitude of neurological disorders, including epilepsy. As president of Sail For Epilepsy, Haydon is on a mission to inspire people with epilepsy, their families and their caregivers to take one more step towards living a fuller life, with the necessary safety measures in place.