And Another Event - Reid Stowe Returns Tomorrow

Schooner Anne at the Statue of Liberty
Originally uploaded by bkfrogma

Wow, this one snuck up on me - I can't make it because it's on a work day & I've got painfully few unallocated vacation days left to play with this year, but yes, Reid Stowe returns to NYC tomorrow, 6/17, just shy of three years and two months after he & Soanya sailed south past the Statue of Liberty, bound for the Narrows and beyond. Way, way, way beyond.

Can't imagine what it would be like to set foot on land for the first time after that long...

Soanya came home to have a baby but they agreed that he should keep going - I thought that was pretty incredible of her, but he'd been working on getting this project off the ground (so to speak) forever & it was important to her too, so she got picked up off Australia & he sailed on. So, congratulations to both of them, as well as to all of their friends & family members who worked so hard to help them accomplish this!

I'm blogging this on Flickr, so I think it will have a link to my photo gallery from their departure (this picture is from that day, and a glorious day it was). Let's see...

yep! click on the photo caption & that'll take you over to Flickr.

For more details on Reid's return, visit www.1000days.net

Oh, and p.s. - there's already live blogging going on of Reid's return! A little websurfing tonight & I discovered that Captain Mike at Biankablog sailed in today & is anchored near Reid just off Sandy Hook. He's already posted a couple of photos of a very battered-looking Anne, plans to join in the flotilla tomorrow, and hopes to do some posts over the course of the event.

Reid Stowe & Schooner Anne, 1000 Days At Sea

Schooner Anne, Atlantic-bound, 4/21/2007

Originally posted a couple of days before the actual 1000th day. Reposting with minor edits on 1/16/2010, to coincide the actual date of the 1000th day at sea.

The pictures here are from Flickr gallery of the photos I took the day they left.

Reid Stowe, one of my dock neighbors back in the Pier 63 days, is coming up on his 1000th day at sea has been at sea for 1000 days, non-stop! Full details about the celebration are over on the 1000 Days website - this afternoon there was an event at the South Street Seaport Museum, and I expect that the party at the nearby pub is in full swing right now.

Congratulations to Reid, to Soanya (what a trouper that young lady turned out to be), and all the people from Pier 63 & beyond who worked together to make it happen. You guys must all be so proud!

Later note - There's a post over on H2uh0, gives a pretty good rundown of the entire trip to date.

2 Years At Sea, 270 Days To Go

Schooner Anne, southbound at the Verranzano Narrows Bridge, April 21st, 2007

Almost forgot in the midst of a wildly busy time at work, and it's too late for a long post, but good grief, how can I not mention that a fellow former denizen of the barge at Pier 63 has been at sea now for 2 years!

Only 270 days to go, and although it's been more than once that I've gone to that website & thought "Wow, that's got to be it, how can he possibly keep going now?", somehow, Reid's always managed. I'm getting to the point now where I think I'll be more surprised if he doesn't finish his 1000 days at sea non-stop than if he does.

Love him or hate him, you can't say he's not perservering - but when a person's been working for something for as many years as Reid worked for this, and has sponsors and a whole lot of good & loyal friends who supported him, it would be surprising if that person didn't have the determination to see the trip through to the end.

And when what started as 1000 days' adventure resulted in the lifelong commitment of parenthood, and Soanya had to return to New York, I think she may have showed more guts, in a way, in her continuing support of his continuing the quest they'd begun together than she did when she went off to sea with him in the first place.

I wish the best of luck to both of them over the next 270 days (and, of course, beyond)!

Quite the bash at Pier 66 tonight -

I can't make it, but I figured I'd pass this along -

Big Party tonight at Pier 66 - it's been 500 days since the Schooner Anne set out from Hoboken - halfway to the 1000 Days.

Been some really strange developments along the way, but he's kept going.

Not sure whose determination is more fascinating - his, or the folks who've apparently pledged their souls to his downfall (actually some of them may be there tonight, one of their ringleaders went to the party to welcome Soanya back & his report back to his gang was pretty much "Reid may be the antichrist & the biggest danger to sailing since Robert Fulton, but that was a pretty good party").

It's been interesting, to say the least.

Now to see how many hate comments this gathers (until they start, you can see a sample comment here). Whatever.

365 Days At Sea...

Schooner Anne at the Narrows, bound for Sandy Hook, the Atlantic, and...

A whole lot more sailing.

Frankly, it's an odd milestone - a year is a long time to be sailing, but if you've been following the saga, what has to strike home is how much longer the next two are bound to be.

The other thing that continues to strike me is just how determined he is.

I would've put my money on them heading home for repairs after the freighter collision 6 days out - but the didn't.

Now he's singlehanding a 70-foot schooner whose sails seem to be in a perpetual race to see if they can fall apart faster than he can mend. He said something the other day about how boring it must all sound - the situation he's got now, "boring" isn't the adjective I would have picked - "grueling" would be more like it. One day he'll sound like he's on the verge of throwing in the towel - but the next, he's bounced back, found a way to jury-rig something that will work a little longer, staying alive & staying at sea a little longer. Tough tough life he's chosen for himself for the next 2 years - seems like he means to stick it out if he possibly can, though.

I guess people who sign up for this sort of thing don't think it's going to be a walk in the park.

Love him or loathe him, you can't say he's not giving this a serious effort, even in the face of considerable adversity.

You can follow the trip at the 1000 Days at Sea site.

Adam Nichols at the Daily News has continued to follow the story (good, bad & ugly). The Wikipedia article on Reid also gives a pretty good nutshell version of the story.

Good, bad, OR ugly - I still wish him (and Soanya, now readapting to city life) luck.

Soanya's Done

Speaking of people who have the guts to try to make a dream into something real -

Soanya's headed home.

My hat's still off to her. To me, she was the most interesting factor in the 1000 Days trip. Reid's done plenty of sailing. Might not do it exactly by the book, but he knows himself, he knows his boat, and he's been working on this dream for 20 years.

But Soanya? I half expected her to find that the reality of bluewater sailing didn't match up to the romantic vision that we shorebirds tend to have. But somehow, every time they'd have a post, there she'd be finding something wonderful - unless she was feeling seasick, which she did pretty much every time the boat got to rolling. No fun.

In the end, that's what finally made her (and Reid) decide that she should return to land. It was apparent in her posts that that was getting to be a problem. Being constantly nauseous - that's just tough to argue with. Too bad, but Soanya, congratulations for trying, and for sticking it out as long as you did. What a story to be able to tell.

Reid's going on on his own - not going to be easy, but at this point, he's not ready to throw in the towel.

Congratulations Reid & Soanya...

Congratulations Reid & Soanya, who, despite a huge early setback in the form of a midnight collision, have stuck with it and are now 1/5th of the way to their stated goal of staying at sea for 1000 days. You can follow their story here.

More of my photos from their launch day over here on my involuntary Flickr gallery.

The Fishing Tournament that Wasn't.

I do believe that yesterday's New York Times had the best article about an event that didn't happen that I've ever read. Enjoy!

Plus Schooner Anne update - well, looks like they're going to try to keep going. Acclimatization time's over for Soanya, she's clearly pulling her own weight now - in fact, she's pulling Reid's weight, hoisting him up the mast to do the work he has to do. Winches were a really good invention - but still, Go Soanya! The main thing is re-rigging the headstay so the mast will stay solid in bad weather. Good luck out there!

High Speed Monday Post

5 million things to do today. Quick lunch break post to say:

My friend Marcus is awesome. Go check out what he's doing. This is somehow really particularly wonderful because if I'm remembering correctly, one of the things that really inspired him to do the kind of paddling he's doing was reading Chris Duff's On Celtic Tides. There's a nice symmetry to this, somehow. He's so low-key about it too. Good guy doing a good paddle for a good cause. Go Marcus. I'm honored to call you a friend.

Not so good news: Unfortunately it seems I'm going to have to work a verse about banging into a freighter into my Ballad of the Schooner Anne. Obviously everyone's ok (I say obvious because I wouldn't have mentioned the ballad if anyone was hurt) - but I don't much like being anywhere close to a moving freighter & this has to have been really scary. There is some damage, badly bent bowsprit, no more roller-furling jib. You can read about that here, and the next post is a discussion with Reid that I don't have time to listen to right now. I was rooting for them to at least have a respectible go at it - will be interesting to see how they deal with it.

I guess I have to say that if it was me, I'd probably say "Well, we've only been gone 15 days, let's put into port, fix the damage, and then try again". But I'm pretty well known among my friends as being a bit of a stick-in-the-mud.


Plus I do wonder if there are pressures on Reid & Soanya that might weight their decisions - I found myself thinking of the Hokule'a's inaugural voyage (which was when Eddie Aikau died) when they left, for reasons I don't have time to get into & don't even know if I consider it my business to talk about, not being big into armchair quarterbacking (almost said Monday-morning QB'ing, but nobody's called the game here). Not the same setup, but the problem with attracting the public eye is that then the public eye expects a certain performance & if they don't get it...yikes.



I do know that we lost the bobstay on the Adirondack one September in a starting-line collision with the schooner Pioneer aone year, and continued to sail with no jib for the rest of the season, but when a boat's designed to carry a certain set of sails & then loses the ability to use one, the balance won't be what it's supposed to be. For 2 hour trips to the Statue of Liberty, that wasn't a big deal. Open ocean? Dunno.

At any rate, I wish Reid & Soanya luck & the courage to make the right decisions now.

I'm not a good enough sailor, and I don't know the Anne, or Reid, or Soanya, well enough to claim to know what those are. Whatever keeps them safe, mostly.

Spring Spruce-Up 2! And a Nod to Poetry Month.

The boat wasn't the only thing that got some attention over the weekend - the raised bed got finished off, filled up & spiffed up too. Not quite in that order though!

Weekend before last, it looked like this:


I left having gotten just BARELY enough rocks propping up those boards. This weekend, on Saturday, I reinforced those - I think they'll stay up now - and that means I was able to turn my attention to a little decoration!

I actually found the coral & the big pink barnacles while I was walking from the bus stop to the club - it's a little odd because I'd been thinking that it would be fun to start keeping an eye out for pretty shells & beach glass & stuff to decorate with, and there they were, and don't they look nice? Let's see now, more dirt, and then...oh, there's something else, what was that again...

Oh, right, some PLANTS! I did actually get the acorn squash planted on Sunday. We'll see how they do - they really were looking poorly. Maybe some good sun & room to spread out will help. I'm sort of sorry I wasn't packing the camera on Sunday - in addition to the inaugural planting, the parakeets were around working on their nest all day.

In closing, in honor of National Poetry Month, I'd like to inflict - wait, I mean SHARE - the first verse of a song I've been making up.

It is called "The Ballad of the Schooner Anne". Because if a trip that supposed to last a thousand days isn't crazy enough to deserve to have a ballad written about it, I don't know what is.

This is the first verse. It is meant to be sung to the tune, The Rights of Man - appropriately, a hornpipe. Sailors? Hornpipe? Get it?

Next verse after this is going to start "At a pier in Hoboken the words they were spoken 'Now cast off every line!'". This could get ugly...

Oh, whatevahs. Anyways...here you go.

The Ballad of the Schooner Anne
first & only verse so far. But assuming all goes well, knock wood, I've got a little time to finish.

On the twenty-first of April did the Schooner Anne set sail
For to spend a thousand days among the albatross* and the whale
It was Reid and Sonya all alone ya can believe your ears
When I say they meant to sail away for two and three-quarter years.

Oh Reid built the Anne to a sturdy plan in his parents' own backyard
She had a hydroponic rig to grow alfafa sprouts and chard**
She was carved about Both in and out
With phoenix, and mermaids and sea gods
and a giant squid a-fightin' wid' a sperm whale stout.

*albatross to be sung as a triplet, otherwise the scansion gets all effed up.

**I don't think they're really growing chard. But it is a vegetable and it rhymes with backyard. So there.

1000 Days Update,

Been putting up some pictures from the Schooner Anne launch. Sorry, it's a bit haphazard, but I just don't have time to clean it up right now!

Sounds like they're going along pretty well. Soanya's had her first seasickness bout, but sounds unphased - beyond that, oh, here, you can go read for yourself!

4 down. 996 to go!

That's all I've got time for right now. Except - hey, look, the Sebago Canoe Club is blogging.

No, I had nothing to do with that, the way my schedule is I'm not quite sure why THIS blog keeps going the way it does!

1000 days thought, plusTribeca Boathouse Redesign MEETING RESCHEDULE

First off - there's been a reschedule of the final Tribeca Boathouse Redesign Group meeting. That was originally scheduled for tonight, now it's next week Monday (the 30th).

Secondly - I'm hoping I manage to get an evening to write down some thoughts about the 1000 Days at Sea. Let's just say that I'm not planning on putting down any amount of money I'd actually miss on their completing it. I can see as many reasons as anyone that they might not succeed.

But if they somehow beat the odds & pull this crazy thing off - I think one of the great things would be watching the sneerers eat their words.

I personally tend to have deeply ambivalent feelings about some of your more far-out expeditions. And this one is far-out to da max, yeah? But in the end, I can't find it in my heart to condemn these people. It's primarily themselves who they are putting in danger (not forgetting of course rescue personnel - I have problems with people who set out on adventures with any hint of an assumption that if something goes wrong, they'll just use their cell phone to call for help, but generally I think that's more the weekend-warrior set that tends to fall into that mindset) - if they've made peace with themselves & with their families & friends, and understand the risks - then what's the point of belittling them?

There've always been risk-takers out there. At worst, they mostly hurt themselves. At best, they inspire, and I think the human race is the richer for their existence.

Of course the Internet makes it easy to be a begrudger (like in that old Irish thing about "and may the begrudgers be drinking bogwater when we're all drinking tea"). Easy to say nasty stuff when you think no one will know who you are. I know I've watched some of my favorite bloggers deal with that - first, way back when, I watched Pia at Courting Destiny fight some very nasty right-wing smearing. Last year I watched Francis at FH20 Kayak Kuching get some real nastiness in his comments (and in fact today it looks like that wasn't over & they are still at it). More recently, Derrick, Canadian CKayaker Michael, and lovely goat-raising cocker-spaniel-rescuing Rosie have all had to go to moderated comments.

I guess in a way I'm lucky - I've had some disagreements with a couple of people over the last few months, but they all had the integrity to actually argue with me directly, openly, and generally privately, or within a smaller circle. Looking at all the weird nastiness all these other folks are dealing with, I really appreciate that.

Anyways. Wow. Only nine-hundred ninety-eight days and one hour left to go.

They're off!

There they go. Schooner Anne, heading down the lower harbor on Day 1 of the 1000 Days at Sea.

I'm wishing them luck. It's crazy, odds are more than likely against them - but dang. I hope they pull it off.

I took a ton of pictures from the Rosemary Ruth - will be posting those to a gallery hopefully before the end of the week (there's at least one friend of Reid & Soanya's I promised I'd share them with).

The Night Before The Thousand Days

What do you think it would be like to be spending your last night dockside before you cast off for 1000 days at sea?

Would you be thrilled?

Terrified?

1000 days.

That's two people sailing a 70-foot schooner for two and three-quarter years.

Long time. Storms will be rough. Can't stand watches with two people, it's all hands on deck 'til everything blows through, I'd think. Doldrums might be preferable. No hurry, all they have to do is stay out there to succeed.

I wonder how they feel tonight. Got to be strange feeling the designated hour marching closer & closer, after all the years of imagining & preparing.

I wonder if they'll sleep tonight - or if they are just spending their last evening ashore, saying goodbye to all their friends & family properly, before the press conference.

What can it possibly feel like?

I can't imagine.

Can you?

1000 days.

Historic Hudson Film Night & Bon Voyage to the Schooner Anne!

This just in in the email. I went to this last year, it was great (although it was out on the barge & it was COLD!). Don't know if I'll be able to go this year but HAD to post it here! I've been working very hard lately & as I mentioned, I've haven't had much quiet time at home lately, and this weekend's shaping up to be pretty busy - but this IS a wonderful way to see a bit of New York's maritime history. Mmm, looking at that selection again - early 1950's promotional film about the Queen Elizabeth? That's got to be great...and Moran tugs, why they're a fixture in NY Harbor with the big white M on their stacks, that short film's tempting...
*********
Seats are still available

2nd Annual New York Harbor Historic Films Program
This Thursday April 19, 2007 7:00 P.M.

A two-hour presentation by film historian Mitch Dakelman
Norwegian Seaman's Church
317 East 52nd St. (Between 1st & 2nd Ave)
New York, NY 10022

FERRYBOATS, CAR FLOATS and LINERS
30 minutes
Produced by Marc S Balkin

THE LITTLE GIANTS
20 minutes
Film about the Moran Tugs.

GETTING THERE IS HALF THE FUN
35 minutes - Color with narration
Produced in the early 1950s by John Bransby Productions for Cunard Lines, this promotional film showcases the RMS Queen Elizabeth and what passengers can expect on their journey, starting in New York City and ending in England. Launched by Cunard in September 1938, this magnificent 83,637-ton 1,031-foot-long vessel was the largest passenger ship in the world until 1962. With 761 cabins, she carried 2,283 passengers in luxurious comfort.

The film depicts the Queen in all her majesty, offering an extensive full-color tour of her living, dining, and recreational facilities. From her classic cabins, kitchens, swimming pools and huge deck spaces to her elegant dining rooms, this film is a lasting tribute to the RMS Queen Elizabeth, which met a very unfortunate end in Hong Kong harbor in early 1972.

Free for members of the Working Harbor Committee
$10.00 for non-members (includes membership)
Refreshments available

Brought to you by
The Working Harbor Committee

Reservations essential - to reserve:
Email John@HiddenHarborTours.Com
Visit WorkingHarbor.org

Coming events:

Working Harbor Day

Sat19 May 2007 – 11 AM – 3 PM

Special Sunset Hidden Harbor Tours®

Wed 20 June & 18 July at 6 PM

For more info visit WorkingHarbor.org
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And since I'm posting events - here's another pretty exciting one - might even say once in a lifetime, as I don't ever expect to hear of anyone else challenging this record that the Schooner Anne sets out to try to reach starting this coming Saturday!

Yes, it's a Bon Voyage Party for Reid, Soanya and the Schooner Anne - see them off on their long-awaited 1000 Days at Sea (Non-stop. Did I mention non-stop? that's the wild part. Anyone could go while away 3 years most enjoyably cruising from port to port - but the ports are half the fun, at least to my rather unimaginative way of thinking. 1000 days non-stop? I could never do it, I'd go completely mad. But I think it's awesome somebody's actually going to try it). Here's their blog, and here's the info for the bon voyage party.

Upcoming Events...and The Rustbucket Gang is Still Holding Their Collective Breath.

OK, got a hit from somebody doing a Google search under "hudson river trust rfp Pier 66". I'm not the only one dying of curiousity, so fast post here to say -

I don't know.

No official word yet; I emailed my friend Richard at MKC and they don't know yet either. Sigh. I'm scared to email the Trust and ask them, because then if they decided to give it to New York Kayak Company instead of the barge gang...it will somehow be my fault. Rationally I know that's not true but there's SO much of the human mind that's NOT rational that I'm afraid to ask.

Trust me though (pun unavoidable), there will not be a long lag behind my hearing and it turning up here.

A couple of other QUICK items of interest before I return to my forecasting -

1. The Working Harbor Committee has posted a Calendar of Events for 2007. Maybe since I'm not (really, no, I'm not) working on the schooner this year (I mean it, seriously, I'm not), I'll actually manage to go on one of their highly-regarded Hidden Harbor Tours!

2. OMG. Speaking of way-way-out-there voyages... Reid says he's leaving on April 21st for his epic 1000 Days at Sea voyage. I left a comment in the last post about how I like boating, but also enjoy the going-ashore part at the end of a long day...well, the stated plan is that Reid, Soanya and the schooner Anne won't be going ashore for just shy of THREE YEARS.

He's been looking for crew from time to time. Somehow, I have never been in the least bit tempted, but I'll follow their voyage with the same fascination as I've followed his extended preparations. If they actually pull it off? That will be a truly astounding feat of endurance. And tolerance. I could never do it. Nope. Nu-uh. Notice this blog is named after an amphibian? No coincidence there.

Anyways. Wow. Best of luck to Reid & Soanya. Gogogo! (and go, and go, and go...)

Thanks to Tugster for the tip-off!