Tuesday, October 16, 2007

Avon now makes a Life Raft.

The following is my first post in the Couple Cruise for 1000 Days thread on SA. This was from the good 'ole days; a time when the good Cheeseship Anne still had her bow sprit, when both Reid and Soanya still had measureable body-mass-index, the Reidhovians kept their blind support quietly to themselves, and poor Daniel Hansen's stomach didn't churn at the thought of parmisean on his pasta supper.

See the original post here:http://www.sailinganarchy.com/forums/index.php?showtopic=52463&st=0&p=1149790&hl=life%20raft&#entry1149790

Posted on: Apr 23 2007, 05:52 AM
I was reading through his experiances, time at sea, preperation, etc, and was actually starting to think he's got an idea of what he's getting into. I still figured he was bat-shit crazy, but you need to be a little differently abled to leave for 3 years. Then I found this.

"Pumping Up and Examining Our Rubber Boat/Life RaftIn a break between snows and gale force winds, we pumped up and examined our rubber inflatable, which will also serve as our life raft. When our friend, Charlie Doane an editor of Sail magazine, gave it to us, I told him we hoped to keep it inside and will never use it. But prudence and careful planning to the best of our abilities demanded that we familiarize ourselves with our equipment in case we had to use it. Having had experience with rubber boats, pumping it up and restowing it was straight forward. We had a patch kit, two foot pumps, and three sets of oars. The use of an open rubber boat as a life raft is debatable, but it will work as it has on numerous occasions, most notably by Alan Bombard who purposely took an open rubber boat with very few supplies across the Atlantic in the seventies. We will discuss in an upcoming blog our survival bags and strategies for abandoning ship"
If this really is the donation from his ex-wife, I love the gesture.

3 comments:

Anonymous said...

The question of just what Reid is carrying as a life raft has never been answered definitively. When this avon was referenced in comments on their blog as their life raft; it was followed by this comment by one of Reid's supporters, Libby:
Libby said...
I strongly suspect that the bag labeled "life raft" that you see in the chargo hold is the Avon rubber dinghy that was given to Reid by Charlie Doane of Sail magazine. Back when that entry was written, it probably was what Reid planned to use. It is not the life raft his former wife gave to Reid and Soanya.
[JESSE - IF THIS NEXT PART ISN'T CORRECT OR IF YOU AREN'T SURE, PLEASE DELETE IT. THE FOLLOWING PARAGRAPH IS OKAY WHETHER OR NOT THIS NEXT BIT IS USED.
I believe she gave them a standard life raft and I think I recall that it will accommodate four people, so it should have a good number of survival supplies on it.]
Whatever they are using, I am sure if they head into heavy weather, Reid will have everything they will need close at hand.
This comment was never confirmed nor denied by Jesse. It seems logical to assume that Libby is the Libby Edwards of Planet Earth that wrote this letter to Lattitudes:
http://www.latitude38.com/letters/200707.html
(scroll down to almost bottom of the page).

MaxHeadroom said...

Um dude - In case you missed the title of the blog, this is 1000DaysOfHell - NOT 1000DaysAtSeaOnACheeseDanish

We be the parody site!

Jesse the gate keeper does not have access to this blog - We let just about anyone post, even when your posts prove your ignorance -

Unlike Jessie who must only let sweetness and light coated in love and harmony be posted to his blog

Sailflat said...

Sorry anonymous poster... But unfortunately we can only go with what is on Reid's blog. The photos and other supporting evidence for this post come directly from his web site. If wants to post a blog entry on his web site about his safety equipment with a photo of the life raft, EPIRB, and ditch bag; I would be happy to delete the entries and post a retraction.

Vandalism and Fair Use

It seems that some energetic fans of Mr. Stowe have discovered this site and have a problem with it's content; All posts are welcome here whether you agree with this blog or not; however, nonsensical posts will be deleted.

We suggest you research the following terms: public figure, parody, and fair use.....and lighten up a bit, hey?