Dare to push the button?
Day in and day out over the past decade I’ve talked to people who share the same dream as I do. People who want to be free to sail the world and just can’t figure out how to take the first step or actually cut the dock lines.
I keep hearing “I just don’t have enough money”, I have too many responsibilities”, “my boat is too small”, “I have a 4 ,6, 8, or 10 year plan”, or “I’ll go when I retire”.
Bottom line, “Where there is a will, there is a way”. The truth is if you can’t figure out how to cut the dock-line you most certainly don’t have the gumption to forge a minimalist life out of the sea, and you’re right, you will need a lot of money.
Cruising isn’t an easy way out of the cubicle, it’s the harder path for sure, but the path that will rain freedom, consciousness, and joy upon your table. 
IT’S NOT ABOUT MONEY OR THE BOAT! It’s about you and your life journey. It’s about saying NO to full body scanners at airports, to overdraft fees, to all that shit (fear) that is drilled into your head by the television, radio, internet, newspapers, and magazines. It’s about giving away, burning, or throwing away your unneeded possessions. It’s about setting your fears aside and being a man in a world of metrosexual, designer-coffee wielding, role-models, politicians, and lawyers. It’s about peace, time, spirituality, conciseness, and true freedom!
When I went to pick up Carla in the city I visited the mall, it was creepy. Drones of people wondering in and out of shops looking for ways to define themselves with perfume, labels, or jewelry. Is this really the stuff that is important to most people? Is this what you go to work for every day, to buy crap?
Freedom, the million dollar question, what is it, do you think you have it?
When Carla returned from the states she told me about her experience in the Miami airport. I must say I got angry, then quite sad, actually to the point of tears. What has happened to my country? Is this a bad Orwell story? The difference between 1984 and what actually is going on is people are asking for it.
Does “security” actually need to see us all naked in order to travel? Does my girlfriend need to be violated like this in order to visit her brother?
Do we need to be pummeled by radiation in order to visit our children for Christmas?
Maybe I’m crazy but I just don’t get it. I thought I had a right to privacy as an American citizen?
Why aren’t all the people in the lines at the airports saying “NO” to this, where are the riots? I know most people are willing to sell their freedom for “security”, but must you throw dignity in as well. Have you no shame?
I must say I’m happy to be anchored where I am, surrounded by nature, good people, 
water, and the absence of “security”. I’m happy to take my chances without it.
The longer I’m away the more absurd it all seems to me. I’m so happy I don’t live in such an environment, and I fear for the world we are leaving our children.
It’s good to have Carla back, we really are such good friends.
My focus is on the film and getting Splendid ready for guests. Carla’s mom is coming in a few weeks and I’m going to look for a few 
charters so I can possibly go to Patagonia in November with Carla to visit her family.
Peace, Love, and Freedom! Let’s not forget what it is.
Let’s also not forget we can say “NO”, or just go naked and skip the radiation!
– alex
I don’t know man, I certainly gave the cruising life a shot. I bought a 26 foot boat in 2009 and restored it. Took it out a couple of times and even lived on it for a while. (The whole thing was inspiration from your first film.) In the end it was too cramped, humid and uncomfortable. I was always stressed out or bored. I gave up and sold the boat.
In the process I realized something important about who I am as a person. I like computers and video games. Beer on a Saturday night. Riding off road on my dirt bike on weekends. Hustling for money at garage sales when I’m broke. Also, I now know that fundamentally I’m a lazy and irresponsible individual. Putting me in a position where I’m ultimately responsible for my own survival is simply stressful and extremely disconcerting, ultimately creating a mental state in me that is far worse than where I started.
So where does that leave me? As part of the machine. Grinding happily away in the belly of the beast, a cog in the monstrous machinations of society. Civility, rule of law, social services. Yep. That’s what I sold my freedom for. And you know what? I’m okay with it. After all, I grew up in Soviet Hungary. I’ve lived through that socialist nightmare. And guess what, they have a great dental plan.
Anyway, please don’t take this post the wrong way. I do 100% endorse your message and wish everyone lived like you do. I just had to talk about why some of us chose to never cut the lines, as you put it.
I hear you Alex. My fear is the money. not for things but for food, the stinking fees etc. I have a decent coastal cruiser with few bells and whistles and intend to keep it that way. no real savings or residual income. Have many old time dated skills, carpentry,welding, I am a paramedic, can figure almost anything out in a third world kind of way except how to make the few hundred bucks a month i will need. Seems simple but that is the hurdle i have to overcome. how do people really make it out there? Wade
YodaMouse
Carla sez you’re very brave to say that here, and it’s great that you tried!!!
This lifestyle is far than for everyone. It’s not easy, can be terribly uncomfortable, a hell of a lot of work, but for some of us it is the only alternative and the difference between eating the red or blue pill.
Wade, why don’t you try cruising locally, the ICW or Bahamas? All my friends find something along the way. I have a French friend here who builds dinghies and sells them, others do canvas, wood, or fiberglass work, some are diesel or outboard mechanics & welders.
Computer work, photography, and writing doesn’t go so far and is a harder nut to crack. Perhaps getting your monthly nut to as little as possible living on land might put things into perspective. You might want to experiment with the reality of how little you actually need. I haven’t come across many starving cruisers but know plenty that don’t have two nickels to rub together. People don’t really understand…, actually I should say my American friends don’t really understand what it is to live with very little money on a micro income. In a few days I will pay $300 for my cruising permit and immigration. This has been a stress for me for the last few months, ask Carla. But once it is paid I have no bills, nor do I owe any money for a year. I need a little for food, diesel, varnish or epoxy, and that’s it. I love fishing so I kill two birds with one stone.
Get rid of the things you don’t need, and start to follow a path of minimalism. Walk, ride a bike, or row as opposed to burning gas. Make bread, fish, and get healthy. If you get bored, read books, learn how to play the guitar or draw as opposed to paying for cable or the cinema. I guarantee you if you spend your time riding bikes, walking, reading, and learning how to cook healthy and fish you will be a better person for it. And that means anchoring out and not paying for marinas.
It’s not for everybody, but it is very much for me.
Freedom doesn’t come cheap or easy, you can’t get it at Costco, and it isn’t something that you just have.
Living in the matrix isn’t easy for a lot of people either, stress, cancer, sleeping problems. It just boils down to who we are. I couldn’t go back, not for all the money in the world, really!
First off, I want to say that I admire you greatly and endorese 99.9% of everything you have said here, But i have to disgree with something you have said here. Even for those like me for whom the minimalist cruising life is right, there are sometimes responsibilities that make it absolutely necessary to put the ream off to a later date. i have two.
My father is a Cancer survivor, and is quickly goping downhill regartding his mental health. The dementia he is suffering gets worse every day. He is completely dependent on me, and I’m not willing to put him in some sterile, impersonal home just so i can follow my dream. He did better for me, and I’ll do better for him. He can’t follow my dream with me, and its not his dream. I feel a real resoponsibility to him, so I will delay until he no longer needs me.
I adopted my daughter when I amrried her mother. When we divorced, i got custody. her mother has only supervised visitation, and there are VERY good reasons. there are also good reasons why the Court Orders say she is NEVER to live with her mother. The Court also will not allow me to leave the Country with my daughter for more than three weeks at a time (again, the Court wishes to maintain contact with my daughter because of the same facts that led to the supervised visitation only for her mother). My daughter is 10. if I left to liove the dream right now, she would be placed in foster care, and I am not going to see that happen. my responsibilities to my daughter are more important than the dream.
i understand the point you are trying to make. For the most part I agree with you. But it is not always as simple as you make it out. There are very good reasons why someone might delay unplugging and cutting the dock lines, and its not simply that we are afraid or are too plugged into the system. Your statement that “The truth is if you can’t figure out how to cut the dock-line you most certainly don’t have the gumption …” just isn’t 100% right. Try and remember that even if there is the will, there is not always the way … right now. For some of us, having a plan to leave in X number of years is all we can do. And a “Plan” is very different than a “dream”. I PLAN to leave when my responsibilities to my father and my daighter allow.
Coastal Cowbay,
I didn’t mean it to be brash and suppose I should elaborate on “responsibility” obviously the care of a loved one would supersede running off to follow a dream.
I meant more “societal”‘responsibility.
Cruising locally can also be quite rewarding. I have a lot of friends that live on boats, work part of the week, and spend the rest of the time fishing and living small.
In the end it’s just about happiness. Ive been reading a lot of people practicing minimalist lives on land, seems to be a growing movement, and I’m sure quite rewarding.
If you have a time line on cruising I’m all about it. Sorry to hear about your father, I lost my mother to cancer and know it’s not an easy battle.
Just stay away from the body scanners :(
Hey Alex, I’d like to hear your thoughts on a Albin Vega 27, I just bought her a month ago for 6500.00, shes in the same shape as hull number 2537 on this link, Id like your expert opine for coastal single handed cruising, inside passage San Juans of Washington
americanvega.org/vegasforsale.html
Alex, I hear you. I liveaboard now, and very simply. It’s a choice. I have lived in a log cabin for 12 yrs, no electricity, all wood that I cut by hand and raised almost all my own food. Built and lived in straw bale houses. Been off the grid most of my adult life Believe me when the world ends you want me as a friend. Philosophy is great but I hope you include some of the real options out there in your movie. Every thing you mentioned I can do and have but here in tennessee there are not many people surviving that way. I expect to work this winter and summer then take off next fall and see what happens. That gets my son grown and i can go with a clean conscience. The work thing is what worries me. but it will not stop me. it never has. Wade growing coconuts brother
Gunner,
I don’t know much about the A V 27, but looks good from here. I must say I’m a bit jeloous as I really wa t to cruise the inside passage :)
Wade, good on ya m8. The film is coming strong but slow because I want it to have real information on living this way. As you probably know the benefits of living off the grid far outway the bad.
My words in this blog came out a little wrong. Long term plans are good and I support them. I just hate seeing fear cripple so many peoples dreams, and I see it all the time. The body scanner thing freaked me out too, I just can’t believe the American people would stand for it. It was not allowed in Europe.
Cheers.
Hey Alex
You stated ” I guarantee you if you spend your time riding bikes, walking, reading, and learning how to cook healthy and fish you will be a better person for it.” About 7 or 8 years ago we fell upon some pretty hard times. We cut everything from our budget except house payment, electric and car insurance. During that time we spent our time doing activities. It turned out to be a blessing because my kids and I grew very close and they actually preferred the activities to TV. Last year we turned the TV back on after at least 7 years without it, it was a mistake and soon our 1 year contract will be up and we will turn it off again except for the high speed. Glad to hear you are living life on your terms and doing well! Anyway here is a tune for you about all of today’s role models with manicures.
Oh and hi Carla its good to hear you are fitting so well
Jefferson
Your ending photo amde me laugh out loud!
Great post, Alex. I love it when you rail against the machine! Thought you’d enjoy this little gem: “It is no measure of health to be well adjusted to a profoundly sick society.”– Krishnamurti
Jason from Near Kent Ohio;
I have backpacked Mexico, Central and South America and only one time in Cartagena did someone give me some trouble and that wasn’t much. When I am strapped into an airplane seat I have little to no control over what happens to me. Air travel has been much safer since 9-11-01 and I credit TSA. I say do what ever you have to do to make the airplane safe. No one likes it but no one would want to get on an airplane where the passengers were not screened. My last trip I felt they could have done more not less. It was to Mexico then Mexico to Canada.
Jason,
I much prefer writing about sailing stuff but my head is in a really bad place after Carla was forced into being photographed this way. If you deny the body scan they feel you up, you really think it’s worth it, wow?
I don’t mean to be the devil’s advocate but how many terrorist attacks did you/we suffer prior to 9/11? Do you really believe that “terrorists” are out to get you/us?
You think “they” should do more, like what, cavity search for everyone?
I guess many people think one heinous incident is enough to flush the US constitution down the toilet with the Patriot act, treat all Americans & tourists as criminals, and give the government the right to tap our phones and enter our homes without due process? Do you realize we have been in a state of marshal law for 11 years now? Is it really just me and nobody else notices this?
It really blows my mind how afraid American people are these days. The television is just evil! When I was back home (Maryland) I mentioned to a friend that the international community believes Americans are afraid. My friend replied “I’m not afraid”and produced an AR-15….., “Ahhhhhhhh, dude, really”?
I’ve had a gun stuck in my face three times in my life and they were all in the United States, it is by far the most dangerous place I have ever traveled or lived in.
The world my friend is just not as dangerous as the media portrays it. It’s very sad to me that you, and obviously a large portion of my readership feel this way, it breaks my heart, it really does.
Someone once said “Fear guards the gates of freedom” I believe it to be true!
Nice Blog about unplugging:
lifehacker.com/5937204/my-paleo-media-diet
You had a gun in your face three times and all three were here in the states. Well I have to get on the airplane here in the states to get out of here. I’m not that afraid when I have some control over my well being. On an airplane you have very little control. Many more planes went down before they started searching us. It wasn’t just the twin tower problem. How many have gone down since they started searching us. I can only think of one in the states. They had some pilots on a small commuter plane they didn’t know how to fly it in New York. The one in West Va that crashed on the runway because they took the wrong runway before taking off. No hijackings and nothing blowing up in the air in the states. Air planes are amazingly safe if we keep the nut cases off of them. When I said I thought they should have done more I was talking about a trip I took where they really didn’t seem to be paying attention to the monitor. They just seemed lax to me. I had a can of Axion in my carryon. None of my tubes and junk was in a plastic bags. I would have thought they would have opened my carryon. I hate having any of my rights taken away but I want to be safe on an airplane that’s all.
I find that the security theater is neither effective against a determined and suicidal attacker, nor is it terribly onerous. The scary aspect of it isn’t the technology but rather the attitudes sometimes seen by the staff at these checkpoints. But this is not really new. We have seen ugly scenes with horrid officials since they invented city walls and gates with guards. The walls are now virtual, but the guards at the gates remain.
Living as a cruiser is a special bubble of privilege we get to experience as expatriates from developed nations. The folks we rely on on land to support our sea-gypsy way of life tolerate us because we are a kind of tourist. There are still some places where a person can get away from this bubble and actually live freely and independently, but they are shrinking, and ironically require greater resources to reach. Meanwhile , we need to buy land based stuff to keep our homes afloat, and that requires disposable cash.
The thing that I worry about is that if the flashy boating biz collapses, leaving us poorer cruisers that don’t appear to be boons to local marine economies – will the governments start treating us like the land-gypsies (Roma, irish travelers) and make the walls and guards even more scary? It seems to be happening in a lot of US cities for anchoring rights. Is the rest of the world far behind?
Jason,
Planes crashing on the runway have nothing to do with “security” or TSA. And if you compare air travel with traveling by automobile, your right, it is very safe, but still has nothing to do with full body scanners.
Luckytroll,
This is exactly why I don’t live and cruise in the states. Also why I’m so opposed to AIS. AIS is a wall, as is the American dollar. Minimalism and the independence from the dollar as much as possible renders more freedom. This is why I’m making this film.
When I first brought Carla back to the boat a few days ago we were at Hanz’s restaurant where I tie up the dinghy. There were a group of American tourists sitting down sharing a bottle of wine. They watched us load up the dinghy. “Wow, you guys live on a boat?” they asked. Carla replied and I knew their next question without even having to think about it. “What about pirates and storms”? Fear is like clockwork with Americans, I assume this is why Americans travel & cruise as little as they do.
Americans here are a minority. Most of the anchorage is comprised of French, German, Irish, Scottish, Swiss, S. African, and sailors from every corner of the world. I can also tell you American cruisers ask me the same question time after time. “You’ve been to Cartagena, Jamaica, Costa Rica…. is it safe?, I want to go there.”
It’s a sad, sad, sad reality but the bottom line is Americans, over every other nationality of people I’ve met, are afraid. This statement will most likely make you mad, but I assure you I’m not to blame for voicing this. You should direct your anger towards the media, it’s not my fault, I hope to inspire the opposite effect.
Sometimes I see the news or weather channel in a bar or restaurant and I can’t believe that the same message is played over, and over, and over again. FEAR the crashing market, fear the terrorists, fear the hurricane, communists, Muslims, blacks, killer bees, H1N1, cancer, sugar, saturated fat, heart failure, obesity, fear of not fitting in, fear of not being cool, fear of being unemployed or being poor, FEAR, FEAR, FEAR, FEAR, FEAR, It’s sickening. And what’s worst of all is people pay for it and want it.
Fear is the most powerful weapon of all as It is cheap and renders its victims complacent. And willing to be bombarded with radiation and photographed naked in order to travel is complacent.
I have no problem at all getting on an “unsecure” aircraft, I have a problem when my human rights are stripped from me and my girlfriend is forced to be photographed naked. I have a problem when the coast guard boards me with no probable cause, and police enter my home to check how my toilet is plumbed.
The last time I flew out of the United States I was coming back from a job. My checked bag was 10 pounds too heavy as it was full of tools. The guy at the counter watched me open my bag and he suggested I take some of the tools and put them on my carry on which I did. When TSA went through my bags they confiscated them. Among those tools was a hammer that was very special to me. I looked into the TSA officers eyes and said “do you realize what your doing, you’re confiscating a carpenter’s hammer”? Into the trash it went. “Please take off your shoes”.
I felt so very, very low after that. I’m not a criminal, I’m not a terrorist, or “nut job”. I’m an American and wish to be treated as such. Fear is the enemy, not the “nut jobs”.
Maybe I’m the introverted “nut job” myself for wanting my freedom. Maybe that’s why I prefer living with indigenous people and will most likely grow old and die on some remote island, far up the Amazon, or perhaps in the mountains of Patagonia. But I assure you one thing, I won’t have cable!
Over the past decade I’ve helped many people realize their dreams. I haven’t asked for money for the thousands and thousands of emails and boats I’ve checked out online, or 100’s of thousands of questions I’ve answered. And I see the same thing time, after time, after time. People buying boats spending all their money to outfit them only to be left standing on the dock with a dock line in hand and the realization that they are afraid.
Every once in a while the line gets cut which is why I do what I do, priceless!
It breaks my heart, it really does!
Fear guards the gates of freedom, and fear is what we must conquer before setting to sea.
Alex – you are so right about the undue influence of the media. Vast corporate interests and large government bureaucracies weapon of choice is the mass-media – this is the method by which they make people love their servitude. The ‘sheaple’ become so numb and distracted that dictatorships are free to rise without a fight and freedoms stripped away without tears, all producing a kind of painless concentration camp for entire societies. In fact the masses will gladly trade away their liberties – they rather enjoy it because they no longer need to think for themselves or be afraid, because government will take care them and protect them from the evil doers. Now they can rest easy and go back to their regular scheduled programing, i.e. brainwashing.
Contrarian,
The reality is the human spirit is very playable and their are many who will take advantage of that.
Now to change the mood. I taught Carla to sail today. I towed her out of the anchorage in the Dyer and set her loose. She took off like a bird in her first flight and sailed around for 40 minutes or so. It was a beautiful thing to watch.
Sailing is freedom. As soon as I can afford the supplies I’m going to build a boat :)
Woot, Carla is a sailor !!! N
Alex….on another note, I came to Madison Wi and tomorrow I’m going to attend the In-water Demo at Rutabaga. http://www.clcboats.com/boatbuilding_classes/149.html
I’m looking forward to sailing the passage maker pram and I’m very happy you pointed out in an earlier blog what a great little boat it is. Thanks for all you do.
Terry