Duo Planning 1,000 Days Alone at Sea
By VERENA DOBNIK
AP
HOBOKEN, N.J. (April 21) - He's a veteran of long-distance sailing voyages in all kinds of weather. She's never sailed outside the Hudson River.


Bring Me the Horizon

Dima Gavrysh, AP
Reid Stowe and his girlfriend, Soanya Ahmad, get ready to set sail on an estimated 1,000 day journey. If successful, they will surpass the 657 days spent at sea by Australian Jon Sanders.
Talk About It: Post Thoughts
But together, 55-year-old Reid Stowe and his 23-year-old girlfriend, Soanya Ahmad, are embarking on a voyage that they intend to take them three times around the globe and last 1,000 days and nights - nonstop, with no port calls for supplies or a walk on solid ground.

They were ready to set sail Saturday aboard his 70-foot, two-masted schooner, named the Schooner Anne, from a Hudson River marina in North Hoboken.

"This will be my first time sailing ever - except for up and down the Hudson River," said Ahmad, the New York-raised daughter of immigrants from Guyana.

"I haven't gotten seasick - so far," she said with a grin.

She may be tested when the yacht rounds South America's Cape Horn on the way from the Atlantic to the Indian Ocean, an area infamous for waves as high as 100 feet, as well as icebergs.

If they succeed, they say their time away from land will surpass the 657 days spent at sea by Australian Jon Sanders, who circumnavigated the globe three times from 1986 to 1988.

Stowe planned a course that initially will take them into the north Atlantic to take advantage of wind and currents, then head south of the Equator. Past the Equator, before passing Cape Horn, he mapped out a course that would loop around the south Atlantic, in the outline of a heart.

"This is a voyage that takes heart," he said.

Provisions were packed into every nook and cranny of the schooner's hull, everything from rice and beans to tomato sauce, pasta, pesto, olives, chocolate, spices and about 200 pounds of parmesan cheese. Sprouts were already growing in boxes for salads.

The rest of their food will be caught fresh from the sea - automatically. Two contraptions at the stern will troll for fish, and when one is caught the line is rigged to alert them by tapping a piece of wood.

Rainwater will be collected in tarps stretched over the deck, and a desalinator will turn sea water into drinking water.

Crammed in alongside the food was a ton of coal and 100 boxes of firewood for the antique French iron stove that keep them warm, plus diesel oil for a motor.

Solar panels will generate enough electricity for the satellite communication and navigation system and for lights. Along with sending and receiving e-mail via satellite, they expect to post photographs, videos and blogs on their Web site.

They also have a small library of books on yoga, meditation and spirituality, as well as art and history, plus the collected works of Joseph Conrad and every book written by Herman Melville, including "Moby Dick."

Along with a well-stocked medical kit, they both learned how to clean and stitch cuts and to set broken bones.

The cost of the journey is covered by corporate and individual donations, plus donations of food, the sails and marine ropes.

Their message to the world, they say, is that any human being can persevere and survive while staying inspired and in love.

"It's inside everyone to go into the unknown, to sail by the sun and the winds of fate. Our ability to control our minds will allow us to do this," said Stowe"If we had to come back for cheeseburgers, we wouldn't be able to do it."


Most Popular - Last 24 Hours
Killer's Family Feels 'Helpless and Lost'Catholic Church Reverses Teaching on LimboNASA to Examine Security After ShootingFlorida Crew Lands 1,063-Pound Mako SharkWife of Slain Preacher Convicted of ManslaughterThey met four years ago when Ahmad, a college student, was photographing Manhattan's waterfront where the schooner was docked.

"He invited me aboard. It was my first time on a sailboat," said Ahmad. "Reid was looking for someone to go with him. At first, I said no, but then..."

Her parents, both New York accountants, "are a little terrified," said their only daughter, the oldest of three siblings.

The voyage is formally called "1000 Days at Sea: The Mars Ocean Odyssey," since Stowe compares it to an expedition to Mars, which would involve about the same time in isolation.

He has sailed to every continent in the past four decades, including Antarctica. "I have the tools, I have the experience," he said.

One of those previous voyages was a 200-day trip with his wife in 1999. They're divorced now, but she gave him and Ahmad a life raft for their journey, and planned to be on the dock to wave goodbye Saturday.

Stowe said the journey offers lessons even to someone who will never go out to sea - or someone like Ahmad, who grew up in New York City: "You learn to be present to the situation, to look and see what's happening, and to do what needs to be done."

Adds Ahmad: "On a sailboat, you have to be present in the moment, in the now. Or there's no tomorrow."

Virginia Tech killer's family: We are 'living a nightmare'

Story Highlights• "We are humbled by this darkness," Seung-Hui Cho's sister said
• Family says they are "deeply sorry" for the 32 slain at Virginia Tech
• "I feel like I didn't know this person," Sun-Kyung Cho said
• The Cho family feels ''hopeless, helpless and lost''
Adjust font size:
BLACKSBURG, Virginia (CNN) -- The family of Virginia Tech killer Seung-Hui Cho feels "hopeless, helpless and lost" and is "deeply sorry" for his "unspeakable actions," according to a written statement released Friday by his sister.

"We are humbled by this darkness," Sun-Kyung Cho said in the family's first comments since her brother shot and killed 32 people and then killed himself. "He has made the world weep. We are living a nightmare."

In her statement, Sun-Kyung Cho said her brother was "someone that I grew up with and loved. Now I feel like I didn't know this person." (Read Cho family's statement)

"We have always been a close, peaceful and loving family. My brother was quiet and reserved, yet struggled to fit in. We never could have envisioned that he was capable of so much violence," she said.

The statement was made public as people across Virginia and around the country donned Virginia Tech's maroon and orange and paused to remember the lives lost in Cho's shooting rampage. (Read more about the memorials)

Wendy Adams, whose niece, Leslie Sherman, died in the rampage, told The Associated Press about the family's statement: "I'm not so generous to be able to forgive him for what he did. But I do feel for the family. I do feel sorry for them."

Sun-Kyung Cho said her family has been praying for the victims and their families, listing by name in her statement all 32 people who died. (Honoring the victims)

"Each of these people had so much love, talent and gifts to offer, and their lives were cut short by a horrible and senseless act," she said. "There is much justified anger and disbelief at what my brother did, and a lot of questions are left unanswered.

"Our family will continue to cooperate fully and do whatever we can to help authorities understand why these senseless acts happened.

"We have many unanswered questions as well."

The Cho family, who emigrated from South Korea in 1992, lived in Centreville, Virginia, in the Washington suburbs. They left their home and went into seclusion after police arrived to search for evidence Monday night.

Cho's parents worked in a dry cleaning business. Sun-Kyung Cho, who, like her brother, grew up mostly in the United States, is a graduate of Princeton University.

Cho's great-aunt, Kim Yang-soon, described Cho as "very cold" and said her niece was constantly worried about him, according to an interview translated by the AP. (Watch relative recall problems from Cho's childhood )

Copyright 2007 CNN. All rights reserved.This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed. Associated Press contributed to this report.