First Steps to Aquatic Technomadics

by Steven K. Roberts
Nomadic Research Labs

First written in 1993; substantially updated in 2004

When the virus of restlessness begins to take possession of a wayward man, and the road away from Here seems broad and straight and sweet, the victim must first find in himself a good and sufficient reason for going. This to the practical bum is not difficult.

-- John Steinbeck, Travels With Charley: In Search of America

ABSTRACT: How, exactly, do you pull up roots thoroughly enough to make the transition from a stable home-based lifestyle to one of full-time wandering? This article takes you through the steps of unplugging from normalcy and beginning the process of rendering your physical location irrelevant. This was originally written for the participants in our own technomadic flotilla, but obviously applies to other nomads and other modes of transportation... a bicycle tour, full-time RV lifestyle, or extended global trekking. Adapt this as necessary to suit your needs; this is just a starting point for a life change of epic proportion, and every situation is different.

The First Step

It occurs to me, after hearing a few questions from prospective technomads, that the process of making the transition from a stable, fixed-based lifestyle to a nomadic one is not exactly obvious. I've been doing it for so long (over 20 years, off and on) that it's hard to imagine doing anything else with my life, but perhaps a few suggestions are in order.

The issue I wish to address here is how, exactly, do you gracefully redesign your lifestyle, move to a small boat, and set about traveling full-time in the company of a few restless kindred spirits? On the assumption that you are seriously considering this nomadness, I offer the following as an initial TO-DO list (the sequence is not critical, except for the first item -- they really all should happen in parallel).

So FIRST, before you start meddling with the rhythms of your life: think it through! Why are you interested in the technomadic flotilla? Does it spark a long-dormant desire to wander and be free? Is it an escape? Why is this, rather than another lifestyle option, appealing? Would an extended vacation push the same buttons without leading to the deconstruction of all you have built over the years? What are you looking for? What skills would let you make a living while traveling? Are you seeking a mate, or planning to travel with one?

Analyze all this, separate reality from fantasy as much as possible, and write about it (for your eyes only) to help clarify your own thinking.

Then, and only then, continue with the following....

Learning Curves

This is a big one. You need to know a lot about boats, navigation, weather, survival, efficiency, power budgets, and countless other details ranging from your own business problems to finding your way in the fog. Subcribe to boating/sailing/kayaking magazines, get on the water every chance you get, and schmooze with those who comprise the nautical community in your area. Windsurf, kayak, sail, and go camping. Study books like Chapman Piloting & Seamanship and countless personal narratives of adventure. Learn all you can about knots, hull design, fiberglass repair, rules of the road, fishing, medicine, wilderness self-sufficiency, networking, intentional community dynamics, communications, and anything else that seems relevant. Make all your learning curves between now and departure contribute to the objective of launching with as much useful knowledge as possible.

Get in Shape

While the best training for anything is actually doing it (something you'll have plenty of time for), you'll feel much better if you have a head start. Ride bicycles, go kayaking, work out, and anything else that works for you. Just sweat a lot, watch your weight, and build strength and endurance.

Manage your Finances

Get out of debt, and begin eliminating superfluity. Convert unnecessary possessions to cash, and thence into tools for the nomadic life (eBay is your friend). I have a rule when preparing for a major adventure: I buy nothing that is not directly applicable to the project (except for the essentials of daily overhead). No CDs unless you're taking your CD player for some anachronistic reason. No furniture unless it's for your boatlab. No household decorations, gewgaws, style statements, or other irrelevant noise that gobbles resources and weighs you down. While you're at it, make sure your bank's ATM is connected to a major funds-transfer network. Simplify your life as much as possible, and eliminate evil coupon books and other psychic energy sinks. Plan your magazine subscriptions to end before departure, and set up electronic bill-paying for remaining essential accounts.

Move to the Net

You're already online, of course, but if only marginally so, treat that as a major priority: technomads live in the network. Get as literate as you can on the tools of webness and interacting with your servers (note plural; backups are necessary, as well as clunky web mail accounts that work in Cybercafes and can access remote POP mail). Move to a laptop or robust PDA and carry it everywhere, and begin conducting as much of your human commerce as possible via the Net if (unthinkably) you aren't already.

Set up your People Database

Critical to nomadic happiness is your database of contacts, which will provide anchor points of friendship and familiarity as you travel. Condense all those random scraps of paper and old letters into one coherent file of the people you know and care about. (This is harder than it sounds; I've been meaning to finish this job for years, but during my bicycle epoch a hospitality database of nearly 5,000 people was one of my most valuable assets.)

Nomadic Business

Much of our income (or yours, if you're reading this for reasons unrelated to the Technomadic Flotilla) will be from freelancing -- writing, photography, audio, and video. But there are many more possibilities.... start refining your portable skills and do research into ways that they can be applied for profit while you are on the move. Convert now to the tools that render your location irrelevant. I'll be happy to brainstorm with you about this -- I've been thinking about it for years, and may be able to help you find a niche or apply your knowledge to nomadic freelance opportunities. I've seen some remarkably clever adaptations of this concept, ranging from freelance marine electronics repair to kite-based aerial photography.

Get Radio-Literate

A ham radio license will serve you very well, even if you also have Marine HF/VHF or GMRS for routine communication. A useful license study (technician class) book is Now You're Talking!

Simplify Paperwork and Link to the Home Base

Get your passport, credit cards, drivers license, insurance, memberships, bank relationships, tax information, investments, and other such issues up to date and clearly ordered. All this will have to be managed by our shared base office (or your own admin), requiring a portable package that won't drive someone crazy with clutter. See if all relevant information about your life can be reduced to a small package of clearly labeled file folders, and summarize the lot in a document filed in folder #1. (NOTE: We are working on scaling our own home-base facility into a "Technomadic Connection" business that will support other nomads. If you need more than the various mail-forwarding services have to offer, please get in touch.)

Find Storage

Few people can decouple completely -- find a storage place for the stuff you'll leave behind, but will want again someday. Start identifying all objects as "take, store, sell, or dump." Avoid those monthly self-storage places if you possibly can; they are expensive and not responsible for the frequent thefts that seem to be endemic in that business (it happened to me).

Build your Substrate

Everyone in the flotilla will obviously need a boat -- whether a pedal- and sail-powered kayak, small sailboat, solar canoe, micro-barge, or whatever. Let your own interests and resources guide you, but remember certain group constraints of inter-boat RF network connections, shallow draft, and moderate speed. (It wouldn't do to depend entirely on solar, for example, if everyone else can pedal, paddle, or sail away on a cloudy day.) If you're off on an expedition of your own, well, you know what has to be done.

Gather your Gear

Start a list of all material you'll need, ranging from clothing and medical supplies to business equipment and tools. I keep this all in a database that includes cost, weight, vendor contact, serial numbers, preventive maintenance interval, required spares, comments, and so on. Many books on cruising and camping offer good starting lists for the basics, and there is a PDF of my gear list downloadable here. Start putting together your package of personal gear, including technical fabrics, camping facilities, tools, spares, communications equipment, packs, and so on.

Communicate with the Group

As this develops, we are essentially building an Intentional Community, complete with all the interpersonal issues that affect any family or group housing situation (complicated by the stresses of travel). By the time we actually leave, we must be well-established friends, not a bunch of strangers meeting for the first time. If you're planning to be in the group, please participate in mailing list discussions... and also spawn one-on-one exchanges with people who particularly interest you, ranging from business deals to romance. (That book linked at the top of this paragraph is excellent.)

Establish your Clientele

If your work is media or consulting, don't wait until we're in the boonies and you're out of pemmican to start thinking about how to make money. We want to launch with well-established monthly columns, book contracts, video deals, and consulting gigs. (This does not affect any "support people" who may be underwritten equally by us cash-flow generators.)

Find Sponsors

My own adventures over the years have been aided considerably by corporate sponsors, who have donated essential equipment. While I cannot fairly ask them to donate products to a dozen other people, especially now that the economy sucks, there may be some spinoffs where media or field-testing potential is strong. But apart from me, see if you can connect enough with local or trade media to interest relevant sponsors in helping you out in return for exposure. In general, asking for cash is extremely difficult; asking for products -- if you offer solid publicity or engineering data in return -- is relatively easy. Don't get your hopes up, though: it takes a track record to get donations, and the only good deal is one where everybody wins... you need to do something demonstrably valuable for the company in return for goodies. In areas where the flotilla itself becomes a technology demo platform, we might get stuff for multiple boatlets donated, but expect to pay for most of your personal gear unless you've been down this road before... publicly.

Learn!

I know I said this above, but I can't overstate this one. Learn another language, Morse Code, marketable skills, marine electronics repair, sewing, fiberglass, oceanography, wilderness medicine, environmental issues, decktop publishing tricks, website design, video production, magic, cooking, massage, wireless networking, e-commerce, music, busking, and anything else that can, in any way, contribute to the well-being, profitability, survival, comfort, or entertainment of the technomadic flotilla... as well as the locals who turn out to welcome the Traveling Circuits when our ragtag band of nomads ties up to their town dock. We want to be perceived as the event of the season, not waterborne parasites seeking handouts and crash space. It's easy to do this right: all we have to do is be interesting and newsworthy, economically and logistically self-sufficient, and a living demonstration of at least one new technologically-intensive social paradigm. (Believe me, it works.)

There.... that should keep you busy for a while! Please keep me posted on any thoughts or progress, don't hesitate to bail out if you are realizing this is not for you, stay in touch with the group as it evolves, and do all you can to turn it into a diverse and vital community! This depends on everyone: I'm building my own Microship regardless, and can certainly inject startup energy and ideas into the flotilla, but it must take on a life of its own. I need the infusion of buzz and enthusiasm as much as everyone else.

Sept 30, 2004 note: This link is slightly off-topic since it's about full-time RVing, but here is an excellent article with lots of very practical advice about building your own motorhome, along with other issues related to "boondocking" below the radar and on a budget.