Six months at sea as prep for the Big One

Reid Stowe, the intrepid schooner adventurer who keeps threatening tosail off for 1,000 days at sea out of sight of land, returned in December from a warm-up voyage with his recently wedded bride. Stowe spent six months underway in the South Atlantic aboard his 70-foot schooner Anne on a voyage they called The Odyssey of the Sea Turtle.

Shortly after a wedding ceremony aboard the schooner, Stowe and Laurence Guillen sailed out of their home port of New York in June 1999. Their mission, besides training for the upcoming voyage of 1,000 days at sea, which they intend to start this fall, was to trace the outline of a giant sea turtle with the schooner’s wake.

"We had a very transforming and exciting time," said Stowe, a veteran sailor who has voyaged extensively in extreme latitudes and unusual destinations like the Amazon River and Antarctica. "We sailed out of New York and went straight south across the Equator. Then we started our artwork: the silhouette of a giant sea turtle between Africa and South America."

Stowe and Guillen arrived in New York Dec. 12, 1999. They plan to depart New York in December 2000 for three years on a rambling circumnavigation out of sight of land. Follow progress of Anne’s refit and upcoming voyage on www.1000days.net.

By Ocean Navigator