I’m in the middle of a great book, “The Education of Little Tree” by Forrest Carter. Carla bought it for me as I’m such a fan of indigenous living. It reminded me of this funny clipping I found on-line a while back (click on it to enlarge).
The book is set in the 30’s and is a story of a young orphan boy who is raised and educated by his Cherokee grandparents. It’s about as far from a Tom Clancy novel as one can get but I highly recommend it. It highlights “where white men went wrong”, and in my opinion is a good book for anyone trying to clear their head to unplug and think straight.
We (man) really do need so little, but the system is so ingrained in our head it’s 
hard to see the sea clearly for the smog, noise, signals, and pollution.
For those serious about trying to mentally prepare to go cruising on little, decompressing is essential. Get rid of the television, read some good books, and allow your mind some free time to listen to your little voice. Meditation is a good idea. You don’t need to think of it as sitting lotus position in a room filled with Indian music and incense. Just go somewhere outdoors and away from civilization, sit in the grass, snow, or sand, and just take some time away from work, bills, responsibility, television, radio, and the internet. Just think and clear your mind of all the garbage. I spend so much time these days just watching the clouds trying to imagine them moving faster for time lapse video. This is how we find our center, 
through peace.
A successful minimalist sailor thinks outside the box, and we must. Most of my readers are American, Australian, Canadian, English, Irish, Scottish, and South African, basically English speaking countries. The problem with English speaking countries is that we are trained to think linearly as we live at the heart of the “machine”, as we should, we built it. Many of you are reading my words here because you believe we have become too dependent on the machine and you seek freedom. You seek simplicity, travel, sailing, and freedom. You seek time. Well, think laterally.
Basically we are trained to believe that we should always put screw “A”, in slot “B”, and if we don’t have screw “A”, we need to buy one. We also believe in the West Marine philosophy that there is a gadget for every situation on a boat, and therefore one would deduce successful cruising is dependent on money & gear. Well…, I can assure you it’s not! Successful cruising is dependent on attitude and being resourceful. Whatever you do don’t rely on west marine anchoring suggestions/packages for the size of your boat. Big boat mega-shops are like any other shop, if they have an excess of one item they want to move it, they are about money and selling (sales, not sails), if you know what I mean.
The clever people in poor or indigenous countries make something from nothing. A car is used, fixed, restored, and fixed again. Bent frames are straightened, welded and reinforced. There is much less waste here and people really take responsibility for their possessions as they don’t have much.
I would assume 
Cuban mechanics would be at the top of their profession working on simple combustion engines. One may also deduce that poor cruisers are more resourceful than others. Not always true, but I would certainly say most of the time. I would be so bold as to say the more resourceful you are, the more successful of a cruiser you will be. There are no mechanics, plumbers, riggers, sail makers, carpenters, or fiberglass guys at sea. We must be our own. A successful minimalist sailor has a minimalist boat, which has minimal systems. The catamaran that was struck by lightening here a few weeks ago claimed about $100,000.00 in damage. He couldn’t start the engines as everything including throttle control was electronic. Something to be said for a good old cable lead to the helm. What the hell are people thinking, who designs this crap, and more so who buys it?
Something I thought was interesting but a bit off base, check out this laid-off Chinese farmer who built himself a submarine, he is selling them for about 30k, he’d be a good cruiser 
My point is think small. Not necessarily small boat, just small. God only knows I’m guilty of veering off my path every once in a while but I always seem to find my way back. If I lost Splendid there would be a thousand boats I could find for under 10 grand to set me/us back on our path. Sure I might have to hand steer for a while or go without a cool beverage, but I would still be free and only have to work a few months to get set up again. If you seek it, clear your mind, clean house, and go.
Carla’s birthday is on the 11th, mine on the 14th. I need to think of something to make her as there is no store around, man I spaced this one. I Should have thought of it when we were still in Linton.
Life is beautiful and I am such a lucky man!
Sail far and live slowly.
– alex
Published in Alex Dorsey
Got some bad news. A big catamaran (fritz the cat) wend down 50 miles out of caratagena. With about 20 backpackers aboard. All were rescued however some of the backpackers lost their motor bikes.
I also just heard on the net there was a piracy incident in bocus del toro.
Hey Alex! Lateral thinking is definitely something I need to brush up on. As I was just about to the place that I could exit the machine(at least partially), the machine gave me a little bump out the door.
I am now an unemployed American. My regional manager came by, this morning, to tell me that me and my facility ‘failed to perform at expected levels’. That means their profit margin was getting fatter, fast enough. Anyways, I let out a great big sigh of relief as I drove out of the gate. Knowing that I would no longer have to be incarcerated inside that fence made me smile.
My family and I have been planning on going minimal for a while now and we will be fine. I won’t be able to visit you, as soon as I’d hoped but, I will get there.
Wish us luck! I don’t plan on taking on another ‘official’ job but I will have plenty to do.
Peace.
Hi Alex.
NPR had a interesting story about Forrest Carter, turns out he was really Asa Earl Carter. Before he reinvented himself as a Native American he was an Alabama KKK segregationist, and speech writer for George Wallace. After Wallace rejected segregation he disappeared. It was not until recently Forrest Carters real identity was made public. Anyways here is the link to the story. http://www.npr.org/2012/04/20/151037079/the-artful-reinvention-of-klansman-asa-earl-carter Sorry if this taints your view of the book, but the truth is the book is fiction.
Trekkerd,shocker for sure, however it doesn’t change the fact, in my opinion, it’s a great book with a strong and positive message.
I love the Alchemist, however I don’t think it’s a true story. I hadn’t really thought of the education of little tree being fiction or not? The work is not the artist. I worked in Hollywood for many years and with a fair share of “stars” and their roles , and the people they really are, can be so different it’s mind boggeling. Talented artists are often quite distirbed.
Thanks for the link, I wouldn’t have imagined the correlation, wow?
Cheers
Hi there trekkerd,
Funny you mention the book being fiction, of course it is, it is a novel, Alex called it a “story”, I’m sure it was never placed in the history shelves of any bookstore. Carter never claimed it to be autobiographical in the pages of the book and my edition of Little Tree explicitly states, in a brief biography, that Carter’s real name was Asa, Forest being his pseudonym, allowing readers to research who Asa was if they so wish.
I did not know that he had a dark past like that, but I don’t see how that can be relevant to the contents of the actual text we all have access to or how it can even be considered negatively. If the accusations are true, the fact that a man like that, actively involved in such dark horrible things, then left to try and reinvent himself and spread a message of freedom is quite amazing, don’t you think? Do people wish he had continued being a segregationist? How can they punish him for that? If anything, I give him double props for publicly standing against something he was once part of and I hope every other narrow-minded, violent, abusive person on the face of this planet follows his example.
Who cares if his grandparents were Cherokee, Italian or Korean? He wrote a beautifully crafted work of fiction that celebrates the wisdom of those who live in harmony with nature, the innocence and purity of children and the real bonds between people who love one another. It also highlights the importance of understanding others and fighting for freedom. The prose is clever, funny, moving, and its deep message can be enjoyed by people of all ages and backgrounds, which in my opinion makes the book even more brilliant.
Alex and I talked about the book, not the writer’s youth. And this extensive accusative article says nothing about the story other than there are fictional elements in it (again, all novels have fictional elements) and that it can be considered “a right-wing, government-leave-me-alone book”. I see no elements of right-wing thinking in it at all but it is definitely a government-leave-me-alone book and that is exactly why we recommend it. It urges people to go back to nature, love and understanding and away from the control and power abuse of governments and religious organizations. I’m sure the book was immediately considered dangerous and outrageous by those who always consider freedom, love and nature dangerous and outrageous. They couldn’t deny any of the criticism included in the book so they went after the past of the man who wrote it, their typical defamation scheme of attack. Many have been hunted and silenced this way throughout the centuries, but it is a mechanism that is only powerful when the message is passed around and believed without any further thought or research. It is our responsibility to draw the line and defend those who have the courage to speak up. In relation to this, I’d like to recommend the film “Good night and good luck”. It is an amazing movie with a very interesting message in relation to censorship, courage and justice.
In the end, a work of fiction has a life of its own and is enjoyed, hated, believed in or not despite the writer’s intentions. We were laughing the other day at how Top Gun has become a gay icon, the discussions online were hilarious and I doubt the makers of the film ever thought about that. The film is out there and we are free to feel it in any way we like. Same happens with Little Tree. Sorry again for being so long-winded and vehement but it’s really one of my favorite books and a most relevant one in relation to the message this webpage tries to convey.
Woot, Carla’s birthday today. Tomorrow we will have been together 6 months, time does fly when your having fun. And in 3 days I turn 47, where does the time go?
It’s a beautiful day, I have to shoot a nice fish for birthday dinner!
6 mo. and she hasn’t come to her senses? congrats on both your aniversary and birthday.
Capt. G
I know, she must be a little crazy? In the next couple days we are going to por vaneer to figure out immigration. We may sail down to zapsurro Colombia to check in/out. Would be a nice trip. For my bday tomorrow All I want to do is spear fish ;)
there was a guy from zapsurro cruising around there when i was in S.B. and he kept trying to get me to go there. said it was beautiful and realativly untouched for colombia……enjoy…………..G Mavis sends love….
Hey! Happy birthday to the both of ya!
Cheers
Peter