Go west young man, and seek your fortune over the western horizon.
Such was the call to 19th century pioneers in North America. The
government encouraged westward expansion by offering homesteads - free
parcels of land - to those brave souls who took up the challenge.
Times are different now. All the land is taken, divided, and
subdivided thousands of times, and new homesteads are no more. All
that remains are millions of miles of fences and unfriendly walls. Postage
stamp size estates with no trespassing signs demarcate
the homesteads of yesteryear.
Nevertheless, the pioneer spirit survives in the hearts of those who live in
Water World. As we sail west around the world, we aren't in search of
land. We are seasteading.
What is seasteading? Seasteading is a way of life in which homesteads
don't exist. You sail on the ocean of your dreams, and wherever you
drop your anchor becomes your temporary home - your seastead.
The oceans and waterways of the world constitute a massive aquatic seastead
in which you are free to roam at will. You may live in the same
seastead for weeks, months, or years, or you can change to a new one each
day. Your seastead may be anywhere from the tropics to the arctic
circle - wherever you have the courage to point the bow of your yacht.
People who seastead live in Water World. Their home is on the oceans
and seas that cover more than 70 percent of our planet. Water World is a vast
domain that transcends cultures, nationality, and politics.
Seasteaders are
politically more neutral than the Swiss, and they come from all the nations of
the earth. Linguistic diversity and openness to all religions and
cultures are hallmarks of this transoceanic community.
Water World accommodates everyone.
Our friends are German, French, Canadian, American, Thai, Malay, Indonesian,
Australian, New Zealanders, Spanish - an endless ever changing list of
seafarers who make seasteads their home, and seasteading their way of life.
Most people who seastead aren't on vacation and aren't running from the real
world. They have bills to pay and must earn a living like everyone
else. The big difference is that in Water World, they don't have a
thirty year mortgage on the small patch of ocean where they anchor their
yacht. Their seastead belongs to no one and to everyone at the same time.
They have as much right to be on the seas or at anchor as anyone else.
In his wisdom, God made plenty of water for everyone, and I'm glad He did.
Otherwise, there would be water wars. It wouldn't be long before the
governments of the world divided the ocean up into smaller and smaller
parcels, and seasteading would become a thing of the past.
Seasteading still is a viable way of life in most parts
of the world. There aren't enough of us sailing that it's worth the
time and expense for most governments to closely regulate us. But times are changing.
The industrialized nations of the west are constantly looking for new
sources of revenue, and if you remain too long in some European waters, they
will charge VAT on your boat. Fortunately, it's a big and beautiful
world out there with plenty of places for seasteaders to drop their anchors
and call home.
Seasteading is a great way of life. If you purchase a small seaworthy
yacht and save up your freedom chips, it won't be long before you can start
an awesome adventure. Your pioneer spirit will well up within you as you
hoist your sails and seek your fortune over the western horizon.
