Sailors take on Atlantic on reed ship

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New Jersey: The Abora Three is getting its finishing touches before setting out across the Atlantic.

A boat is made of reeds, like the vessels in ancient times, its European crew is hoping to show that a boat like this, could have made it to North America, long before Columbus did.

"As a Norwegian I have to state that before Columbus, about 500 years, the Vikings sailed to North America, but this sort of turns the pages several thousand years before that,” says a member of the Abora Three crew, Tormod Granheim.

When the ship is finished and ready to set sail, it will look like this: in front of the ship will be a cabin where part of the 12-member crew can sleep, then there is a larger cabin with more bedroom space, and at the rear of the ship is, what can be called the outhouse.

There will also be few creature comforts. "What do you do to eat when there's no refrigerator? But we have to eat, so we have mostly dry bread in the morning,” said another crew member, Ingo Isensee. And perhaps some fish caught along the way.

The journey begins in July when they set sail from Jersey City for their destination, Spain, hoping to make history, and give history, a second look.