Monday, November 16, 2009

The big small world of Reid Stowe and BIANKA

Back in the late 1990's when BIANKA was docked at the Chelsea Piers and I was pretty much living on board. Reid Stowe and his schooner ANNE was docked a few piers up river. I had on occasion walked by there and had seen Stowe working on his boat but, never actually had a gam with him. At the time I think he was getting prepared to head out into the Atlantic and chart a course that would trace a giant turtle on the waters of the Atlantic. After he returned from that trip he came up with a more ambitious project which was to spend a thousand days at sea. A journey which he is currently embarked on now being some 936 days into that sail. He is actually going to be spending more than one thousand days at sea in order to avoid the winter storms of the Atlantic before returning back to New York harbor.


I've been checking into his website/blog 1000 DAYS AT SEA every couple of weeks. I and many others have been vicariously taking the journey with him through his blog. He is part sailor, part artist and very spiritual as he single hands the 70-foot and 60-ton gaff-rigged schooner ANNE around the ocean. Now that the sailing season is over for me I wish I could be out there with him as he alternates between his art and boat chores. Lately, it seems his computer is acting up and may fail at some point depriving the rest of the world of his colorful, descriptive posts. He is certainly in tune with his environment and the ocean he sails. But, personally I have concerns that he might never be able to set foot on land again after making this journey. But, reading his posts and the things he has seen and experienced I'm sure that would be fine with Stowe but, I and others would sure miss not being able to have a little chat with him should we be anchored or docked nearby the Anne someday.

2 comments:

Anonymous said...

I've been following his voyage, too. Today is January 9, 2010. The last available satellite position of Reid's boat is posted on Google Earth as January 6, 2010. His last course takes him southeast, not northwest, back to NY Harbor. What happened? Did Reid throw the equipment overboard? Did the boat sink? Something is very wrong.

Capt. Mike said...

Anon:

I looked at Reid's tracking today on Google Earth:
Schooner Anne
4.48104 degrees North, 21.74084 degrees West
2010-01-19 12:34:00
and he seems to be in the general area where he has been for a few weeks.