Nick Jaffe just cleared customs in Coffs Harbour after a 2 year solo sail from Europe. Apart from being an accomplished sailor, Nick also worked out how to make the Internet work for him along the way.
And not just by getting regular weather reports via a Satellite…
Check out his Website, Blog, his Flickr photostream, his Video and his Tweets. And of course, there is a tracking page.Well done, Nick!
I guess it had to be a 27 year old to show us how it’s done…
A few friends have asked about the Wireless Broadband Internet and phone setup aboard Te Moana. Last year, we fitted an Ericsson W25 on our boat. Previously, we had USB modems (Maxon CDMA and later the Maxon Turbo modem) with Telstra mobile data plans. Today I still use the (orange) Maxon Modem while we're ashore (handy in the train or at a customer). But while on the boat I take the SIM card out of the modem and plug it into the Ericsson W25 which Andersen Marine installed on Te Moana last year.
by David McKay
[Feb 2009 -This is an updated version of of the item originally published in November 2008]
Andrea and I have just completed a six month cruise through the south west Pacific Ocean in "Diomedea", our 48 foot steel Van de Stadt. We sailed from Sydney to New Zealand and then onto Tonga, Fiji, Vanuatu, and New Caledonia as part of the Island Cruising Association Pacific Circuit rally. We returned to Australia. During that time we were able to use a variety of communication mediums to keep in touch with those nearby and those far away.
Radio and Satphone
We maintained a blog, which was created using either email or internet. About 99% of the time it was done by email as internet access was very infrequent.
Email entries can be done anywhere and anytime so long as you have either HF/SSB radio with Pactor modem and computer, or, as we did, Iridium satellite phone and computer. One can upload text easily via email but pictures are much slower and more expensive on the satphone. We found the Iridium to be excellent. At first glance, the recently launched iPhone is ideal for use on a coastal cruise. It isn't just a phone with a built in iPod. It has a GPS built in, its web browser is superior to any other mobile phone browser and well suited for small data entry tasks such as using the skipr.net "Where is my boat" site. On the surface a great phone for marine use!
On my recent sail North on Breakaway, the iPhone hadn't been released, but I did have a "Touch iPod", which has many of the iPhone capabilities. Breakaway had WiFi Internet access through the Ericsson W25, so I used the iPod to great effect to keep up with my emails and also used its mini browser for log entries to the Skipr system. For much of the time I didn't need my computer because the iPod had all the Internet access I needed. When I needed a larger screen or more extensive text entries, my laptop could also conveniently connect to the system.
So how about using an iPhone to do everything?
Until recently, this famous shack in West Bay (Middle Percy) was as close as anyone got to a telephone between Rosslyn Bay and Mackay...
As good as Telstra's NextG service is, with a conventional mobile handset or internet modem, coverage fades away as you move away from the coast or pass uninhabited areas. So...
One of the advantages of having an internet connection while cruising is to have the current forecast at hand at all times. But a wise sailor will still expect the unexpected. As I write this, we're anchored on the Shoalhaven river near Greenwell Point, a stopover on an Easter cruise to Ulladulla. I awoke at 0400 hrs to a few creaks and rattles. The kind you get when something is about to change...
