10-09-2007, 02:33 AM
Hi all, pretty new here and to the island--looking for some kindred spirits.
I've been involved heavily over the last decade in the Sea-steading movement--for those of you who don't know--is an attempt to duplicate the homesteading model on waterborne craft. The concept isn't new, it's got thousands of years behind it, especially in Oceania, but recently many westerners who are fed up with high costs and increasing constraints in liberty ashore have desperately looked to a new frontier--and the ocean is really all thats left.
Most successful seasteads around the world are sailboats, and a great number of those are the greenest form of transportation out there--non-axillary sailboats. There's quite a number of quality used older boats out there that can be had for very little money and make fine ocean-going homes. I've lived that way myself for about a decade now.
Still, the world is changing and these changes go to sea as well. Development is most everywhere and with it costs that make any sort of minimalist/ecologically benign lifestyle near impossible. This is no different with seasteading. While the wind is free and the oceans are wide open--the shore is not--and like every bird must land, so must a boat return to shore. Any port of commercial viability is so developed and boat-unfriendly that it can become very cost intensive indeed. This may change, as the economy suffers--but with for an eye to the future I'm looking for a new sort of craft.
The catamaran or double canoe is a sensible alternative. Light weight, involving little in terms of materials--if built sensibly and as a working platform not merely a rich man's toy--it has proven to be a very effective vehicle for seasteading. I plan to be involved in building these of a new hybrid plan, heavily borrowing from traditional concepts but in the most cost effective modern materials. What better place than Hawaii, where the Waterman still lives? Anyway, I'm looking for people interested and or knowledgable who would enjoy being part of the project, and details will follow as I've got them.
Thanks!
Jay FitzGerald
www.oarclub.org
I've been involved heavily over the last decade in the Sea-steading movement--for those of you who don't know--is an attempt to duplicate the homesteading model on waterborne craft. The concept isn't new, it's got thousands of years behind it, especially in Oceania, but recently many westerners who are fed up with high costs and increasing constraints in liberty ashore have desperately looked to a new frontier--and the ocean is really all thats left.
Most successful seasteads around the world are sailboats, and a great number of those are the greenest form of transportation out there--non-axillary sailboats. There's quite a number of quality used older boats out there that can be had for very little money and make fine ocean-going homes. I've lived that way myself for about a decade now.
Still, the world is changing and these changes go to sea as well. Development is most everywhere and with it costs that make any sort of minimalist/ecologically benign lifestyle near impossible. This is no different with seasteading. While the wind is free and the oceans are wide open--the shore is not--and like every bird must land, so must a boat return to shore. Any port of commercial viability is so developed and boat-unfriendly that it can become very cost intensive indeed. This may change, as the economy suffers--but with for an eye to the future I'm looking for a new sort of craft.
The catamaran or double canoe is a sensible alternative. Light weight, involving little in terms of materials--if built sensibly and as a working platform not merely a rich man's toy--it has proven to be a very effective vehicle for seasteading. I plan to be involved in building these of a new hybrid plan, heavily borrowing from traditional concepts but in the most cost effective modern materials. What better place than Hawaii, where the Waterman still lives? Anyway, I'm looking for people interested and or knowledgable who would enjoy being part of the project, and details will follow as I've got them.
Thanks!
Jay FitzGerald
www.oarclub.org