Soanya Ahmad, the 24-year-old woman who embarked last spring on a sailing journey that would last 1,000 days without making landfall, is back in New York City. She could only last just over 300 days before the elements and regular seasickness drove her to shore in Australia. Her 56-year-old boyfriend Reid Stowe is continuing his quest alone.
Before undertaking the epic and potentially record-setting attempt, Ahmad had actually never sailed on the ocean before. It was Reid's second attempt; he was accompanied by a different girlfriend on the first voyage. What ended Ahmad's trip last week was subsisting on a diet of sprouts and dried fish, while being rolled on the giant ocean waves of the southern hemisphere. From the get go, it was not all smooth sailing. Stowe and Ahmad's schooner was actually struck by a freighter one night within days of leaving New York Harbor.
It will be interesting to see how Stowe progresses on his journey, which can be followed here. The 2006 documentary Deep Water looked at how the isolation of the open ocean for solo sailors is enough to endanger a person's sanity.
