Reid Stowe

William Reid Stowe
Born (1952-01-06) January 6, 1952 (age 72)
NationalityAmerican
Occupation(s)Artist and Craftsman, Sailor, Adventurer
Known forExtended voyages with schooner Anne

William Reid Stowe (born January 6, 1952) is an American artist and mariner. Stowe grew up around sailboats on the East Coast, sailing on the Pacific and Atlantic Oceans in his late teens and early twenties. By age 26, he had built two of his own sailboats with the help of his family and friends. Stowe subsequently sailed to the Antarctic with his schooner Anne in 1986 and completed a 194-day journey without touching land in 1999.

In 2010 Stowe completed a more extensive ocean voyage, entitled 1000 Days at Sea: The Mars Ocean Odyssey—a journey that commenced on April 21, 2007, from the 12th St. Pier, Hoboken, New Jersey.[1] Stowe was the principal designer and builder of the Anne, a 70 ft (21.3 m), 60-ton (54,400 kg) gaff-rigged schooner which he sailed on this voyage.[1][2] The purpose of the enterprise was to remain on the open ocean, without resupply or pulling into any harbor, for a period of one thousand days, along with some other goals that were not met, such as circumnavigating the globe four times.[3] The single circumnavigation involved active management of a sailboat under varying weather conditions, with continuous wear and tear of equipment on the schooner, although the schooner was not always under full sail.[4]

On June 17, 2010, Reid Stowe sailed the schooner Anne up the Hudson River, accompanied by Sail Magazine's Executive Editor Charles Doane, and docked in New York.[5] The total voyage duration claimed by Stowe was 1,152 days, a potential record for the longest continuous sea voyage without resupply or stepping on land. Upon landing at Pier 81 in Manhattan, he was met by family and friends, by his girlfriend Soanya Ahmad—who had accompanied him for the first quarter of the journey—and their toddler son, as well as by the press.[6][7]

  1. ^ a b Sailing Duo Begin 1,000-Day Ocean Voyage. Tariq Malik, Live Science:Strange News; posted: 21 April 2007. Retrieved 1 May 2010.
  2. ^ Strickland, Eliza (2007-09-12), "Couple's 1,000-Day Sea Voyage Simulates Trip to Mars", Wired News, retrieved 2007-09-14
  3. ^ Launch Brochure–as it appeared on 1 November 2014. Retrieved 18 May 2017. (Ed's note: This is the newest version of the Launch Brochure from the Web Archives.)
  4. ^ Daily Logs (1000 Days at Sea). For example, see the log entries for Days 333, 622, 848, 868, 878 and 1048. Archived 27 June 2015 at the Wayback Machine
  5. ^ Onboard Anne with Reid Stowe. Sail Magazine, 6 July 2010. Retrieved 23 December 2016.]
  6. ^ Cite error: The named reference man returns was invoked but never defined (see the help page).
  7. ^ Tierney, John (June 16, 2010). "A Record-Smashing Sea Journey, and Not for Its Speed". The New York Times. Retrieved June 22, 2010.