David Schurmann was just past his tenth birthday when he and his family set off on an adventure that would put his family on the map. His parents, Vilfredo and Heloisa Schurmann, had long dreamed of following in the footsteps of adventurers before them by traveling the world by sea. The family of five left their home in southern Brazil to pursue this dream, returning 10 years later as the first Brazilians to circumnavigate the globe in a sailboat.
The family has since repeated this feat two more times: one that retraced the route sailed by Magellan nearly 500 years ago, and another that aimed to follow even earlier routes from medieval Chinese sailors. Documentaries following these adventures have been eagerly viewed by millions around the world.
During the decades the Schurmanns spent at sea, the oceans became a second home. They got to know even the most remote areas of the ocean — and they saw how pollution, particularly in the form of plastic litter, is slowly choking every inch of it.