Hawaii - Changes for 2019

[lucidsalt]

The state is making a few changes this year that will affect minimalist sailors, like myself.

Liability insurance of 500K is now a requirement even for temporary permits. DLNR has to be listed as additional insured.

There is also now an inspection for a temporary permit. I just had mine last month and besides the usual safety stuff, they will require you to move the boat out to the harbor limit and back in while they watch. Holding tank requirement can be met with a porta potti.

Also there is a meeting on March 7th for a proposed 300 percent increase in harbor fees. Right now I am paying about a $1.50 a foot a month to anchor with my own gear which is the cheapest way to do it. It will go up but probably not three times.

Good news is, if you haven't been here recently, they increased the time limit per harbor from 90 days to 120 per calendar year.

Even with these new changes, it is a decent deal.

 

[Deleted member 22934]

Sounds like you got a good thing going. Pretty interesting way to live. I feel the same way sometimes. Online you see people doing stuff, and theres like a whole group of friends living the same way or doing the same things... And they have like the brotherhood, or the comradery going on. Anytime I travel or live in a van, or bike tour or whatever, nobody seems to be doing the same thing. It can be hard to find companionship sometimes. Alot of times its location, or time of year. Maybe I just lack social skills. idk

 

[lucidsalt]

The cruising scene is not so strong here in Hawaii.... It just isnt as popular like the South Pacific. I asked the customs agent in Hilo which is the main port of entry how many boats clear in per year and was told 60 with the majority in May from Mexico. If you figure the majority of the 60 are moneyed yachties, well there you go....

 

[CrowTheBard]

Thanx for spreading the good info.

Hawaii actively hates crusing sailors and liveaboards. It’s he toughest place I’ve sailed to as far as trying to make the life work without a million eyes trying to regulate your every tack and charge you for every conceivable thing...

Keep fighting man.

Or sail up here. It’s 18 degrees F out with wind chill, blowing 40 knots...but the sun checks in once or twice a year haha!

Cheers,
Crow

 

[Odin]

I hate all these regulations of modern life... here is a novel idea... let us live free!

 

[RoadFlower33]

I hate all these regulations of modern life... here is a novel idea... let us live free!

I feel true freedom died when the English took control of the seas in the 1400 or whatever... but still less regulations and less ppl and more readaly available travel. I think it's the last frontier. They took the free man off the water once. It's our duty to restore it build a community to fight for the right to travel abroad and port!

 

[CrowTheBard]

I hate all these regulations of modern life... here is a novel idea... let us live free!

We need to organize. Only collectively do we have the power to fight the wealthy elite and the government machinery that creates and enforced these asinine regulations on us common folk.

I agree it’s fucked lol

Cheers,
Crow

 

[lucidsalt]

I think Florida is the worst when it comes to making the marginal anchor out lifestyle impossible. As anchorages are slowly being replaced with mooring fields, the folks on shore who inhabit the Mcmansions buy enough really cheap boats to occupy all the moorings infront of their property. Oh well! Sorry, but all the moorings are taken! Move along now!

Florida and Hawaii are the two most southern spots in the US. The year round warmer weather makes the anchor out life far easier. Hawaii has two advantages that should hopefully preserve the lifestyle. One, you actually have to sail here because, two, there isn't the cheap Craigslist boat phenomenon like in Florida. Florida is by far the cheapest place to buy a boat. Great deals on older cruising boats (I bought mine there) cause the modern spacious charter boat clone is what the clueless moneyed people want.

The danger with Florida is that if they are too successful with eliminating all anchoring, other areas will start to notice. The problem is that the cheap Craigslist boat phenomenon has become less just the domain of people like us who want to live the sailing life but of land lubbers looking for cheap or free rent. The money I save by anchoring out, I put into the boat, but the landlubber who has a cool floating tiny home isnt doing that. Infact, it is cheaper to just get another Craigslist boat than to do maintenance like a haulout. This means derelicts in the anchorage which is a problem for all of us.

The answer? Unfortunately it is gonna be more regulation. Hopefully fair so the boatbums still have a place but that isnt likely. Maybe in some spots. The other answer is Hawaii or up North where it is so cold, the landlubber wont think it is worth it. Hell, I dont think it is worth it. How do you do laundry or row to shore???

 

[CrowTheBard]

@lucidsalt
Man that’s discouraging to hear. I sailed Florida’s east coast, the keys, and Bahamas back in ‘07-08 (or there abouts) and it was still easy to live the anchor life back then.

Mooring fields are the bane of all sailors. Nothing makes my blood boil faster. Permanent, private moorings are a relatively recent phenomena, and it pisses me off beyond words. A single ball removes 300’ of solid anchoring grounds. Fill a bay with them and it becomes impossible to anchor with enough rode out and not swing into someone’s ball.

The sea is for all of us. It always was. I fight this specific thing almost daily. I pirate balls every chance I get. I love how posed the owners get. It’s so amusing to me. There’s balls around here I’ve never seen a boat on in 2-3 years, and the second you tie up to it, suddenly people are coming up in go fast dinks coming to yell at you. It’s like if your local grocery store sold permenant parking spaces, and eventually the whole lot is privately owned. And on any given day, the lot is completely empty, but if you dare park there, then the harassment begins. It’s aweful.

I’ve even started fighting letters to the local legislation urging them to “buy back”(refund permit costs) to the private owners and have the state absorb all the hardware (mooring balls) and make them public (like many are), accessable to all that buy the State Park Pass just like the other public balls.

We need to flood them with letters and calls.

Anyways, back in subject, laundry and rowing to shore in the cold....it blows sometimes, yeah, but what lifestyle doesn’t have its drawbacks? This last week has been the coldest by far up here all winter, but before this week, it was cold and wet but not prohibitively so to do all the life stuff that needs doing.

It takes a hearty soul to embrace the tough weather when it comes. And wilts all things sailing, proper seamanship is of paramount importance. The ability to think ahead, like a chess player, is one of the sailor’s greatest assets. This applies to the cold, foul weather when it comes. With forsight and planning, the worst can be mitigated easily before hand. A solid supply of food, water, and heater fuel (wood, kerosine, diesel, propane) precludes the need to put to shore during the coldest days. A sailor can rest easy when hard chance arrives, knowing that he/she already took all the precautions nessisary for the conditions.

A sailor author named “Bob Bitchen” once wrote: “The difference between and adventure and an ordeal is only attitude.”

Another affirmation of mine I hold close to the vest in all I do.

I love these discussions. I’m so glad I found STP. Thanks to everyone participating in these awesome talks.

Cheers,
Crow