Forced to cut the umbilical..

Forced to cut the umilical

And a wind-up alarm clock Grommit. Don't forget the alarm clock.

Go for it, man...or you'll regret it in your old age...

 

Grommit: if you read carefuly, it will be obvious that responses from Florida and Wisconsin are in the US.

 

Grommit;
There have been more than a few brave souls who cut the cord. I think there is even a name for such an undertaking. It is the "Ullysses Option". Try to find some stuff written by Lin and Larry Pardy. They've been doing the thing for a long time and apparently successfully and happily. Matter of fact I have/had a friend who one day announced that he was buying a sailboat. He had never been a sailor. I reckoned he was talking about a dinghy or at least a small boat. No! He jumped in big time with a 45 footer and proceeded to sail off to the Carribean and God knows where else. Lamar, the adventurer left a perfectly good business to do his newfound passion. It worked for him. He is a skilled engine mechanic and he makes a living going port to port with tools and knowledge and above all some people skills.

You bet you can do this if you really want to. I would suggest that you examine your motives carefully before you cast off. You seem disenchanted with your lot and you appear to be blaming the rest of society for that. I hasten to agree that there are a'plenty of back stabbing, lieing, conniving, ********* out there. You are going to find that to be true wherever you go. There a places that are far worse. Some societies thrive on theft. Some have militant governments that do not like Americans and that gives them a rationale for siezing you boat and/or throwing you in their jail. That is worst case scenario stuff but it is reality as well. If you go, plan ahead. I will not philosophize further than to say "there is no escape from your own demons".

Best of luck.

 

To quote Urethra Franklin, THINK!

Leaving a North American country isn't for the faint hearted. I watched a family member become a ex-patriot, and the process and results are not simple. Taxes may be avoided, but so is the protection of the embassy and government. Smaller countries in the Caribbean are different societies with different values than you are used to. Many places have much higher crime than you are used to, and stateless folks are not a priority for governments and law enforcement in many countries.

To some degree, North America is Disneyland. There are high costs to be inside the fence, but on the whole there is safety, protection and shared values. Things are consistent and predictable. Here people do not have to live in gated communities and carry guns. In the USVI, most "foreigners" live in carefully controlled gated communities, and I've seen the same in RSA, in the Bahamas, Trinidad & Tobago, Haiti etc. There is a very wide gap between West Indian society and people from the US - and that gap is not easily bridged.

Another acquaintance is trying to move to the States, and he is encountering huge problems getting a green card. He was registered as foreign crew on a US vessel, and his visa allows only a certain amount of time in the US. He's a dual Canadian / British passport carrying citizen, but hasn't paid taxes in either country for years. His stateless condition has US immigration tied up in knots - and he's got enough money to satisfy any issues and is married to a native born American. Spousal sponsorship isn't the get-into-the-country-free card it once was.

I'd suggest the try it before you buy it approach. Unless you are making over $100K US, you will not have a US tax obligation if you are paying local taxes in the country of your work (IANAL), so do not risk your passport and citizenship.

 

Oops.....

I wonder what motivates others? I feel motivated for reasons I shouldn't. I should be motivated by just want of seeing the world, not for reasons of escape!

Feeling I have to, instead of wanting to, is mixed within me. Several years ago I had the want to desire, for adventure, so I bought a boat that by it's design had proven blue water and dreamed, read a lot of books, but the dream faded because I had to stop and help parents through old age. Now it's possible but my heart isn't where it had been, now I feel other reasons for doing such and this is what bothers me. It's more out of a need for survival as this boat is my home and will be for the unforeseeable future.

 

Dont worry about the protection of your embassy ,it is meager at best,-- as is the others.

The fact they you are hesitant is a sign that you are not ready.

When I left England in 1989 It was the best day of my life I was so exited and sure !!!! wow you couldnt have held me back. I reduced my entire life to a suitcase. I wouldnt have listened to any body let alone ask. Still feel the same way.

Seldem do we regret the things we do but often regret the things we dont.

Humans are monogomous--normally and live in caves (made of bricks today) travelling away from home to never return is not normal, only a few do this.

It is very very frightening to most people and can not undestand why one should shun thier security.

You may be one of the adventurous types. You may be one of us!!

 

Yeah, America is kind of gross lately. I'm a Mainer, and it's only a matter of time before I do the same as you. Not necessarily in the same way. I did plan once to sail my Carter 33 off into the sunset, free of debt, by selling my house.
Had to sell the boat due to unforseen circumstances. Now I look at setting up a Mitsubishi tilt cab short wheelbase, no box, just a fifth-wheel tractor to pull a boat around with. I can work that way, and live aboard the boat on the trailer.
I wanted something sustainable. I could carry 1000 lbs of tools easily in boxes on the truck frame. I could conceivably do this as long as I could function---- boat repair, carpentry, etc..
Whatever you do, make sure you can keep doing it. You've got a money-pit if you own a good-sized yacht. It will be used a lot, wear parts quicker. If I went off to sea, I'd think about a real rough and tumble boat like a steel Roberts Spray with simple parts and rig. Modern yachts are expensive beasts to keep up. Can you do it?
A lot of people are thinking along the same lines as you are. You aren't alone. I will maintain a small cabin on two acres and sail in Maine in the summer. Maybe build a small boat every year just for kicks.
No one could blame you for wanting out. I'm pretty sick of it too.

Alan

 

I have lots of tools aboard and many spare parts. Much of the mechanicals of the boat including standing rigging, engine transmission, rudder, prop shaft, etc, are rebuilt and or in good maintained condition. The sails are excellent and with new Lewmar 44 self tailing primaries. My electronics, only my radar is old but works fine. I have a lot of confidence in this boat, it is well equipped but I still need to add two more 130 watt PV panels to have adequate electricity for my needs. Much more will be needed before any attempt to "jump off" when and if?

 

Forced to cut etc

As that fine old Scots writer, Oscar MacWilde remarked: "Of course America was discovered many times before Columbus - but they managed to hush it up...."

 

I think you'd enjoy the books of Tim Severin: http://www.timseverin.net/
and Nat Philbrick: http://www.nathanielphilbrick.com/

I second the suggestion that you get yourself a copy of Annie Hill's book: Voyaging on a Small Income.

What destination do you have in mind? I'd suggest Palawan has a lot to recommend it. Here's a resort there: http://www.elnidoresorts.com/index.htm. The Phillipine government has some specific criteria as to who can work and buy land in the Phillipines. I think they're pretty easy to find with a Google search. I have no information as to whether people lie there, but Lawrence Bergreen has some interesting things to say about the South Sea islanders Magellan encountered in his book about the explorer: http://www.laurencebergreen.com/magellan.html (the lesson of which seems to be that converting people to Christianity by attacking them can have a downside. Apparently the concept of taking people on their own terms is something Europeans had yet to discover. The book is timely in that we Americans seem to be divided about this idea even now.)

Fair Winds!

 

Ah, America... too much of a good thing. There is the physical America and there is the cultural America. Physically, it offers every kind of resource-- and every kind of landscape. Culturally, it suffers from a sort of stagnation. Too many people "hooked in" to a system that no longer delivers what it once promised.
America, where anyone can make it big. That part is true, if by "big" one means money according to corporate morality (or lack thereof).
Where virtually every viable option is another consumer trap. Forced to take part or forced into poverty.
One must first be a part of the system so that later they can exercise the option to leave it. Then they must be very clever, like a prisoner must be if he wants to escape from a prison.
Figuring out how to escape a raging fire in a locked building is not escapism, or lack of acceptence, or a personal problem. There are things that become revealed to some people, like a scent of smoke.
Getting out is a logistical problem, and "out" is not necessarily physically out, but systematically out, all bases covered.
The system is defunct, but the place and the people are mostly gracious and decent. The "escape" is metaphorical. It is nearly impossible, but I think it can be done.

Alan

 

Well I guess I've started a human values post!

I am here and in the now........As I look I see myself and where I stand in life. From this point I weigh who, what, where, and how, I am going to fulfill the remainder of my life. I've been happy, sad, encouraged, disappointed, lifted up and dropped, married and divorced, 2 dogs, sports cars, wealth and poor...Self-employed, and recently just employed.

I'm 52, not rich, but not without. I stand alone and at my age expect to begin not having to labor as much. Buttttttttttt...... My Gulfstar, and what it may represent for me is a way out......a change, ability to non-conform.....I was a hippie in the late sixties.....thought the world would get wise......didn't happen!

George Bush/ Rush Limbaugh.....mentality is reality........and I am ready to leave.........but wait......2008.......?????

 

Go for it----- you'll regret it otherwise.

Alan

 

Damn...you are persistent!

 

Ok Alen, where would you go first?