mission to mars

Description

New York City artist, adventurer and sailor Reid Stowe, on his 70-ft. gaff-rigged schooner Anne, is about to conclude his epic 1000+ Days non-stop and non-resupplied sea voyage. Stowe will return to New York Harbor, where he started, on Thursday, June 17, 2010, after logging 1,152 days at sea. Stowe will be accompanied by a flotilla of boats up the Hudson River to Pier 81 (Circle Line/World Yacht pier) where he will disembark at 1 p.m. and step foot on land for the first time in over three years. He will reunite with his companion, Soanya Ahmad, who sailed with Stowe for the first 306 days of the voyage, but had to leave due to morning sickness. Ahmad now holds the women's record for the longest non-stop sea voyage. Stowe will also meet, for the first time, his son Darshen, who was conceived at sea and is now almost two years old. Stowe left port April 21, 2007, accompanied by his companion Ahmad. Together they sailed from the Hudson towards the Atlantic on a ship laden with three years worth of food, beans for sprouting, solar panels for energy, large tarps to catch rainwater, a laptop, an Iridium satellite telephone, and a JouBeh satellite tracking unit that would verify the path of the 1000 days voyage (see Google map at www.1000days.net). Stowe survived a collision with a freighter on day 15, endured tough repairs with limited supplies, through the loss of his companion and only crewmember when she had to leave the boat due to nausea, and through the solitary days that followed. Still, Stowe managed to create two large scale conceptual art drawings with the course that he sailed, the shape of a whale in the Pacific and a heart in the Atlantic. Why 1000 Days? One thousand days is the time estimated for a future mission to Mars, which will have similar attributes of isolation and vessel self-reliance -- hence the project's name, "Mars Ocean Odyssey." Stowe's primary motivation is "to take exploration on the sea further than anyone has before." Linked to thousands of followers on the Web, on day 638 he writes, "...it takes more to live at sea than a good boat and all the preparations, skills and psychology than you can imagine. It takes the continued support of the loving consciousness of humankind." Despite numerous mental, physical, and emotional hardships that would have caused another person to head for the safety of the shore, Stowe remains optimistic, finding strength in a deep spiritual connection to the sea. Visit the official website at www.1000days.net to read daily blogs from the Anne, see her current location, hear audio clips, and much more.