One of the areas we survey each year before starting to cruise is communications. There are a variety of approaches to this question, and the correct answer depends on cruising grounds and the need to stay in touch.

In our case there are several requirements:

• Emergency communications (most probably for medical issues).
• The ability for the family to reach us if there is a land based problem.
• Business communications with and without attachments.
• Staying in touch with friends and family.
• Boat related communications (dates, reservations, technical support).

Of these communication requirements the item which requires the most bandwidth is business. We can have 15 or 20 e-mails a day between ourselves, Circa, and some of our suppliers (it is this ability to stay in touch that allows us the time afloat to test our design concepts).

Wind Horse has a variety of short and long range communication options. These include:

• Iridium sat phone (primarily used for e-mail) with Sailmail or UUPlus.
• Icom 820 SSB with Pactor 3 modem for e-mail (and as a weather fax) with Sailmail.
• A 9dB gain wifi antenna for use when wifi is available.
• Unlocked cell phone so we can change SIM cards as we move around.
• 3G data system for the computer (several) unlocked so we can change SIM cards.

When we are in “civilization” we use the cell phone and/or 3G data system for e-mail. This is by far the simplest and most efficient cost wise. We have found that both work well throughout Europe, and even in remote Norwegian anchorages. But there are times when we are out of cell phone/data range, in which case we check the Iridium e-mail account twice a day.

We’ve found that 90% of the time one minute a day of Iridium air time covers the e-mail requirements for business and family. Occasionally we will need to receive or send a report or drawing file. This is not practical with Iridium, so we then go ashore and find a wifi signal or Internet cafe.

Now a word about Skype, the Internet VOIP provider. If you have not discovered Skype check it out. Once you have a 3G or wifi signal, you can call anywhere with your computer for just pennies a minute. Sending large data files with weak wifi signals is very efficient, and conference calls are simple and clear. Last year, we were on Skype an average of four days a week. It is a wonderful tool.

This combination on Wind Horse works, but today we’d do things a little different (and will make some changes next winter). To begin with we would fit an Inmarsat BGAN terminal as the primary voice and data gear. BGAN is faster than Iridium, and the data cost, roughly US$14 per megabyte, is a fraction of what Iridium charges. The convenience of always having the required bandwidth, even for larger drawings, is worth the investment to us.  Iridium  has a place as a back up and for the emergency kit carried in the dinghy and the abandon ship ditch bag. We’d dispense with the dedicated SSB, and go back to a ham radio which is more compact, easier (for us) to operate, and less costly.