Unlike the world’s continents, which are divided up into countries with borders and governments that keep each one separate, the oceans lack physical boundaries. This can be good, because you don’t need a passport to travel from the Pacific to the Atlantic. On the other hand, though, pollution doesn’t get stopped at the border either.

Nearly 71% of the earth’s surface is covered by oceans. That means that things that end up in the water (accidentally or on purpose) can travel a long way unless they’re fished out by someone or something. Things like oil spills show how quickly and how far the ocean can carry pollutants that can sicken or kill fish, birds, and sea mammals. It’s not just those creatures living in the ocean who are affected. People who eat plants or animals that come from the ocean can get sick, too, if they eat something that’s been contaminated.

Tossing trash into the ocean itself isn’t the only problem. Pollution in fresh water and in the air affects the oceans too. Dumping into streams and rivers, even hundreds of miles from the ocean, takes materials downstream with the current, often washing them out to sea. The water cycle means that water from all over evaporates, joins up with particles in the air, and returns to earth elsewhere through rain and other precipitation. Pollution released into the air can end up affecting the oceans that way, too.

Pollution travels and hurts the whole ocean. But because the oceans don’t belong to any one nation, all countries must work together to help clean them up and to keep them pollution-free. There are international laws that work to do that, but everyday people can do their part too, by making sure they don’t pollute where they live.

Skipper Wilson writes about some of the ways he and his competitors are trying to keep the oceans clean.

Skipper Wilson had a noisy night yesterday. Around midnight, the boat started making a new noise—an unexpected one. The sound resembled a high-pitched vibration, maybe similar to a mixer on its highest setting.

Skipper Wilson and his boat repair person in Maine talked on the telephone and they think that the sound may have been caused by a piece of the fairing breaking off. The fairing is a covering placed on the bottom of the boat to help the water move around the hinge that attaches the keel to the hull. In the picture to the right, you can see the hull (the raft-like portion of the boat) of the Great American III. The keel is the big orange part sticking out under the hull. On Open 60s, the keel is particularly long to help the boat stay upright. The two fairings are half-cone-shaped pieces that go around the keel in front and in back where it attaches to the hull. You can also get an idea of the different parts of the hull by looking here.

The fairing isn’t a necessary part of the boat, so it’s not a big deal if parts of it come off. Noises are always important to investigate, though, because they could be a sign of something wrong.

Listen to Skipper Wilson’s latest podcast and read today’s log.

Yesterday, Skipper Wilson crossed the equator. He’s now sailing in the Southern Hemisphere.

Skipper Wilson shares some of the traditions of crossing the equator here. Writer Dava Sobel, author of Longitude, also shares some thoughts about the equator, as well as about latitude and longitude, the two ways we have of measuring location on a map.

You also can listen to Skipper Wilson as he talks about approaching the equator, and watch the crossing on this video:

In a recent post and podcast, Skipper Wilson talked about getting through the Doldrums. What are the Doldrums exactly?

The Doldrums are the area of the Atlantic and Pacific Oceans near the equator. They stretch roughly from 5° north of the equator to 5° south of it and are sometimes known as the Intertropical Convergence Zone. They aren’t in a fixed location, though, because they are affected by a number of things, including the season, the sun, and the open sea.

The area at the equator gets a lot of sun exposure, which heats both the air and the water. In this low-pressure zone, the air is hot and moist and rises up into the atmosphere through evaporation. If the air is rising, it’s not blowing across the surface of the water. This can be bad for a sailor, who needs horizontal air flow (wind) to fill his or her sails. Back in the 16th century, English traders periodically got caught in this windless area, and it’s they who gave the Doldrums such a descriptive name. (If you’re in the doldrums, you lack the energy and spirit to get yourself moving.)

However, the Doldrums also are where the trade winds from the Northern Hemisphere and the Southern Hemisphere meet. When these winds meet, expect sudden and strong wind and rain storms. Combine that with very warm temperatures in the late summer, and hurricanes can form.

The Doldrums are unpredictable because there are these two very different situations playing out at the same time: calm weather and sudden storms. It can be very frustrating to sail through this region, so it’s good to hear that Skipper Wilson thinks he’s finally through them.

What do you see when you look up at the night sky: The moon? Stars? Constellations?

Constellations are groupings of stars that, over many thousands of years, people have drawn imaginary lines between to represent a picture. It was their way of making sense of what they saw in the night sky. People have named 88 different constellations. If you know where to find a certain constellation at a certain time of the year, you can tell what direction you’re facing. That can be particularly handy when you’re sailing on the open ocean.

Which constellations appear in your night sky? The answer depends a lot on where you live.

If you live in the Northern Hemisphere, you only see some stars and certain constellations. Once you cross the Equator, some of those stars become difficult to see. But those of you in the Southern Hemisphere get other stars and constellations to look at instead. In the north, two of the best known star groupings are the Big and Little Dippers. (The star at the tip of the Little Dipper is Polaris — also called the North Star — and can always be found in the northern part of the sky.) In the south, the best known constellation is the Southern Cross.

Listen to Skipper Wilson’s most recent podcast to hear about the stars he can see and what constellations he’ll be looking for when he crosses the Equator.

Skipper Wilson, in his most recent podcast and log, talks about his experiences with others living at sea — in this case, a white bird and a school of flying fish.

Flying fish don’t actually fly, although it’s easy to see why people thought they did. What they do is to jump out of the water and, using their fins and tail, glide through the air — some for quite long distances! They have very large pectoral fins (the fins at the side of the body), that resemble wings. These fins and the lower part of their forked tail help the fish to leave the water and to gain speed once they’re above the surface. Flying fish leave the water to escape from predators, who aren’t able to see them gliding above the surface of the water because of the way light is filtered by the water below.

Flying fish glide very quickly — up to twice their swimming speeds — and some have even been clocked gliding at 45 miles per hour! Now you see why Skipper Wilson was worried about what could happen if one of these fish hit him in the eye!

Don’t forget to listen to the most recent podcast and read Skipper Wilson’s latest log.

Eight days into the Vendée Globe, and Skipper Wilson is working hard. As noted in our last few posts, the weather at the start was rough, forcing four sailors to abandon the journey and four others to turn back for repairs. Skipper Wilson sailed with skill and luck, and the Great American III seems to be holding up well.

Poor Skipper Wilson, however, is a bit worse for wear. He was below deck last week when some rough seas threw him across the boat and into a metal handle. He suffered a cracked rib and a lot of soreness in his back, but with his well-packed medical kit and expert advice from his doctor back on shore, he seems to be weathering this setback. He says he is healing, but he will feel that injury for a while.

You can read about Skipper Wilson’s injury in his log or listen to a podcast update about his health.

We haven’t heard from Skipper Wilson yet today, but we know he’s still very much in the race because we can track his boat and all the other racers using this really cool tracking map from the Vendée Globe website. This map can layer on interesting visual data on each racer’s route, weather trends, racer positioning and other useful information.

You should also check out the following video that provides a 3-D look at the race route.  It gives you a  good sense of just how far these sailors will have to travel over the next few months. What an incredible journey they have ahead of them.

It’s early in the race but the sailors have already encountered challenging conditions. The wind and the waves made for rough seas. In fact, some sailors have already been forced from the race or are heading back to shore for repairs.

For Skipper Wilson, conditions were definitely rough, but he is finding ways to cope. In fact, the latest word is that the seas are calming down and the downwind conditions have improved. For a firsthand report of how Skipper Wilson is faring, you can read his log or listen to his latest podcast.

This afternoon, Skipper Wilson and 29 other sailors cast off and set sail out into the northern Atlantic Ocean on what is sure to be an exciting three months. The race began in the morning as local fishermen led the competitors on the 25-minute journey out of the harbor in Les Sables d’Olonne, France. Shortly after noon, all 30 boats assembled three miles offshore to await the opening festivities and the official start, which sounded at 1:02 p.m.

Watch this video to get a sense of what others have been experiencing in Les Sables d’Olonne as the start of the Vendée Globe approached.

Join us later this week as we start sharing some of the excerpts from Skipper Wilson’s logs as he sails around the world. You can always find more from Skipper Wilson at sitesAlive!

And, Skipper Wilson, as the French say, Bon Vent! Good luck with the race!