12/15/2008 Update:

The “1000 days at sea” voyage, which set sail from the shores of Hoboken, NJ back in April of 2007 reaches another milestone.

Reid Stowe surpasses day 600

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.

Read more after the jump…

(100 Days at sea, continued…)

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). (411 note: His website comes up with errors asking for an older version of Java.)

“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 ’schoon’ 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 the artist sailed a course to sketch wildlife on the sea. In 1996, on a 200-day excursion in preperation for the 1000 day challenge, artist 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.

8/21/2008: Update:

I forgot to mention that the reason that Soanya quit after day 305 was because she was pregnant!

She recently gave birth to their son Darshon and wishes Reid well as he approaches day 500.

Soanya said:
“Thank you everyone for all of your congratulations. I read all of them and it great to see how many people care and are still following our story. Itʼs been busy since our son arrived as any mother of a newborn can attest to, but he is a wonderful healthy baby and both Reid and I are aware of how blessed we truly are. I am in close contact with Reid and he always asks about the baby wanting to know all the details. Having a son is a new experience for him too. There are many reasons why Reid is still out at sea, too complex to describe in a short blog, but I fully support him seeing the 1000 Days through to its completion. While a part of me wishes I could still be out there with him and the mahi-mahi, another part is totally thrilled with having a little baby boy to take care of and watch grow with each passing day. We are both on a journey of a lifetime, physically separated but spiritually united and time doesnʼt mean very much in the large scheme of things. The now is where we both reside and our task is to live it exquisitely, baby, sail sewing and all!”

Speaking of his “50% done” milestone, he’ll be having a “I made it 500 days without being swallowed by a giant sea creature” party in New York on September 4th, 2008!

2/21/2008:

Today, one part of the brave couple that tried to spend 1000 days at sea is calling it quits.

Soanya Ahmad said she couldn’t take the sea-sickness anymore and probably needs to catch up on her DVR and lay on the couch. Anyway, congrats to her for setting the female record for longest sea journey.

Soanya says:

“Its day 305 and what an adventure-filled 305 days its been. I was never bored out here at sea. There were always more things to do than I had the time or energy to do. The past three months have been especially rough for me as we entered the Southern Ocean and I experienced varying degrees of seasickness. At times the nausea was enough to lay me flat and incapable of doing anything. At other moments I was able to carry out basic functions, but not much more. While I’ve adjusted to the environment a little more this past month, I am still prone to feeling horrible on and off. I feel two more years of this would not be good for me and so I have decided to leave the boat. At the next nearest shore, I will fly home to NYC.

But it’s not over yet. Reid will sail into the next 700 days towards his original goal of 1000 days non-stop, the longest sea voyage in history.”

Read more on the 1000 days at sea website, and see how this started in Hoboken below.

4/21/2007 Good Bye!

411 reader “YipYap” took some pics and videos.

See the rest of his pictures.

30 second clip and more about the voyage below.

4/20/2007:
You can stop by the Shipyard Marina tomorrow to send them off to sea!

1000days Sea Voyage

starts Saturday, April 21 2007 at 3 pm

On Saturday, April 21st, 2007 at 3 PM, Reid Stowe and Soanya Ahmad will leave from the Shipyard Marina in North Hoboken aboard their 70 foot gaff-rigged Schooner Anne to begin a non-stop 1000 day sea voyage.

Once the journey is complete, Stowe and Ahmad will have lived on the sea for a period longer than anyone has before: continually traveling in a high-impact, isolated environment while extending the limits of human endurance to promote a global message of inspiration, perseverance and human ecological self sustenance.

Read the rest at www.1000days.net.

1000days Launch Party

Sat 4/21/07 1 pm to 3pm

• 1:00pm - Social by SchoonerAnne at Shipyard Marina - Pier12
• 2:30pm - Speech/Press Conferance
• 3:00pm - Launch of 1000 Days Non-stop at Sea

Tags: 1000 days at sea, Hoboken, Reid Stowe, shipyard marina, Soanya Ahmad