Under Your Keel: World Oceans Day
Tomorrow is World Oceans Day, which also aligns with this week’s UN Conference on the Oceans. June 8 will be a day to remember that some of the best reasons to go cruising — as our November 2014 cover reminds us — are below the keel. As sailors, we’re always in awe of our incredibly beautiful oceans, and how many opportunities for racing, cruising and adventure the sea provides.
We recently saw Chasing Coral, an excellent, sobering documentary reminding us how fragile and threatened the world’s oceans are, and how we as sailors can come to the rescue. Whether it’s taking part in beach cleanups, acting as ‘citizen scientists’, or reducing our environmental impact by selling the house and cars and moving onto a boat, sailors are at the front lines of ocean conservation.
In addition to the work of individual mariners, big events like the Volvo Ocean Race are also on board. The impact of plastics in the ocean so impacted participants in the last race that organizers dramatically ramped up efforts to expand awareness for the 2017/2018 event, which will start in October.
If humanity lived like cruising sailors and were driven by wind power, used less fossil fuels, less water, less energy and less plastic (yes, we know the irony of sailing in fiberglass boats) and had more fun on the ocean, the world’s population would be living far more sustainable lives. June days are long, so how about an evening sail for World Oceans Day on June 8? Send us a photo with the hashtags: #latitude38 #worldoceansday