Exit Plan(s)

A horse, a horse,

I was hoping to build a boat this summer anyway, but that might be more difficult during lockdown.

Catch 22

Plus my prospective build and launch public beach area (with sailing club) has been legally stolen by developers.

Hard to sustain a fantasy these days.

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You know if you could build a rocket the size of Mercury Redstone, it would be enough for a suborbital trajectory, enough to get one man halfway around the world…

Really expensive and dangerous though.

IIRC private aviation is illegal in Taiwan.

If you are going to get into an unproven launch vehicle for a suborbital ride… private aviation being illegal in Taiwan is the least of your concern.

It’s international law or laws of countries you are flying over or into that you’d have to worry about.

Oh and a miscalculation and you’ll be fish bait…

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NO KIDDING?

You work that out all on your own, using, like, rocket science?

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The trajectory isn’t hard to figure out.

The devil is in having a rocket that won’t explode, won’t accelerate so fast that you turn into mush, be steered off course by random factors such as wind and air density, being shot down by missile defense systems (as the trajectory really would read like ICBM), breaking numerous laws (any suborbital rocket is subject to strict regulatory control, even in the USA, and detailed plans are required for launch, and manned rocket is not possible at all unless you are Elon Musk).

But yea, pointing the rocket somewhere, probably north, would shoot you over the poles and into almost any country in the Northern hemisphere, is possible with a suborbital rocket. But launching any Mercury Redstone sized rocket from Taiwan is likely to get you attention from multiple countries, including the USA.

There is also the not so small issue of working with cryogenic liquid oxygen which is incredibly dangerous, making liquid fueled engine with turbo pump and all that, and it is not insignificant. If you think a solid rocket motor can do the job you are kidding yourself. Once you light it, there is NO way to control it.

I’ve launched numerous small rockets in the US with a rocketry club, and have certification for it.

Sailing over the pacific with a homemade sailboat is actually MUCH safer in comparison.

I’m not sure that this is what anybody was referring to with “exit plan”, TL… :neutral_face:

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TL, you do realise you’re being a bit Aspie’s here, right? :slight_smile:

People want to exit. Not check out.

I am genuinely curious about the possibility of getting out by boat. How does that even work for an international trip? I mean, how does immigration and suchlike work? How does one go about chartering a boat?

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I’d anticipate some problems with the Taiwan Coast Guard before even attempting to go foreign (which I would not attempt without a lot of local trips, if ever).

They can be pretty officious, even if just kayaking close to shore, perhaps a legacy of martial law.

Well, that’s what I was thinking. But presumably there are legitimate reasons for operating watercraft and as long as you’ve got the right paperwork and the right things to say, they’ll leave you alone? Are there certain procedures you have to follow pre-trip, people to notify, that sort of thing? The owner/operator of the boat takes care of a lot of it, no?

If you register the boat overseas that should help. and seems to be possible.

Registering a homemade sailboat in Taiwan doesnt sound very compatible with Tchiwanese culture.

Yeah. Long time ago now of course, but I was quite surprised when I read about the Lieyu massacre in 1987. Mentioned it to a Taiwanese friend too and she’d never heard of it.

I thought you need to do the immigration formalities with the coastguard or whatever it is at the port. Maybe they provide an instruction manual when you buy your first yacht…

I’ve left countries by boat before (Spain to Morocco, for example). I think we just did the immigration stuff on the boat.

I guess sailors and stuff have to go through this all the time - I thought they had a seaman’s book or whatever it’s called as a kind of passport.

It could be long, hard and full of seamen…

That was only 20 years before I arrived here. That story goes some way to explaining why the ROC military is in such a sorry state today; clearly, competence and good leadership are simply not valued.

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Also corruption within the ranks.

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If you want to see how ridiculous it is go to Matsu and talk to the soldiers there. :expressionless:

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I thoroughly enjoyed both posts.

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I’m with you! Sometimes I want take @Kingdomparadise by his hand and delivery him at the airport.

The guy is trying to have a life decision based on replies in this thread. I would say, just go, move on, all the best.

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