Is Being "Connected" a Must These Days?

[thomm225]

So, when I got interested in possibly sailing the world or at least cruising to the Caribbean, there was no internet.

These days we are so used to it sailing/cruising without something like Starlink would really be a big change for many of us.

I was considering a 4 day cruise this weekend, but then the big game is on Friday Night and what if I can't get a good internet connection?!!

That's just a crazy example of what many of us have gotten used to.

So I may sail out on Saturday Morning. The wind will be better anyway is my rationalization, but of course, I won't be able to sail as far.

I don't have Starling so must rely on my phone for a hotspot while sailing up the Chesapeake Bay and must avoid getting too far off the grid.

I might also miss the next big "discussion" on CF.

[Jammer]

Originally Posted by thomm225

So, when I got interested in possibly sailing the world or at least cruising to the Caribbean, there was no internet.

The earliest posts I made on the Internet that I can still find were made in 1983. But then I used to have an email address with ihnp4!ihnss in it. Most authorities date the existence of the 'net to January of that year. Perhaps your sailing aspirations predate that, or perhaps you date the arrival of the Internet to somewhat later milestones, such as the September that Never Ended in 1993, or the publication of Marc Andresson's multimedia web browser that could display text and images together in January 23 of that same year, or the arrival of Windows 95 on August 24, 1995.


Prior to television, yachties who wished to tune out could avail themselves of television (variously dated to milestones in the 1930s and 1940s) , VHS tapes (starting in 1976), or reel-to-reel audio tapes (used on yachts from roughly 1950). The reel-to-reel tapes were particularly popular on yachts back in the day as, unlike vinyl LP records, they were not affected much by sea state.


During the age of sail, cards, dice, and board games like chess were used to pass the time, when the passage itself was uninspiring.

[Enfant Du Vent]

Ahoy thomm225:
For me--in the 1980s--all I needed to feel connected was an all band radio receiver and a VHF transmitter/receiver.
My pleasure came from the new places and the new people I met....and the simple joy of being at sea!
Did most of my "seven year sabbatical" solo so no cards, dice, or board games--but damned I read a lot of books. <grin>


And I totally agree with Jammer's signature line. For me:
-The retired guy on a 23' sailboat in Nassau who hadn't eaten for 2 days
because his pension check hadn't arrived. I gave him some food.
-My interpreter--when I was a volunteer for 3 months in a small town in
China.
-The retired businessman who said he kept all his money offshore. When
I joked about Switzerland, he said "No, Jersey Islands are the best".
(6 months later an article in the Wall Street Journal concurred on
Jersey.
-The happy, self-effacing 40 something I met in Puerto Rico. When we
noticed he was very quiet one day he said nothing particular had
happened. But then his couldn't-stay-quiet girl friend spoke up, "Well Joe
just lost $6 million on a real estate deal today!"
-And the list of people just goes on and on.

[thomm225]

Originally Posted by Jammer

The earliest posts I made on the Internet that I can still find were made in 1983. But then I used to have an email address with ihnp4!ihnss in it. Most authorities date the existence of the 'net to January of that year. Perhaps your sailing aspirations predate that, or perhaps you date the arrival of the Internet to somewhat later milestones, such as the September that Never Ended in 1993, or the publication of Marc Andresson's multimedia web browser that could display text and images together in January 23 of that same year, or the arrival of Windows 95 on August 24, 1995.


Prior to television, yachties who wished to tune out could avail themselves of television (variously dated to milestones in the 1930s and 1940s) , VHS tapes (starting in 1976), or reel-to-reel audio tapes (used on yachts from roughly 1950). The reel-to-reel tapes were particularly popular on yachts back in the day as, unlike vinyl LP records, they were not affected much by sea state.


During the age of sail, cards, dice, and board games like chess were used to pass the time, when the passage itself was uninspiring.

My first training so I could maintain the computers for the Automatic Carrier Landing System (ACLS) on Aircraft Carriers which was a part of our simulator was 1981. The computer was the UYK-20.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/AN/UYK-20

We loaded it and gave it commands with BCD in Octal.

In the late 80's early 90's, I played chess "online" at night with a co-worker with an old phone modem from home. I believe my computer's CPU speed was 25 MHZ.

I'm not talking about that though, I'm talking about today's internet with all it offers from news to streaming. (plus youtube how to fix videos)

No way card games, dice, or board games can compete. I play online chess at chess.com at home and on the boat at times which is much better that the computer chess game I had in the 80's.

https://www.ebay.com/itm/26685405394...B#gad_source=1

[thomm225]

The boats I owned in the 70's through the 90's didn't have a radio much less a computer, but we didn't use the internet much back then so there was nothing to miss about it.

Now we do everything with our computers from checking our bank accounts, to checking the latest news, checking our email (personal and work), making reservations, video streaming, live ball games, and so on.

It's a totally different world which is why the latest sailboats sailing RTW use Starlink.

[rslifkin]

For some people being connected on the boat is a requirement, for others it's a nice to have.

In some cases (myself included), people are still working, so being connected means they can work from the boat and therefore spend more time on the boat than if they could only travel while on vacation from work.

For others, connectivity is just about being able to easily get weather updates and practical stuff like that.

And as you mentioned, sometimes it's nice when it's a crappy, rainy evening to just be able to turn on the TV like at home.

In general, it's not a requirement for everyone, but it's at least somewhat desirable for many. And more importantly, it's become much more achievable in the last few years, so people are more likely to have it. And the threshold where someone feels it's worth having connectivity is much lower.

[thinwater]

Nope, probably would not notice it was missing, except maybe checking the weather.

[Cheyne]

Absolutly required for us. I work from the boat which is our house.

Cheyne

[Johan Leopard51]

I am still working, so to be able to do 7-10 way off mobile phone range I need internet connectivity so hoping we get StarLink in Seychelles soon. BUT! For me it is only internet banking, checking for big problem emails and sometimes looking up research for where we’re at or going. No streaming, browsing etc.

Our yacht charters for about 40 days a year and guests unfortunately increasingly seem to expect full internet everywhere nowadays…

You guys are lucky with StarLink. I cannot afford non-Starlink internet and most anyway will not work with internet banking as too slow and latency too high.

That new Starlink MINI looks like the ideal solution. Fits in a notebook backpack, can switch it on/off for a month, $150 for the unlimited and think $50 for 50Gb.

[thomm225]

I'm probably just too used to being online most all day at work.

Either ordering parts, communicating with the techs, the customer, Corporate, timesheets, insurance, emails, etc.

Then personal use streaming, email, websites, banking, shopping, news, weather, chess, etc, etc.

[barcoMeCasa]

Being online certainly is yet another source for dopamine addiction... but quite easy to justify when cruising to get at weather & noforeignland et al for research. Between obsidian & syncthing finally the various raspberry pi, laptop, tablet & phone devices all keep synced up with no web required which is a step forward. Offshore passages it's quite nice to have a bit of a web detox for a week or so

[CrispyCringle]

I fought the urge to install Starlink. But after a few off grid trips where I really wanted a weather update, and then after a few rainy days in a row we were all talked out, I decided I was getting it. I fought the urge mainly because of the allure of being "unreachable". But like running hot water and indoor toilets, the internet has pretty much become defacto standard for most of us. Starlink has made worldwide internet possible by being, for us anyway, affordable and very effective. Its as easy to install as plugging in a lamp, and is usually as good as home internet. Whats not to like? If you dont want it on all the time turn it off. But its certainly nice to have when you do want it, or need it.

[sailorboy1]

And here I am pretty sure there are lots of posts from the OP insulting cruisers needing internet etc. in general. Now he needs for a weekend just to watch a game

[Shrew]

I will never understand this..."I'm on a sailboat, I need to keep it simple and live like I just sailed out of Nantucket with Hermann Melville" mentality.

WHY?? Why is there some drive to be completely detached?

If that is how you find relaxation, fine then do that. Just because my wife likes to read books doesn't cause her to turn her nose up to movies.

We're boaters, not Amish!

I pretty much live my life the same on land as I do on the water. I like to watch the news with breakfast. I like check weather and look things up online. Occasionally I like to watch a movie at night.

[thomm225]

Originally Posted by Shrew

I will never understand this..."I'm on a sailboat, I need to keep it simple and live like I just sailed out of Nantucket with Hermann Melville" mentality.

WHY?? Why is there some drive to be completely detached?

If that is how you find relaxation, fine then do that. Just because my wife likes to read books doesn't cause her to turn her nose up to movies.

We're boaters, not Amish!

I pretty much live my life the same on land as I do on the water. I like to watch the news with breakfast. I like check weather and look things up online. Occasionally I like to watch a movie at night.

I think many of us had this idea when we were younger and working hard, supporting a family, dealing with life in general how nice it would be to just get on your boat and sail off totally disconnected from the big, bad world.

Every few days it seems, there's some new poster on here that has suddenly decided to quit the working life and sail RTW!

He usually has never sailed though or spent one night on a boat.

When I first got this boat after racing for many years, I'd sail off for 3-5 days and anchor each night. Back then, I had no computer onboard so I read a lot then watched the stars at night.

After 3 days, I was totally bored with that.

On top of that, the sailing was quite simple being on autopilot most of the time after having raced for 14 years where you are constantly at the helm.

So, I started taking my laptop then used the RPi that was also my chart plotter. Also along there someplace added solar.

Now I know where the cell towers are along my sailing route so my phone will work as a reliable hotspot at most of my anchorages.

I'll probably need Starlink soon though when I start sailing longer distances to places I haven't lived in 40 years or so.