Communicating While Cruising

One of the barriers to active cruising with children and teenagers, who are perpetually plugged into the internet, and for those who are working remotely from their boats is the ability to have reliable, high-speed internet connections. Most of us can’t afford the cost of an INMARSAT or KVH satellite internet link but if you can the systems work remarkably well. For a less costly solution to communicating, we have found that internet accessibility is available in many harbors and cruising anchorages, often for a fee. A Wi-Fi boosting antenna will give you a clearer signal and more range and options. And, cell data connections work well, too, so you can turn your phone into a hot spot that allows a laptop to connect to the internet. It’s when we are in remote anchorages or offshore that communications for email, texting and voice become more complicated.  We’ve used HF radios equipped with a Pactor modem to get email and weather through SailMail and that technology works and provides an inexpensive communications solution, but it depends on somewhat unreliable radio wave propagation. We’ve used satphones at sea and these are great for voice communications, particularly if equipped with a mounted, multidirectional antenna, but have limited data capabilities. And we’ve used SPOTs and Delorme InReach units for texting and weather info, but these are limited in their capabilities. The best affordable solution we tried thus far for email and weather offshore is an IridiumGO, with a mounted antenna, which will give you reliable, fairly fast email and the ability to upload and download small photos and weather files. When fitting out for passagemaking, I’d start with an IridiumGO and back that up with a Delorme InReach. Then the decision would be whether to add an HF radio and modem or opt for a satphone instead. I’ve always gone with an HF radio because I like being part of cruising nets. But a satphone might be more practical. What’s your choice of communications solutions for cruising? You can send your thoughts and experiences to george@bwsailing.com.