Stowe grew up around sailboats on the East Coast, sailing on the Pacific and Atlantic Oceans in his late teens and early twenties.

[1][2] The purpose of the enterprise was to remain on the open ocean, without resupply or pulling into any harbor, for a period of one thousand days, along with some other goals that were not met, such as circumnavigating the globe four times.

It was during these summer interludes that Reid absorbed carpentry, and, during his high school years with his younger brother Wave, Stowe built fiberglass surf boards.

During one of these Hawaiian excursions, when Stowe was nineteen, he fell in with Craige Fostvedt,[12][fn 1] who had invested some of his college funds to purchase a small sailing vessel.

Invited to accompany him on an extended sail through the South Pacific to New Zealand,[13] Stowe was obliged to obtain a passport, for which he needed a copy of his birth certificate.

Years later, Stowe recalled to interviewer Harold Channer that his parents could very well have refused to send him the certificate and instead could have insisted on his return to school.

After their arrival, Reid Stowe continued on a solo voyage which took him to Africa, a second Atlantic crossing, a trip to Brazil and the Amazon, returning to the United States in 1976.

[10] In 1976, he took up residence in the North Carolina beach cottage of his maternal grandfather, and with extensive help from his mother's family, his father—now a retired Colonel—and his siblings, Reid Stowe began the construction of a sailing vessel designed after late nineteenth-century American gaff-rigged fishing schooners, prevalent from the 1880s to the 1900s.

Unlike the nineteenth century antecedent, however, Stowe and his family employed Ferralite over steel wire mesh for the hull,[15][19][20] with interior spaces finished in Caribbean hardwood supplied largely from debris thrown up by Hurricane David.

Named Tantra Schooner at launch,[22] Stowe established the ship as his home, sailing it originally to the Caribbean with his then wife, Iris and baby daughter Viva, "[finishing] the interior en route and in the islands."

"[22] Renamed the Anne in honor of his mother and her family,[1][9] Stowe took the schooner to Antarctic waters in 1986 with a crew of eight, his first long-term trial with the vessel.

The crew would consist of scientists who would study weather, water, and atmospheric pollution, and ozone depletion in remote and little-documented regions of the world.

Stowe hoped to conduct field tests of communication satellites, water purification systems and other equipment potentially useful for exploring Mars."

Later, Stowe, with Harrison, authored the paper, "One thousand days non-stop at sea – Lessons for a mission to Mars" outlining a "1000-day voyage without touching land or receiving supplies from other craft.

The goals of this expedition include the evaluation of equipment, supplies, and humans under conditions of isolation and confinement that will resemble some of those of the initial Mars voyage.

[29] In the intervening time, Stowe made his home on board the Anne, used Pier 63 as his address, and undertook preliminary trips with Laurence Guillem, whom he had married in 1999.

[31][32] This caused the move of the schooner Anne to the 12th St. Pier across the river in Hoboken, on the New Jersey side, from which Reid eventually embarked on his epic voyage.

Stowe and Ahmad departed on the 1000-day voyage on April 21, 2007, at 3:00 PM EDT from the 12th St. Pier in Hoboken, New Jersey, witnessed by about 100 well-wishers, including his parents and his former wife, Laurence Guillem.

The name, 1000 Days at Sea: The Mars Ocean Odyssey, the duration and the challenges of the voyage echo concepts that were put forth in the paper and reiterated in the departure press release.

[39] The scientific goals that had been outlined in the departure press release—the study of weather, water, atmospheric pollution and ozone depletion in little-documented regions of the world—have not been fully realized due to lack of proper equipment, as indicated by periodic entries in the voyage's log.

[45] Members from the Royal Perth Yacht Club, including Jon Sanders,[46] rendezvoused with the Anne around 1800 local time (+9 UTC) and assisted with Ms. Ahmad's departure.

[46][47] Ms. Ahmad's departure left Stowe without a crew and compromised an original tenet of the voyage, "...to leave the land and all support, sail for 1,000 days, non-stop at sea without receiving help, to live at sea, to be healthy, to send back good messages and have the whole world follow the voyage and understand the importance of it..."[39] Mr. Stowe intended to complete the mission plan alone.

According to The Age, the schooner Anne was to maintain a position beyond sight of land during the transfer so Mr Stowe could continue his attempt to break records.

[50] Reid Stowe and his support team have since accomplished one of their goals of a person sailing on the open seas without resupply for 1000 days, as well as breaking the 1067-day record set by the Fram in 1896.

[57] Reid Stowe saw his son for the first time, after landing his 70-foot schooner 'Anne' in New York and reuniting with girlfriend Soanya Ahmad on Thursday, June 17, 2010.