Known in the sailing world for his daring exploits at sea, Wilson is equally famous for his online activities that bring the ocean into the classroom.

'We try to create live adventure that enriches school kids' learning experience,' says Wilson, relaxing inside the cramped galley of his sleek trimaran (a yacht with three hulls in parallel) Great American II at the Royal Hong Kong Yacht Club marina.

Wilson is in Hong Kong to prepare for 'Ocean Challenge Live', his latest live-action sailing adventure scheduled to begin on Sunday.

The voyage will take the crew of three into the South China Seas, across the warm waters of the Indian Ocean, around the treacherous Cape of Good Hope, through the busy shipping lanes of the Atlantic and finally into New York harbour.

Throughout the trip, the crew will field questions from schools and file updates to the office in Boston. Students can track the yacht's progress and organise projects, essays and discussions about Wilson's challenge of Bully's record.

'Kids love following our attempts at sailing records,' says Wilson, a graduate of the Massachusetts Institute of Technology and Harvard University. 'They love the 'will they, won't they' drama of the story.'

The first project set sail in 1993 when Wilson's crew smashed the speed-sailing record from San Francisco to Boston set by the clipper ship Northern Light in 1853 by several days.

For this project, Wilson and his team spent 18 months preparing material in mathematics, science and technology for students across the United States, publishing them online and in a newspaper series.

Some of the best work has been produced by children challenged and confronted by the sea for the first time, says Wilson.

'Some girls on the 'Girls at Sea Alive!' project were on probation when the project started in spring 2000. They had all kinds of problems. But they produced excellent creative writing which they shared with students across the US,' he says.

Taking learning out of the classroom and applying concepts in textbooks to real-life situations gives children a more dynamic and memorable experience, Wilson believes.

'We want to excite, engage and teach. Tell a child on a sailing trip that if you get the geometry of the triangles wrong, we're going to hit some rocks. That makes learning real,' he says.

Young Post will be following their journey and progress closely in the coming weeks