Sailing Event In Northport A 'Healing Experience' For Veterans

The third annual “Let’s Take a Veteran Sailing” event held in Northport Harbor on Sunday was an "overwhelming" success, according to the nonprofit SailAhead.

The event, hosted by the Centerport Yacht Club, looked to help heal veterans with PTSD and other related disorders as well as spread awareness of SailAhead's program so more veterans can be helped.

"Let's Take a Veteran Sailing" featured special guests Our Mates and their families. Our Mates are the name tags of 219 veterans who have taken their lives due to PTSD or an inability to adapt to life after the military.

To honor the memory of those veterans, some of their family members were flown in from across the country, free of charge, to attend the event.

A fleet of 49 sail boats, five power boats, one helicopter and 11 yacht clubs came together to allow dozens of veterans to sail the Long Island Sound. SailAhead called the sailing a "healing experience" for the veterans.

SailAhead is a nonprofit that is dedicated to helping wounded veterans by using sailing as a form of therapy. SailAhead has taken over 1,000 veterans sailing in 2016.

For more information, go to www.sailahead.org.

Images from SailAhead event via SailAhead