Reid Stowe

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William Reid Stowe (b. January 7, 1952) is an American artist and mariner, and currently a principal participant of 1000 Days at Sea: The Mars Ocean Odyssey, a contemplated one thousand-day voyage which commenced on April 21, 2007 from Pier 12, Hoboken, New Jersey. The mission has the aim of remaining in the open ocean, outside of contact with supporting ports, for a period of one thousand days, emulating in some respects interplanetary voyages such as those contemplated to the planet Mars. Similarities with interplanetary voyages and the name of the expedition notwithstanding, there is no connection between Stowe's project and the major space agencys' research on humans coping with long interplanetary voyages,^[1] though Stowe claims to maintain personal contacts with a number of present and former NASA personnel.^[2] Stowe is the captain of the expedition and the principal designer and builder of the Anne, the 70 ft. (21.3 m.) 60 ton (54,400 kg) gaff-rigged schooner which Stowe is sailing on the voyage.^[3] Soanya Ahmad, a sailing novice with no offshore experience and Stowe's girlfriend, is the first mate and the other principal participant in the voyage.^[4][1]

Contents 1 Childhood 2 Early voyages 2.1 Construction of the Anne (née Tantra Schooner) 3 Voyages with the Anne 3.1 The Carribean and Antarctica 3.2 The Port of New York 3.2.1 Voyage of the Turtle: Prelude to '1000 Days at Sea' 3.2.2 Subsequent attempts 3.3 The 1000-day voyage commences 4 See also 5 External links 6 References

Childhood

Reid Stowe was born in 1952 in Washington state to Harry and Anne Stowe;^[5] and is the oldest of six siblings. His father, an officer in the United States Air Force, was posted to many parts of the world during that time and usually his family travelled with him. Growing up, Reid spent three years in Germany, two years in the Philippines, plus state-side tours in Mississippi, Illinois, Arizona, and Virginia. Traveling notwithstanding, the family generally spent summers with Anne Stowe's father, who had constructed a beach cottage on the Intracoastal Waterway near Ocean Isle Beach, North Carolina.^[2] Anne's father and uncles frequently built and rebuilt portions of the home, and built small craft for use on the waterway. It was during these summer interludes that Reid absorbed carpentry, and, during his high school years with his younger brother Wave, Stowe built fiber glass surf boards. He and his brother employed work shops that his family maintained in various winter residences to complete their work after school.^[2][6]

Early voyages

Reid Stowe initially pursued studies in the arts, enrolling in the University of Arizona, where he took up painting and sculpture.^[5] 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 Craige Fostvedt,^[7] 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 to New Zealand^[8], Stowe was obliged to obtain a passport, for which 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.^[2] 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.^[2] 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 27 foot catamaran,^[2][5] named Tantra,^[9] for open ocean sailing. During its construction, he was visited by a Dutch national he had met during his time with Moitessier who 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. In his 2003 interview with Hudson Channer, Stowe characterized the catamaran as "the smallest boat to cross the Atlantic Ocean twice",^[2] though smaller boats have made round trip crossings as early as the nineteenth century. In particular, George P. Thomas and Frederick Norman navigated their 16 ft. 7 in. dory Little Western from Gloucester, Massachusetts to Cowes England in June 1880, returning the following June.^{[10] [11] [12]}

Construction of the Anne (née Tantra Schooner)

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.^[2] 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 Feralite™ over steel wire mesh for the hull,^[13][9] with interior spaces finished in Caribbean hard wood supplied largely from debris thrown up by Hurricane David.^[14] In an interview with Hudson Channer, Stowe likened the hull to a sealed steel and fiberglass bottle.^[2] Additionally, electricity for computers and communication equipment is generated from wind, solar, and water motion generators.^[2] 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. Named Tantra Schooner, on its launch, ^[15] Stowe established the ship as his home, sailing it originally to the Carribean with his then wife, Iris and baby daughter Viva, "[finishing] the interiors en route and in the island." Author Jill Bobrow, in her 1982 Classic Yacht Interiors attributed some of the interior handiwork to Iris: "a beautiful walnut inlaid with enamel."^[15]

Voyages with the Anne

The Carribean and Antarctica

According to Bobrow, Stowe initially sailed the Tantra Schooner as a charter boat, but indirectly noted the possibility of extended voyaging even in the early eighties: "The charter accommodations are fabricated so that when extra quarters are not necessary, that space is set up to be a cargo hold — the intent being to make Tantra Schooner totally self-supporting."^[15] In this early description of the vessel and her crew, Bobrow reported: "Reid and Iris are a delightful, spiritual couple. Their boat reflects their ingenuity, creativity, and joy of life."^[15] Renamed the Anne in honor of his mother and her family,^[5][4] Stowe took the schooner to Antarctic waters in 1986 with a crew of eight, his first long-term trial with the vessel.^[6] For five months, Stowe and his crew sailed the waters around the Antarctic Peninsula and the South Shetland Islands.^[16] Stowe 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." To combat boredom, the crew "fought the lack of sensory simulation with plastic filters that allowed people to bathe in different colored lights, and a 'bag of tricks' that included scented herbs and spices, stones, religious artifacts, pebbles, sand, and other items that stimulated the senses and kindled fond memories of home."^[17] It was during this voyage that Stowe began seriously considering a trip of extremely long duration.^[6] Author Albert A. Harrison characterized these circa 1990 plans in his 2001 book, Spacefaring: The Human Dimension ^[17] "The Anne, twelve meters long and displacing sixty tons, would set forth with a crew of six to eight (the same size as an initial Mars crew under some scenarios) and three years worth of provisions. For a thousand days they would sail outside of normal trade routes and without entering port. The crew would consist of scientists who would study weather, water, and atmospheric pollution, and ozone depletion in remote and little-documented regions of the world. Stowe hoped to conduct field tests of communication satellites, water purification systems and other equipment potentially useful for exploring Mars." Later, Stowe, with Harrison, authored the paper, "One thousand days non-stop at sea - Lessons for a mission to Mars" outlining a "1000-day voyage without touching land or receiving supplies from other craft. The goals of this expedition include the evaluation of equipment, supplies, and humans under conditions of isolation and confinement that will resemble some of those of the initial Mars voyage."^[18]

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.^[19][20] He promoted his one thousand days voyage in earnest, calling it the "1000 Days at Sea, The Mars Ocean Odyssey", and news articles at the time suggested a launch date of 1998.^[21] It would be nine years, and one marriage later, before Stowe found sufficient funding and media support for the project.^[22] 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."^[22] Stowe's intent during this preliminary voyage was to shape a course literally in the shape of a turtle. Of this choice, Stowe 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."^[23] The voyage lasted from June 4, to December 17, 1999, with no major mishap, though it had its tribulations. The Anne suffered engine failure under the Verrazano-Narrows Bridge,^[8] 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.^[23] 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."^[23]

Subsequent attempts

Stowe and Guillem undertook a second exercise in January 2001, a voyage to Trinidad in which the Anne encountered severe weather off Bermuda.^[24] The ship was overturned perhaps once, perhaps three times, in high seas, but righted itself. It was the last significant voyage that Guillem undertook with Stowe.^[25] In the six years since this second exercise, there have been a number of sailing dates announced, but not undertaken.^[8] 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.^[26] The delays gave rise to some sponsor unrest and questioning of motives. "I've met him a few times and I've been on his boat, but I'm no sailor." reported Danny Kadouri, of Brooklyn-based Kadouri International Foods, to the New York Daily News. "I think he's genuine but, honestly, I don't know. I hope he's not pulling my leg." "Of our contributors, I think most of them have seen what we are doing and our hard work and they're still expecting us to go." Stowe reported the the Daily News. "We've been planning this project for ten years and most of them are sympathetic."^[27]

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.^[28] The heavily ladened schooner passed through New York Harbor and into the open ocean by the evening of April 21. The departure put into execution plans that, in some respects, closely resembled those put forth by Stowe and Harrison in their 1992 paper.^[18] The name and duration, the concept of keeping away from sight of land, the physical and spritual challenges of isolation, all echo concepts that were put forth in the fifteen year old paper and reiterated in the departure press release.^[29] The scientific component, the study of weather, water, atmospheric pollution and ozone depletion in little-documented regions of the world, is much diminished, however, both in the onboard infrastructure and in general awareness of the world at large. "A representative for NASA says she doesn't know anyone at the agency who is following Stowe's mission", reported Eliza Strickland in Wired Online.^[1] Noted Soanya Ahmad in the Day 199 blog entry: "I'm surprised at how cool the water temperature is despite the fact that the sun warms the air right up. We don't have a way to measure water temperature, but our clock has a temperature reading on it for the air."^[30] Of these unrealized plans, noted Harrison in his 2001 Spacefaring: The Human Dimension, "...when it was all said and done, just as in the case of a real Mars mission, it proved difficult to fund."^[17] Currently, 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 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.^[31]

See also

• Robin Lee Graham
• Jon Sanders
• Roz Savage
• Joshua Slocum

External links

• Home page of 1000 Days at Sea
• John Doswell's account of Anne's January 2001 trip to Bermuda.
• Sailing Anarchy, A discussion forum critical of the expedition.
• 1000 Days of Hell Blog, A blog refuting specific points about the Voyage and parodying posts on Reid Stowes official 1000 Days at Sea "Mars ocean Odyssey" site.

References