Captain Reid Ocean Odyssey part two: the Voyages
Agu 2, 2004 08: 54 EST
Friday we published the first part in the amazing story of the Captain who plans to stay out at sea for three years without touching land. Today is the closing part two, about the planned trip and the Captains other voyages:
Long spells at sea are no new thing for Reid, though a thousand days will be the longest by far. When he was 19 he sailed the South Pacific for a year. Since 1978 Captain Reid has sailed Anne on hundreds of sea voyages including a 200 day expedition to Antarctica. The sea is in his blood. His grand father taught him the art of boat building – a craft that led Reid to sculpting and can be seen all about the Schooner Anne.
Anne was built from scratch by Reid and his family 27 years ago in North Carolina. Her two masts and dual fore-sails display a classic beauty, disguising a durable and reliable boat. In 2001 Captain Stowe and Anne weathered the "perfect storm" during a winter hurricane in the North Atlantic. Anne was thrown over but automatically righted herself. Anne responded to her design which places its weigh in ballast 9 ft. below water. “Watching the seas from the top of a large swell, I could see these big breaks. We were heading right for a convergence, where the waves rose 40-50 ft.” Reid has seen a lot of these ‘rogue’ waves in his time and says that they move fast and peter out quickly.
The Hurricanes - “You have to trust the boat you’re in”
Reid sailed through a hurricane about 100 miles north of Bermuda, in the middle of January blizzard conditions. A Bermuda weather service clocked wind speeds at above 80 mph. “You have to trust the boat you’re in,” said the captain, “especially when you’re sailing the trade winds.”
Schooner Anne is a low-maintenance vessel designed to be repaired at sea. Her hull is made of steel meshing and fiber glass which is one of her most unique points. A more common construction would be a ferro-cement hull. Her interior cabins are finished in Caribbean hardwood that was salvaged after hurricane David.
The lady is ready
Her water containers have a 7 ton capacity and can be refilled with rain water by means of a catchment awning or with sea water filtered by means of a 12 volt reverse osmosis water maker. Anne carries a 140 horse power diesel engine fueled by a 250 gallon long distance reservoir. Her deck structures were conceived to maintain a low center of gravity so as to withstand the repeated assaults of heavy weather.
The sails of the schooner are gaff-rigged with an upper and lower boom for each of the major sails. The masts are of thick solid wood and the ropes holding the sails are of Dacron, a material which has proven itself over long usage. The rigging was designed for its reliability using age old tried and true sailing techniques.
Image of Captain Reid and the Schooner Anne at sea for the first time courtesy of Captain Reid.
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