PARTY on SATURDAY 1/16/2010  On 16 January, 2010, Reid Stowe will have achieved his goal of spending 1000 days at sea without touching land or taking on any supplies.

1,000th Day Announcement Event - 4 world records set or broken
South Street Seaport Museum - Schermerhorn Row - 5th Floor Gallery
12 Fulton Street, NYC NY   Time: 15:30 to 16:30

Followed by
1,000th Day Party & Celebration
Ryan Maguire’s Ale House - 28 Cliff Street, NYC NY - Time: 17:00 to 20:00
Just south of Fulton Street. Just 2 short blocks from the Museum
Featuring live music by This Spy Surfs - CASH BAR- Donations Welcome

RSVP– This e-mail address is being protected from spam bots, you need JavaScript enabled to view it or 928-257-3100

http://www.ryanmaguiresalehouse.com/
http://www.southstreetseaportmuseum.org/

Map of Event Locations
 

 
The year 2009 began on Day 619 with Reid facing gale winds in the Southern Pacific ocean as he made his way to Cape Horn. He safely rounded the Horn as the best sailors in the world raced right by competing for the Vendee Globe. Shortly after on day 661, as Reid sailed through heavy seas in the South Atlantic, a wave briefly capsized the schooner, leaving Reid safe, but shaken and more cautious than ever. Despite these challenges, he found the inner strength to continue on into the calmer waters of the Atlantic where he drew the shape of a heart with the course that he sailed. It was a creation inspired by Reid’s love of life, the ocean, the divine, and humanity.

Months went by until Day 800 was reached and Reid found himself in a place where he could rest for a while, not sew sails all the time, and engage in painting more. Another hundred days flew by filled with schooner maintenance and spiritual contemplations. Then he had a curious visitor, a blue heron. Most blue herons are shore birds, but one had found its way hundreds of miles from land. The blue heron, it seemed, wanted company and landed on the Anne. A short, but beautiful friendship blossomed between Reid and the heron. However, ten days later it died, and Reid sailed on.

Reid existed in a timeless place. He often said so and we on land knew it must be true since he always made a point of double-checking with us to see if the day or hour he thought he had was correct. On Day 964, Reid broke the record for the longest non-stop solo sea voyage in history. No one past or present, accompanied or alone, has been at sea without stopping or re-supplying for this long. Fortunately, he was able to share his experience with the world almost every day until Day 970 when the last working computer broke down. Now Reid will have to send his blogs in the spoken form through satellite telephone. On the positive side, we are still in regular communication with him, though it is limited due to the high cost of phone minutes.

As 2009 gives rise to 2010, Reid’s goal of staying at sea for 1000 Days is looking like an inevitable reality. Day 1000 falls on Jan. 16, 2010, but Reid will be staying out longer due to the fact that returning to NYC in winter weather makes for tricky sailing. Instead, he will return in the middle of June propelled by calmer winds.

We hope to see you there as Reid makes his return from the ocean back to civilization and we hop that you continue to follow this amazing voyage as Reid voyages beyond 1000 Days at sea.

Sincerely,
1000 Days Onshore Team

On the longest nonstop solo sea voyage in history a new phase begins.

Let's have a look at how the schooner systems are holding up.  First of all thanks to my onshore team and the Metocean company for donating the equipment for tracking the voyage otherwise who could believe this unprecedented event could take place.  Our old sails are worn out.  They have performed well past the expected life of a sail but they are usable repaired and reenforced

I have two sets of sails, two storm sails and two extra head sails.  I must be careful with them but they all set well.  Thanks to Doyle Sails for their continued support.  The pins on the turnbuckles are all wearing down but I've moved them off the worn spots and I've wedged them with hardwood so they are wearing on thick steel now.

All of the eighty or so pulleys are worn out in many ways and are on their last legs but I have a few rebuild pulleys ready to work in different locations.  The big repair at the bow at the beginning of the voyage which is crucial to the whole standing rig is holding up incredibly well.  I keep on top of everything and don't see a problem with it.

Our first laptop froze up under Australia.  Our second one has frozen up on me now and won't turn on.  I won't be able to send or receive emails or photos anymore.  I've had a few months of trouble with the computer so I'm not surprised.  Of course I will miss communicating with everybody and sending my stories with illustrations.  But I'm thankful it lasted for most of the voyage.  I always keep the high tech gear triple wrapped in ziplock plastic with desiccants.   Thank goodness the electrical system built by Rand Weeks is holding up great.  Providing power for our lights and all of our electrical equipment.

Most importantly our unique homemade hull built of steel, fiberglass and Ferralight is holding up great and has given me no worries.  In this area the trigger fish keep the bottom clean.  Since I put new stuffing in the stuffing box the bilge has been dry. No leaks.

Some of our ropes are worn out.  But we have spares.  The masts are solid fir and are fine. All of the spars are doing well and I have spares.  The rigging is all solid.  I've made some adjustments to the steering system.  It still has a bit of play in it but it works fine.  I have an emergency tiller setup as backup.

The water tanks have not leaked a drop and they are three quarters full.  Next time I get a good rain I'll fill them up again.  The motor starts first time every time.  I run it for fifteen minutes every three weeks.  The diesel tanks are two thirds full.  They have not leaked and have the correct amount of biocide in them to preserve the fuel.

I have way more than enough bottled cooking fuel stored in the foredeck locker.  I'm on my second cooking stove and it's a good thing I brought furnace cement for the wood stove because I had to patch the rusty burners to keep them working well.

Food systems took a lifetime of preparation just like the technical issues and I have been eating very well.  Everything is triple wrapped in plastic and nothing has spoiled.  Thanks to my many supportive food contributors I have more than enough food.  Soanya had to leave so I have even more extra food that will feed us well when I get back.

Given the circumstances of the preparation for the unknown with no prior guidelines to follow and a low to no budget; now after almost a thousand days nonstop at sea I think the outlook is very good for a successful mid June return to New York City.  So I hope those of you with boats will come out and greet me and sail up the Hudson river with us.  Stay tuned to the website for details of the arrival.   Thanks a lot everybody for tuning into the voyage and all is well on the high seas.  I continue on.

Thank you,
Reid

[Ed.  I apologize for the late post.  Reid recorded this a week ago.  Due to the holidays and traveling I was away and unable to post this entry.  Apologies to Chuck H.  This post is transcribed from a six minute recording Reid made over the Iridium phone.  Reid also called me on Christmas Day to send his good wishes.  The photo for this post is another one used previously.  It shows the Orbcomm GSC 100 communication unit that Reid has been using to send text messages.  We'll continue with transcribing recordings for the posts but the Orbcomm unit is another way for Reid to stay in touch with us here on shore.]

Wind NE 10 knots, Course S, Speed 1 knot, Position 7° 54' N by 22° 11' W

My friends reminded me that I was soon to pass the longest solo sea voyage in history, so I added Jon Sander's record of 658 days to Soanya's and my voyage and got 964.  That's today!  I could easily have lost a day or two counting as the years sailed by, but it doesn't matter as I continue on.  Jon Sanders is a great magnanimous man who helped make this voyage possible by receiving Soanya at sea off Australia and allowing me to continue on.  He wrote me a letter congratulating me for passing two of his previous records.  I think our mission control has posted Jon's letter on the website. 

This voyage became the longest nonstop sea voyage in history when I passed his 658 days and now that I have sailed 658 days alone, this is the longest solo sea voyage in history!  Soanya and I sailed 306 days nonstop without resupply.  People keep writing in that they have not found a longer nonstop without resupply sea voyage for a woman, for a man and woman or for a crew and no American man has sailed over 306 days nonstop with out resupply.  This update can't be corrected, it's part of the day to day history of the voyage, but if somebody finds exact, convincing proof otherwise, I will post that correction and change what I say.  Soanya is very modest and busy with our new son Darshen, so she has not promoted her record breaking sea voyage yet.  I am sure she will be a great inspiration to sailors and women when they find out about us and read our writings and begin to understand; with hard work on every level and a whole lot of love, it is possible for normal people to achieve what has never been dreamed of.  This is only part of the message Soanya and I, our team and our family and friends wish to share with the world.  We hope everybody will join in and help us bring harmony and happiness to as many people as possible.

Reid

Wind ENE 20 knots, Course WNW, Speed 1.5 knots, Position 8° 00' N by 22° 11' W

While sailing for years on the Mars Ocean Odyssey, I have been wondering a few things.  Are there rules for Mars astronauts already made up and are they available to the public and what type of people make them?  Will astronauts be able to communicate directly with family and friends without censorship?  Think how difficult it would be for their morale if they couldn't, but how could a committee of censors let them communicate directly with family and friends?  How could they keep those people from repeating what they heard?  Will the astronauts who go be under the rules of a top secret mission and not be able to say anything but what is in the script?  “One small step for man, one giant step for mankind”. Would that be as far as they could go poetically also?  We sent poetry into space for aliens, why shouldn't astronauts be able to sent poetry back?  Who will censor their poetry?  Poetry can be very controversial. How about religious statements or discussing social and environmental issues or their ideas about political propaganda?  They will be allowed some spare time from work for rest and relaxation.  What if an astronaut was like me and gained strength by talking about spiritual illuminations?  Will they be able to live for 1000 days without being able to tell people what to do?  Most people thrive by being able to tell at least some people what to do.  Friends and family won't always do what you want even if you beg them to, so will astronauts be able to have people in their employ who will do exactly what they tell them to do. ”Go buy tomorrow's Lottery tickets and sell this or that stock?”  Will astronauts be able to gamble or do business from space? What if they want to teach or preach?  So many rules.  Who will make new ones and enforce and change them?  There is so much to figure out on the human level.

Reid

Wind NE 5 knots, Course SE, Speed 1.4 knots,  Position 8° 18' N by 22° 30' W

I still have some of my paintings I made in 8th grade that were influenced by Picasso.  In the paintings, the lines and images were broken and they had multiple views of perception and many possibilities of meaning but I already had my own obsession.  Every painting or drawing had to have the sea in it.  The first art book I bought was a little book on Picasso.  I liked the way he had a lot of different styles, distorted images and often a rough unfinished look.  I never took up traditional painting or figure drawing, but I did take drafting in high school.  I didn't like trying to be neat, but it came in handy once I started building boats and needed to draw modifications and parts we had to build.  From Picasso I learned and identified with the word eclectic, which means taking influences from many different places.  If things I wanted to paint suggested different ways of painting then I never hesitated to adapt them, because different ideas call for different methods of expression.  I love aesthetic diversity.  The content of my work often begins autobiographically, but I don't mean for it to remain there.  I try to lead it into the archetypal, universal personifications of human visions, longings, passions, hopes and fears, so it takes on new influence and vitality. 

Picasso needs no introduction, he was the greatest painter of the 20th century.  They say he was a truthful man who didn't hide his inspirations or the techniques he used to realize them.  I also try to be creative, caring, spontaneous and sincere and share my life journey openly.

In the meantime, I still work every day doing my chores and some special project like cleaning the deepest most difficult to get to bilges.  Everyday I do some boat work, then I eagerly get to work creating art!  I love it.  It is a great time now.

Reid