The Around the Americas Expedition Website is up and running! Many of the links in this section of the Sailors for the Sea site will redirect you to the Expedition Page, such as those regarding education, scientific experiments and tracking the vessel Ocean Watch online in real time. Join the Journey!

Around the Americas is a circumnavigation by sailboat of the North and South American continents. Captain Mark Schrader and crew departed Seattle on May 31, 2009 sailing the 64-foot boat, S/V Ocean Watch. They have passed through the Northwest Passage, and sailed down the east coast, around rounded Cape Horn. During the remainder of the trip Ocean Watch will travel up the west coast of North and South America, with many port stops and will return to Seattle in July 2010.

In partnership with Seattle's Pacific Science Center and the University of Washington's Applied Physics Lab, and with the collaboration of Joint Institute for the Study of the Atmosphere & Ocean, NASA, and MIT SeaGrant, Sailors for the Sea will use the dramatic nature of this never-completed sailing adventure to focus international attention on ocean health by:

• providing direct access to voyage updates through web-based field reports; creating bi-lingual educational materials that will be freely available to classrooms, after-school programs, and homes;
• hosting media events at 30 ports of call featuring conversations with scientists and educators discussing the relationship between the larger patterns of global climate change and its impact on local ocean environments;
• producing a film and book about the expedition.

The voyage will bring audiences in direct contact with local and global ocean conservation issues through scientific observation and evaluation of the ocean environment and will provide a platform for scientists and educators to communicate the urgency of the issues to the broader public.

Around the Americas is made possible by generous lead grants from The Tiffany & Co. Foundation and the Rockefeller Family. Major support has been provided by James Bishop, Osberg Construction Co. and the Osberg Family Trust.

The project is also supported by Charles Butt, Edmund B. Cabot, The Campbell Foundation, John Castle, Jim & Dee Claypool, Ettinger Foundation, The Herbert W. Hoover Foundation, and Vantage in Philanthropy.

In-kind support has been provided by Blues Sea Electrical, Euro Marine Trading, Fisheries Supply, Freeborn Concepts, Hasse & Co./Bainbridge, Hatton Marine, Helly Hansen, Iridium/Stratos Satcom, Jeppesen Marine, Lewmar, Miller & Miller Marine, Northern Lights, Northwest Rigging, Outdoor Research, Raymarine Instruments, Remote Satellite Systems, Samson Rope, Seaview East Boatyard, SSI, Sure Marine/Webasto, Swedish Hospital - Ballard, Vi Jean Reno and Winslow Life Raft Company.