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Early voyages

Reid Stowe initially pursued studies in the arts, enrolling in the University of Arizona, where he took up painting and sculpture. During his late teens, Stowe visited Hawaii in the summer to surf. During one of these Hawaiian excursions, when Stowe was nineteen, he fell in with a contemporary teenager who had invested some of his college funds to purchase a small sailing vessel. Invited to accompany him on an extended sail through the South Pacific, Stowe was obliged to obtain a passport, and to obtain a passport, he needed a copy of his birth certificate. Years later, Stowe recalled to interviewer Hudson Channer that his parents could very well have refused to send him the certificate and insist on his return to school. That they chose not to Stowe regards as a life-affirming experience, the tacit parental support giving him confidence to proceed. The South Pacific trip was Stowe's first experience with open ocean sailing, for which he acquired a passion.

It was during this trip that Stowe met Bernard Moitessier. Moitessier had around him a community of like-minded young mariners who had a passion for long distance sailing in small craft, without motors, or electronic navigation equipment. Stowe spent some time in this community, learning sailing, boat-building, how to shoot the stars with a sextant and celestial navigation, as commonly practiced by nineteenth century deck officers. It was also from this community that Stowe learned attitudes of self-reliance, minimizing dependence on outside infrastructure. It was during this period of study with the community surrounding Moitessier that Reid Stowe thought he could conduct a life of extensive, often solitary, open ocean sailing.

Following his South Pacific voyage, Stowe returned to his grandfather's residence in Ocean Isle Beach, North Carolina, where, over a period of eight months, he constructed a catamaran for open ocean sailing. During its construction, he was visited by a Dutch national he had met during his time with Moitessier. He persuaded Stowe to take the catamaran across the North Atlantic to Holland. The two embarked in June, 1973 to the Netherlands. After their arrival, Reid Stowe continued on a solo voyage which took him to Africa, a second Atlantic crossing, a trip to Brazil and the Amazon, returning to United States in 1976. The catamaran was, at the time, the smallest vessel to navigate the North Atlantic.

Construction of the Anne

Following his return to the United States, Stowe's thoughts turned to the construction of a vessel well-suited to extended voyages. He was particularly impressed with gaff-rigged schooners, which he felt represented a culmination of craft and technique for sailing vessels.. In 1976, he took up residence in the North Carolina beach cottage of his mother's father, and, with extensive help from her family, his father, now a retired Colonel, and his siblings, commenced execution of a design based on late nineteenth century American gaff-rigged fishing schooners, a vessel that was prevalent from the 1880s to the 1900s. The completed design called for a 60 ton, two-masted schooner-rigged vessel, 70 feet in length with a 16 foot beam. Unlike the nineteenth century antecedent, however, Stowe and his family employed fiberglass over steel mesh for the hull, with interior spaces finished in Caribbean hard wood supplied largely from debris thrown up by Hurricane David. In an interview with Hudson Channer, Stowe likened the hull to a sealed steel and fiberglass bottle. Additionally, electricity for computers and communication equipment is generated from wind, solar, and water motion generators. Stowe, his family, and friends of the family, were engaged in building the craft over the next eighteen months, completing the work in 1978. The shipyard was entirely confined to the beach cottage property of his mother's father. He named the vessel Anne, in honor of his mother and her family. Following its launch in 1978, Stowe has made the ship his home.

Voyages with the Anne

Antartica

Stowe took the Anne to Antarctic waters in 1986 with a crew of eight, his first long-term trial with the vessel. For five months, Stowe and his crew sailed the waters around the Antarctic Peninsula and the South Shetland Islands. He navigated into ice packs and experienced winds of up to 110 miles per hour (177 km/h). Later, Stowe told Nik Kleinberg of ESPN: "You're geared up like an ice man, goggles, everything, not a bit of skin exposed. We had a gust of wind that blew the boat completely over." It was during this voyage that Stowe began seriously considering a trip of extremely long duration.

The Port of New York

In the fall of 1997, Stowe began using Pier 63 as a base of operations, located in the Chelsea section of Manhattan, New York City at a marina operated by John Krevy. He promoted his one thousand days voyage in earnest, calling it the "1000 Days at Sea, The Mars Ocean Odessy", and news articles at the time suggested a launch date of 1998. It would be nine years, and one marriage later, before Stowe found sufficient funding and media support for the project. In the intervening time, Stowe made his home on board the Anne, used Pier 63 as his address, and undertook preliminary trips with Laurence Guillem, whom he had married in 1999.

Voyage of the Turtle: Prelude to '1000 Days at Sea'

Stowe's prelude to the present voyage was undertaken in 1999, when he and his new bride, Laurence Guillem, voyaged the South Atlantic Ocean for 194 days in the Anne, an expedition which Guillem dubbed "The Odyssey of the Sea Turtle." Stowe's intent during this preliminary voyage was to shape a course literally in the shape of a turtle. Of this choice, Stowe has said "There's also something to be said about not racing around all the time. So this voyage was sort of an antidote to our speed-obsessed society. And the turtle is also a reminder about endangered species and the environment. I'm sure it's going to be interpreted in different ways." The voyage lasted from June 4, to December 17, 1999, with no major mishap, though it had its tribulations. The Anne suffered engine failure few days from port, aging sailcloth limited the precision of Stowe's navigation — the turtle was neither as large nor as complete as he had originally hoped — and a brush with Hurricane Lenny on their return leg hampered their return to the port of New York . Still, he and his sailing mate had spent over a half year out of sight of land, and, during that time plotted a turtle 1,900 nautical miles long by 1,400 nautical miles wide. "On the map you see our day-to-day points like a constellation," Stowe said of it. "It's a turtle drawn there, clearer than any constellation in the sky."Cite error: A <ref> tag is missing the closing </ref> (see the help page). In the six years since this second exercise, there have been a number of sailing dates announced, but not undertaken. Funding issues, lack of media sponsorships, changes in crew commitment, all gave rise to launch cancellations. Pier 63 Maritime, operator of the railroad barge to which the Anne was moored, was removed in 2007 to make way for the demolition of Pier 63, a part of the development of the Hudson River Park. This required Stowe to move the schooner Anne to Hoboken, giving rise to further delays.

The 1000-day voyage commences

Stowe departed on the 1000-day voyage on April 21, 2007 at 3:00 PM EDT from Pier 12, Hoboken New Jersey, witnessed by about 100 well-wishers, including his parents and his former wife, Laurence Guillem. The departure put into execution plans that had been in the making for over ten years, although it has been speculated that the departure was actually expedited by Stowe's eviction from Pier 63. The heavily ladened schooner passed through New York Harbor and into the open ocean by the evening of April 21. The crew maintains contact with its New York City based support team via a GPS satellite monitoring system, with voice communications to its New York City base via an Iridium phone. The crew employs maritime VHF transceivers for ship-to-ship communications. Volunteers maintain a web site and a blog so that the general public can follow the progress of the voyage. The web site features daily tracking of the schooner's position through the GPS system.

Since its departure, the voyage has suffered two mishaps. On April 25, the schooner ventured near a US Navy missile firing trial that was being conducted off the New Jersey coast. After United States Coast Guard personnel alerted the schooner, the crew diverted their course with no further mishap. A second, more serious mishap occurred on May 6th when the schooner allegedly experienced a glancing collision with a Maersk container ship.. The bowsprit of the schooner was heavily damaged, but the hull and the remainder of the ship was unscathed, highly unusual for collisions between small vessels and larger ships. It is alternatively speculated by some commentators that the bowsprit may have failed under load. Stowe was apparently able to make a replacement, albeit shortened, bowsprit from less-damaged portions. Stowe has decided that the voyage can continue as planned without serious compromise to his ability to navigate the vessel.

External links

• Daily log of the Schooner Anne
• Home page of 1000 Days at Sea

See also

• Soanya Ahmad
• Donald Crowhurst
• Bernard Moitessier
• Jon Sanders
• Roz Savage
• Joshua Slocum

Quotes

"Sailing uh uh the Atlantic twice to four continents on this little catamaran--my biggest fear was uh a gust of wind would come too fast and too strong and blow the boat over. . .so I always had to be aware of watching out that not too much wind comes."

References

1. Cite error: The named reference NewsRecord was invoked but never defined (see the help page).
2. ^ Reid Stowe, Hudson Channer. Interview with Reid Stowe (Cable TV Series). Conversations with Harold Hudson Channer. Manhattan, New York City: Manhattan Neighborhood Network. {{cite AV media}}: External link in |title= (help); Unknown parameter |airdate= ignored (help); Unknown parameter |serieslink= ignored (help)
3. ^ "1000 Days at Sea" (PDF) (Press release). Reid Stowe. 2007-04-21. Retrieved 2007-05-13.
4. Captain Reid Ocean Odyssey part two: The Voyages, August 02, retrieved 2007-05-13 {{citation}}: Check date values in: |date= and |year= / |date= mismatch (help)
5. ^ Cite error: The named reference Nowhere was invoked but never defined (see the help page).
6. Antarctic Sailing Chronology (Yacht Cruises to Antarctica), retrieved 2007-05-17
7. Jacobs, Andrew (August 30, 1998), "Neighborhood Report: CHELSEA; Tracing a Slow Circle Around the Globe", New York Times
8. Stewart, Barbara (August 08, 2002), "On the Waterfront, at Least for Now; Hudson River Park Threatens Some Home-Grown Free Spirits", New York Times {{citation}}: Check date values in: |date= (help)
9. Zimmermann, Tim (October, 1998), "In one of history's more audacious acts of voyaging, Reid Stowe is preparing to hoist his sails, slip his mooring, and disappear for 1,000 days at sea.", Outside Magazine Online {{citation}}: Check date values in: |date= (help)
10. ^ Brady, Lois Smith (June 6, 1999), "WEDDINGS: VOWS; Laurence Guillen and Reid Stowe", New York Times
11. ^ McCormick, Herb (January 16, 2000), "THE BOATING REPORT; Voyage of the Turtle Is Just a Prelude", New York Times
12. Williams, Timothy (May 29, 2006), "City Is Holding Its Horses, and That's Holding Back a Park", New York Times
13. ^ Dobnick, Verena (April 21, 2007), "Couple sets sail for 1,000-day, heart-shaped cruise", Phillyburbs.com, Associated Press, retrieved September 02, 2007 {{citation}}: Check date values in: |accessdate= (help)
14. ^ Stowe, Reid, 1000 Days at Sea, retrieved 2007-05-12
15. Spindler, Richard, "The Importance of Being Earnest on Watch", Latitude 38, retrieved 2007-08-31

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