New boat

Wow... it's been a whirlwind year. Sold the tri and got Odessa, a MacGregor 65. We're a big step further into our plan, living onboard and loving the experience. Lot's of maintenance and paperwork but we'll get there eventually. The whole family has come alive with excitement and learning to live in a smaller space with less resources... it shows us how much fun doing without can be.

Being outside the US has been very liberating, no PC, lots of tolerance for others and a completely different perspective on the world... it reminds me of my younger days traveling the world. The people here in the islands come from every corner of the world and are not as "self absorbed" as the general US population. Not that it's bad in the US, just different and so far the difference is very welcome.

The next step is to be able to survive long term... we still have work in the US and rely on it to put food on the table, but alternatives are everywhere and there's no place like it to make a transition, no snow at least. We do miss our friends up north and welcome them to come and visit... it's tough right now with the economy and even in the states, people are struggling and uncertain of their future.

Sell up and sail - "Off the Grid" adventure

OK... some rationale,.. well there isn’t any. It’s a lifelong dream to be independent which has been amplified by the insane goings on in the world over recent years. After 4 years of searching for the right boat and NOT having over a million dollars to buy new, we finally found a hull that is special.

She was built by a crazy marine engineer who took a famous Piver design and created a vessel of exacting standards. She’s very custom and built to handle typhoon conditions and to provide maximum safety at sea. 

The original owner passed away before she was completely ready to sail and a second owner purchased her. Another engineer went to work on her, again with engineering and safety in big water in mind. He added an Iveco 145 hp engine, amazing drive and steering systems, custom fuel tanks and fuel system.

We made some good progress over the winter, and needless to say taking the plunge with a road trip across the US during the Christmas Holidays, and finding a temporary home in a new place was quite an adventure in itself... we’ve enjoyed every minute and made some great new friends.

We’ve completed the pilot house doors, roof, some deck work, added a 12v/120v fridge and freezer, most of the water management systems, shower room and head, and learnt a lot about our use of resources. It’s amazing when you really figuring out what a family needs in terms of water, power and creature comforts... we don’t NEED much really, but we take so much for granted in a house on the grid and to be honest, we could be very comfortable using a tenth of the water and electricity used by the average home.

She doesn’t need much to launch as a motor vessel, 3 or 4 months of hard work and we’ll have a very comfortable home. We have a sailing rig available in Santa Barbara just north of LA, so if all goes well, we’ll be motoring south to add the mast and rigging next year.

They can see you everywhere you go

Wow... simply forwarding your mail flags you as an escapee. We forwarded our mail to my parents while we took on the 10 day cross country road trip from South Florida to California. Our mistake was to have no official address for almost two weeks. Our credit cards wouldn't work... ok, yes, we're are still using some of modern societies conveniences... try paying cash for fuel at 1:00 am in the freezing rain. The bank got a notification from the post office so it took me about 1000 miles to figure out that I needed to use my parents zip code at the pump... who knew. 

We had a temporary address in CA for a couple of months while we got organized with the boat project... more on that later. But, Broward County got wind of our movements and have cancelled our our homestead exemption... yes, the house is still a major anchor, but renting it out for the season helped us to get going.

In essence a simple disconnection from the norm has caused a huge headache, mail forwarding loops, banking issues, tax issues etc. Even though we're returning home for a several months this summer to get the house rented and build up some funds... it seems like the simple things we take for granted like mail, can cause all sorts of flags to pop up with the authorities if you make a simple change in lifestyle.

Making the jump off the grid and a new lifestyle

The toughest step in any major change is to make the decision and go for it... the older we get, the more risk averse we become. Packing up your family, your old life, selling off your hard earned belongings and setting of on an adventure with no guarantees is a risky proposition.

We've started... made the tough decision, and question ourselves everyday. Ultimately happy on the adventure, but we still get sucked back into the old life as we continue to cut the invisible ties to societies anchors.

We had no idea of the extent that our old lives were controlled by government and the so-called "Normal Life", everything we touch has an element of control, restriction and is part of the complex trap of "normal".

One thing we have discovered early on... If you try to escape the trappings of normal life, you quickly become an outlaw, shunned, misunderstood and the odds stack up against you overnight. But, the bright light is that your eyes open and you see other unusual people, a community of distinct individuals who give you hope and lead by example.

This has nothing to do with being progressive, in fact it's really the opposite, it's about finding a balance and figuring out what is right for you and your family.

The question is... can you really live a fulfilling life outside societies boundaries. Shed the trap and perception of the "safety net" that modern society uses to keep the worker bees in place?