Ephemerisle

Ephemerisle 2019, Photo Credit: Sameer Halai

We are thinkers, doers, artists, dreamers, muckrakers, and builders interested in life on the water. Every July we construct a floating city on the Sacramento-San Joaquin Delta and live on it for a week.

There are no tickets, no central organizers, no rules, and no rangers to keep you safe.

The event only happens if people (like you!) contribute.

Attending Ephemerisle 2024

Ephemerisle 2021, Photo Credit: Drew Smith

Ephemerisle 2020, Photo Credit: Slavic Perry

Ephemerisle 2023 will take place July 22 - July 28 at Mandeville Tip!

Location Pin: https://goo.gl/maps/3Zhu5xPfWXjXGqap9

The community welcomes new participants. With no gates or tickets, the first challenges are getting there and having a place to stay.

The most critical details can be found here:

• Where will you sleep?
• How to get there?
• What to bring?

Join the Facebook group, for active discussion for all things Ephemerisle.

Boating 101

Gatherings on the water present some unique challenges. Critical info and skills:

• Nautical safety
• Traveling Between Islands
• Knots
• Anchoring

The one agreed upon rule at Ephemerisle is "No Dying". Still unbroken!

History

Ephemerisle was founded in 2009 by the Seasteading Institute in order to promote their vision of autonomous societies in the ocean. After the first year, the Seasteading Institute stepped aside due to prohibitively expensive insurance costs. A group of seasteaders and friends who had rented houseboats for the event decided to show up anyways for an informal "Not-ephemerisle" gathering.

From 2010 through 2012, there was an informal coordinator who drew up the city plan and had some nominal decision-making power. In 2012, the Seasteading institute gave up any claims to the name "Ephemerisle" and the informal gathering took over the name.

At the 2013 event, the community came together and unanimously made a decision to break up the gathering from a single leadership team into a set of independent autonomous islands.

That has been the nature of the event since. Groups of boats raft up together to form an island, and each island has a few rules, such as safety and quiet hours. People frequently visit other islands, and agree to comply with each island's rules while on it. Since 2014, islands have risen and fallen, with change, fun, and ambitious decision-making the only constants.

The location of the 2022 event moved six nautical miles south to Mildred Island.

In 2023, Ephemerisle returned to the Mandeville Tip.

The full History of Ephemerisle.

Culture

After lively discussion in 2012 about the values that connect Ephemerislers as a community, the following received broad support:

• Seasteading. Ephemerisle was started by The Seasteading Institute (TSI), a non-profit devoted the creation of long-term human communities on the water (aka seasteading). Although the event is now entirely community run, many of the attendees continue to be enthusiasts of living on the water.
• Art. A society without art has no soul. Just as Burning Man has inspired art in the desert, we build art on the water.
• Learning. One of the goals of TSI in starting Ephemerisle was to give people who may not have much boating experience the opportunity to gain nautical skills: anchoring, sailing, and ropework, in a relatively safe environment. In addition, many of the attendees are scientists, engineers, artists, entrepreneurs and activists, who frequently have fascinating stories to tell. There are many opportunities to learn from each other at Ephemerisle.
• Community. Spend a week rafted up on the Delta with awesome people, and you can't help but connect with old friends, and make new friends.

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if you'd like to update this wiki, ask Adam Katz for access.

Check out these Links for other interesting water related things.