The Oceanview Effect

Written by Richard Vevers

A few years ago, I was lucky enough to go on an expedition to a very remote location off the coast of Australia. During the trip, I had an experience that forever changed my view of the ocean and our planet. It happened while traveling between dive sites one day, when we spotted a large school of fish on the horizon causing the ocean to ‘boil’ with activity. We decided to launch a small boat and raced over to see if we could photograph the action, but by the time we got there, the fish were gone. We were far away from any reef or land, in water that was unfathomably deep, and there was a big swell. But we decided to jump in for a snorkel anyway.

As soon as I entered the water and looked around, I had an experience that took my breath away. It was as if I was seeing the ‘real’ ocean for the very first time. I was looking at the ocean and our planet from a completely new perspective — an open ocean perspective. The ocean felt deep and powerful and full of energy with everything in constant motion. 

Ancient Polynesian voyagers referred to the ocean not as a body of water, but as ‘energy,’ and they called the ocean beyond the reef ‘alive.’ This seemed to be the perfect way to describe what I was witnessing — the ocean absolutely seemed alive as it moved.

At that moment, it became plainly obvious to me that our terrestrial view of the ocean is a completely false perspective. Looking at the ocean from land makes it almost impossible to see it for what it is… the source of life on our planet. Our terrestrial perspective of the ocean explains why we so often take it for granted. It was a profound realization that I’ve never forgotten. 

Astronauts describe looking at the Earth from space as a similar profound experience. From that perspective, you become awestruck as you see our planet for what it really is — an ocean planet floating in space that’s unique and fragile. They call it the Overview Effect. The name for the experience in the open ocean was inspired by this. It’s called the Oceanview Effect.

No one knows the Oceanview Effect better than round-the-world sailors. They spend weeks at a time on the high seas observing the ocean and trying to harness its energy — looking at our planet from the ocean perspective. They’re not looking at it from high above, from the security and terrestrial comforts of a large ship, but instead down at sea level in their racing yachts. Their rare perspective of the ocean has made them some of the greatest advocates for its protection. 

Recently, we teamed up with 11th Hour Racing to create a short film about the Oceanview Effect through the eyes of their team skipper, Charlie Enright. Together, we wanted to share this profound experience to try to help people change their perception of the ocean and recognize the importance of ocean health. We’re hoping it will help inspire greater support for ocean science and conservation and challenge misconceptions about the importance of the ocean due to our terrestrial perspective of it.  

We released the video this week to coincide with the start of The Ocean Race. It’s an epic race around the planet across 58,700 kilometers of ocean (31,700 nautical miles, 36,500 miles). We have huge respect for all the teams involved as they are using the race to help raise awareness of the importance of ocean health. Charlie Enright sums it up beautifully in the short film… “The ocean is the source of life on Earth and we need to treat it that way.” 

Join us in cheering on The Ocean Race teams, especially the 11th Hour Racing team! You can follow each team on the tracker here. 

(We suggest getting a big bowl of popcorn, as the race lasts 6 months...)