Welcome to the August edition of Project LifeSail Campaign newsletter.

Sailing Away on a Sea of Stress

Over the courses of our lives, we've really come to appreciate the therapeutic nature of a good sail, or even a bad one for that matter, since sailing has never seemed like work to us. It's tough to feel too much stress when your biggest worry is whether you should trim the sail for more speed or let it out long enough to enjoy a cool beverage. We always seem to opt for the latter.

Last month we took on the work of delivering a boat from Washington to Portland, an arduous task done at the behest of a veteran Pacific Cup winner, Bill Huseby. It involved an amazing "nighttime sail" and a lot of time spent soaking up the knowledge of someone as accomplished as Bill. If that's work, sign us up on a permanent basis.

In contrast, our day jobs, even the best of them, tend to leave us a little bit stressed at times. Some of the stress can be shrugged off at the end of the day just by leaving the office or shutting up shop. Some of it tends to linger a bit, and we need more to decompress - a good workout, a nice meal, a long walk with the dog, or about 1/2 second with our kids. It's amazing how your child can immediately reduce the stress level to zero with nothing more than a simple smile.

Imagine then the stress associated with wondering whether your child will even make it through pregnancy or survive birth. It's a level of stress that's just more than a physical knotting of the stomach or a splitting headache. It's consuming, debilitating, and, more than anything, very frightening. Our family of the month went through the draining ordeal of two premature pregnancies, including a number of times when they had to make a decision on continuing or terminating the pregnancy. That's a level of stress that's beyond description and that can linger for a lifetime. That's why we're sending this newsletter out. These are the situations that the March of Dimes can help us avoid.

News for the Month of August

• Family of the Month: Imagine your first child was born premature. Think you would be pretty well prepared for the same possibility in subsequent pregnancies? But one thing you quickly realize is there is no amount of preparation that can steel you for the premature birth of your baby. Cooper Wright was the second of two children and the second to be born premature...and it proved to be even more stressful for his mother and father, Tiffany and Tank, than the first time around.
• Getting Ready: No stress during our three days delivering a boat down the Washington coast and picking the brain of a two-time Pacific Cup winner.
• New Video Clip: Ever wonder what it's like to be sailing in the ocean at night? Check out the latest video of the boat delivery down the coast of Washington. (scroll down to view)
• Blogs: No stress during a boat delivery-high stress for a momma bird whose youngsters were taken for a sail. No stress getting prepped for an off-shore race-high stress during a kidney stone delivery. It was an interesting month for the crew. Read about it in both Peter's and Jeff's blogs.
• Reminder: 100% of all individual donations go directly to the March of Dimes.

How can you help?

• Communicate: Forward this newsletter to others to spread the word about the great work March of Dimes does fighting premature births as well as to let them know about the campaign (use forward-to-a-friend button)
• Donate: 100% of all individual donations go directly to the March of Dimes to fight premature birth. And every contribution, no matter the size, helps us reach our goal of ending the dangers associated with premature birth.
• Sponsor: Contact the campaign @ peterguilfoyle@projectlifesail.org to let us know if your company is interested in becoming a key supporter of the campaign.

Thanks to our current sponsors for helping make Project LifeSail a reality: