1,000 Days at see Live Interview with Paul Sladkus on Christmas Eve. Reid shares his love for all from the sea. The following is a release for his 600th says at sea as he voyages on. On Friday December 12, 2008 sailor, artist and boat builder Reid Stowe completed 600 of his 1,000 Days Non-Stop at Sea voyage on his handmade schooner Anne. On his return to New York in 2010, he will have spent nearly three years without stopping or resupplying, surpassing the current 658-day record for nonstop solo sailing held by the Australian Jon Sanders. After day 658, he aims to set the mark "for the longest period on record by crew or individual ever during a continuous voyage". Beyond the records he challenges, in a world consumed by issues of ecology, energy and food, Stowe's challenge is a studied example of self-sufficiency.
Surviving on rainwater, fresh fish, sprouted beans from stored provisions, and supplying his own energy by water and the sun while regenerating his spirit with yoga and prayer, Stowe is evidence that challenges of ecological sensitivity and survival can be met spiritually and pragmatically. The schooner contains three years of food and supplies, and provides its own energy for lights, winches, and satellite communications from solar panels, and water generators driven by the forward motion of the boat. The Anne stopped receiving shore power nearly a year before her departure, and the plan is to take no resupply of any item nor to port for 1000 days.
Stowe sees the project as a space analogous expedition because the voyage involves the same length of time as a round trip to Mars and poses similar human psychological endurance issues. He published an article in 1990 entitled "Seafarers of today provide a role model for spacefarers of tomorrow." Twenty-one years in the planning and launched April 2007, the journey has evolved to a larger experience of spirit and heart for Stowe, his many faithful volunteers and the followers of his logs and pictures that are sent via satellite phone and published on his website (http://www.1000days.net).
"I have always seen my journeys into the wilderness of the sea as a spiritual quest. Whatever I thought this trip could be in its manifestations, my mission is to inspire the world while using love to adapt to living with the forces of the sea. As a spirit I feel like a Native American who survives alone as an initiation, a hermit in a cave in the mountains, the monk who takes a 1000-day walk or an Aborigine on walkabout. I could put up full sail and 'school somewhere in no hurry, but we are perfectly happy where we are. Being here inspires and challenges me in many ways. I built my first boat when I was 20, a catamaran that weighed 1,400 pounds and sailed her across the Atlantic. [Now] the human society part of me says, 'You must go, set a course.' The divine searcher side of me says, 'Pray here for a while, this is your place, your moment. Love sets the course'. I pray for my faithful food, the living vibrant sprouts and the fish that feed me. The winds and seas and wildlife follow me saying, 'Save us'. I say, 'Take me where you will, I'm seaworthy.'"
In October, the artist was inspired to discover he had, while becalmed for repairs, drawn the path of a whale in the Pacific: marking the second time he sailed a course to sketch wildlife on the sea. In 1996, on a 200-day excursion in preparation for the 1000 day challenge, Stowe chose to draw a path of a Sea Turtle, symbolic of both his schooner's speed difference from other endurance craft and to foster more sensitivity to living creatures by sea or land.
The path of the schooner has been recorded by satellite beacon by the MetTrac commercial vessel monitoring system. Her course and specific geographic location can be found on the web at https://www.mettrac.com/daysatsea/index.jsp. If you would like to continue
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Reid I'm glad to hear that you have met Jesus! I'm so impressed with your endevour/adventure , I hope to go cruising some day, any advice? .......Bill
aerobill 3 years ago