MAIL FROM THE SEA

BOOKLET VERSION

"Just get out and do it. Just get out and do it."
Chris McCandless

You've got mail ... from the sea!

Imagine yourself writing a message, a poem or drawing in a sheet of paper.
Now, imagine yourself giving your letter to a globetrotter sailor who deliver
this kind of letters to other people like you in many ports of the world.
Now, stop imagining and let's do it.

It's all about doing something new in the real life environment and to
interact with other people who are unknown to us.
Mail From The Sea promote new friendship establishment and aborre
bureaucracy and politics.
Mail From The Sea is a public domain piece of art, totally free venture for
free people who like real life sharing approach.
To learn out more, please read the What? chapter. I promise you'll not
bored with it.

INDEX

1.

What?

p. 5

2.

Who?

p. 7

3.

Where?

p. 9

4.

When?

p. 11

5.

How to?

p. 12

5.1

How to send a message.

p. 12

5.2

How to receive a message.

p. 17

5.3

How to join as a sailor.

p. 18

5.4

How to print the burgee.

p. 20

6.

Etiquette and seafaring superstitions.

p. 25

7.

License and copyright.

p. 29

1.
What is Mail From The Sea?
Mail From The Sea is a free service for free people. It's composed by you, a
network of voluntary sailors and boat owners, and a bunch of dreamers like
you.

Mail From The Sea works in a simply manner:

first of all, you have to write a message and enclose it in a envelope without
specifying the recipient.

Then you go to the nearest harbor, search for a boat with the Mail From
The Sea burgee and entrust your message to a sailor aboard.
At this point, your message, with many others, will seek the same
destination of the boat and, at the arrival location, there will be an unknown
recipient who is in search for a message to read ... yours!

Technical features of the service.

Although every sailor or boat owner can pay more or less attention to the
shipment of a message, there are some basic features that in average will be
followed:

! slow delivery rate;

! uncertainty of shipment;
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impossibility to know when the message will arrive at destination;

! impossibility to specify a destination;

! no web-based services.

Isn't it nice? If you are intrigued about this preamble, please discover how
to send a message.

Mail From The Sea: what it is and what it isn't.

it's:
! a human, non-digital, social network (a real one);
! a method of sending messages to unknown people;
! an escamotage to have fun, walk outdoors and socialize;
! an unconventional method to spread your art;

it isn't:
! an alternative method to the established shipment services;
! a trademark;
! a method to practice its own greed;
! a political party or movement;
! a company.

Ok, now you are ready to send a message (chapter five).

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2.
Who?
Mail From The Sea people.
You are Mail From The Sea. People behind Mail From The Sea are creative
dreamers like you. Mail From The Sea is composed by many voluntary people
who participate in this thing.
Mail From The Sea, as stated, is just for fun. It's an escamotage to socialize
and to take part to an activity that belongs to real life environment and good
living.

Who are the sailors?

If you like to know who is taking part in message shipping as sailor or boat
owner, all you can do is to go to an harbour and search for a boat with the
Mail From The Sea burgee. In this way you can meet in person and socialize if
you want.
By the way, the best answer for this question is: sailors are people.

Who are the senders?

When you have found a Mail From The Sea boat and you are in front of the
crew, you can also ask them for an incoming message for you. Once opened, if
the sender has written down his or her name, you have satisfied your
curiosity.
By the way, the best answer for this question is: senders are people.

Who are the recipients?

I think you know what's the best answer for this question.

Who done it?

Well, Mail From The Sea is the contribute of many updates, made by many
writers. Nobody knows who starded with all of this. Nobody knows who had
the idea.
Do you think that it matters?

3.
Where?
Mail From The Sea boats locations.
Here's a list of places where Mail From The Sea boats are present. Every
reader can edit this page in order to update the list in case a new port become
available.

Last available update:

! Florida
! Dominican Republic
! Venezuela
! Bahamas
! New Jersey
! Canary Islands
! Portugal
! France
! Italy
! Spain
! West Mediterranean Islands
! Greece
! United Kingdom
! __________________________________
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! __________________________________
! __________________________________
! __________________________________
! __________________________________
! __________________________________
! __________________________________
! __________________________________
! __________________________________
! __________________________________
! __________________________________
! __________________________________
! __________________________________
! __________________________________

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4.
When?
When some boat will welcome my message?
The short answer is: always.
The long one is: every time there's a boat with the Mail From The Sea
burgee hoisted.
In fact, an hoisted burgee means you can interact with the boat crew and
give them your envelope or ask for an incoming message. If you can't see any
Mail From The Sea burgee hoisted up, this means that you must wait.

Here's the burgee you should look for:

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5.
How to?
5.1 How to send a message.
So, you are ready to send your first message with Mail From The Sea. There
are some hints you can read first, in order to be more knowledgeable about
the process, or simply to get inspired by.

What to send.
Remember, this is only a guide, as you may find other valid things to send
in respect of shipment security. You can send everything in this list:

! manuscript messages or letters;

! printed messages or letters (manuscript is better);
! drawings;
! a treasure map;
! a musical score;
! a painting;
! a poem;
! a song.

What NOT to send.

A few objects are meant not to be sent because of their size, others is for
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security reasons; by the way, this list is not complete. You should practice
your wisdom and avoid causing troubles to other people. Here's the (partial)
list:

! money;
! dangerous objects like weapons or explosive;
! chemicals;
! bacteria;
! big size objects;
! pets, animals and living things;
!

insects.

The envelope.
You may put your message inside an ordinary envelope, avoiding to write
down the recipient name neither the sender's. You should write something on
the envelope to remember that this is a Mail From The Sea shipping ... what
about to write it down?
Therefore, on the envelope you can simply write "Mail From The Sea" or, if
you like, you can draw the waves and envelope logo, or both.
For the lazy, here's a template you can use to print your envelope (see next
pages):

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C5 format template for printing the envelope:

14

DL format template for printing the envelope:

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Privacy.
To write down your name in the message or not? Well, this is up to you.
Remember the purpose of your message and the content also.
You may want to spread a poem written by you, or search for a unknown
random friend. What is for sure, in these cases, is that you may want to be
replied in someway.
Use privacy with wisdom, like if you are facing directly with the other
person.

Adult content.
Yes, it's a great idea to write down "adult content" or "18+" in the envelope.
This, clearly, works if you write something to be read by an adult only. In this
way, your message will be delivered to a grown up.

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5.2 How to receive a message.

Receiving a message is as simple as drinking grog. Actually you may go to

the nearest harbour, search for a boat with the Mail From The Sea burgee (see
the "when" chapter, page 11) and ask for an incoming message to bring.
Remember to learn seafaring etiquette first (page 25).

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5.3 How to join as a sailor or boat owner.

So, you sail a boat. If you want to join Mail From The Sea you have nothig
to do but doing it. Mail From The Sea is not a franchising, nor a company, nor
an institution, nor a registered association. It's a simple, anti-bureaucratic
concept. Joining is obviously free. Shipping Mail From The Sea messages is
just for fun. If you don't think it's fun, then Mail From The Sea is not for you
(anyway you can try it).

Things to do.
First of all, you should have you burgee (take a look at page 20 to know how
to get one). Then you may hoist it up your mast and you are ready to welcome
people who will ask you to take an outgoing message or to bring to them an
incoming one.
See the etiquette chapter and the how to send and receive chapters to be
more found with these topics.

What kind of boat?

There's no limit for the type or size of your boat. You can join Mail From
The Sea if you have a tall ship, a kayak, a fishing boat or a dinghy. Really,
there's no limit.
For the kayak one, I'm not joking, because you can take and ship messages
in estuaries or even in mountain rivers, after a transshipment with an open
water boat.

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Motivation.
Why should I use my boat to ship messages for free?
There are a bunch of motivations to do so. For instance, if you have to do an
ocean crossing, the mere act of shipping messages from some people to other
people always brings you luck. This is because the voyage achievement is
helped also by the thoughs and desires of senders and recipients. Having on
board some mail to be delivered could be the mission who can help you to
reach your destination safe and sound.

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5.4 How to print the burgee.

The burgee is meant to give everyone a sense of belonging and to dispatch

the obvious function of recognizing each other who join the club.
To get your burgee, you have many possibilities. Two of these are:
handcrafting or professional printing.

Handcrafting the burgee: cheap and fun.

You should have these items:

! an offcut of blue cloth (there's no color code, it's blue, period),

! some lines,
! bleach,
! a small brush or a cotton bud,
! gloves, scissors, safety glasses, a parachute if you want (this last is not
essential).

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After you have obtained a rectangle of about 100x70cm or 50x35cm or

whatsoever measure you like (remember to respect the 10/7 ratio), you'll need
to cut the cloth in a triangle shape like in the drawing below:

Now, you have a blue triangle, some spare lines and a brush with bleach.
Handcrafting is something creative and something artistic.
You have to literally draw, freehand, the logo and text with the bleach
soaked brush on the triangle shaped blue cloth.
If you want, in the next page there's a black and white template to help you
out. Be careful with the bleach and avoid damaging yourself.
Now, you have a blue triangle with a fresh new white logo in it and some
spare lines, let's go on.
Stitch some way two or three lines on the short side of the blue triangle
with a fresh new white logo in it (the left side in the graphics).
Now, you have you burgee.
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When handcrafting your burgee, don't worry to be fussy or not. As

explained everywhere, Mail From The Sea is many things but bureaucracy,
trademarks, politics, business, franchising, etc.
You can easily draw three waves inside the envelope instead of two if you
prefer. If you want, you can translate the name "Mail From The Sea" in your
language, it's fine. You can also draw the envelope rectangular if this will
make you more comfortable.
Damn, this really don't care.

Printing your burgee professionally.

Printing professionally is a matter of finding someone who can print your

template on nautical cloth, in order to obtain an high quality, saltwater
resistant burgee. You can search online things like "personalized flag", "print
your burgee online" and so on.
Once you've found the printing service, you should give to them the
template of your burgee.
Look at the next page for the color burgee with 10/7 ratio, ready to be
professionally reproduced.

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6.
Etiquette and seafaring superstitions.
Etiquette.

Everyone of us, have to understand that sailing and all the related topics,
belong to a world where fair play and honor code are much more important
than anything else.
In such a case, etiquette is the only way to oversee social relations. Here's
some ocurrences in which etiquette plays a fundamental role:

Looking for a Mail From The Sea boat

If you are about to go sending or receiving a Mail From The Sea message,
you first look at the nearest harbour if there are some sailors who joined the
Mail From The Sea club. In order to do this you can simply ask the
harbourmaster if there's any of them or you can ask him/her if you can go for
a walk in the harbour.

Make an offer
Even if you send or if you receive a message, always make an offer to the
sailor who welcomes you. Remember you have to do mainly with globetrotters
who live aboard and for this, money is not a major requirement. Generally it's
better to donate commodities like galley supplies, fishing gears, tools. Be
creative. You can even offer a breakfast, a lunch, a dinner or a beer at the pub,
especially if you like to socialize.
Remember, Mail From The Sea is not a bartering system, it's more like a
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creative method of socializing.

In case the sailor refuse any donation or invitation, don't insist and
consider the refusal as a need to be left alone.

Burgee display
If you are a sailor or a boat owner who has joined Mail From The Sea, you
should hoist the burgee during the navigation. You should also hoist it while
the boat is moored at the harbour in case you can welcome visitors who would
wish to send or receive a message. While you are in the harbour, haul down
the burgee if you do not want to be bothered.

Transshipment
Every sailor who carries a pack of Mail From The Sea messages, in
accordance with another boat's crew, can transfer the shipment to the other
boat. In this case, the first sailor should give to the recipient boat crew a
donation for taking care of the shipment. Usually this is about some galley
supplies, useful tools or fishing gears.

Related superstitions.

There's a bunch of seafaring superstitions (please don't take them too

seriously) related to the action of shipping a message from a person to
another, especially when the recipient is unknown. Here's the list:

Shipping Mail From The Sea messages

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Generally speaking, the mere act of shipping messages from some people to
other people always brings luck to the sailor. This is because the voyage
achievement is helped also by the thoughs and desires of senders and
recipients. Having on board some mail to be delivered could be the mission
who can help you to reach your destination safe and sound.

Receiving its own sent message

Yes, this is very possible. It may has 0.000000001 odds or fewer, but it's
still possible. In fact, there are things like multiple transshipments, loosing
the envelope and many others unpredictable events that may bring back your
own message to you.
Therefore, such a rare case is a very good omen.

Writing to someone who had gone

Never write a message to a dead person. This can cause serious trouble to
the sailor who will make the shipment for you. Regularly, messages to the
dead are inclined to be attracted to the seabed.

Writing the name of Davy Jones on the envelope

Never, I say never write down the name of Davy Jones in the message and
least of all in the envelope. Read about Davy Jones on Wikipedia.

Opening a letter during a navigation

Although this belongs also to etiquette and good manners, there's a nice
superstition about that. The captain and the crew of a Mail From The Sea
boat, are meant to deliver messages to people who wish to read news from
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unknown people. If you open one or more messages during navigation, means
you do not comply with the task. If the task fails, the entire expedition fails
and a castaway may happen.
Torn burgee
Having a ripped burgee is a very bad sign. If the rip crosses the envelope in
the logo, it means that the messages may never reach their destination, so the
boat. Better fix the burgee before sailing.

Forgetting to give a donation during a transshipment

Here the assumption is that every message is accompained with a donation.
So, every load matches with a bunch of donations and it will always be that
way. Forgetting to give a donation during a transshipment break the bond
and it is a bad omen.

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7.
License and copyright.
There's no copyright in this original content. It's released with
public domain license. Legally you have the rights to print, post,
scan, upload, put the pdf version of this booklet, everywhere.

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