wrote in message
...
On Thu, 2 Aug 2007 12:38:28 -0400, "Wilbur Hubbard"
wrote:


wrote in message
. ..
On Wed, 1 Aug 2007 15:48:32 -0400, "Wilbur Hubbard"
wrote:


"Rusty" blank wrote in message
news:zsWdnVzPT_6yTC3bnZ2dnUVZ_rqlnZ2d@comcast. com...
I think it's time to get an Iridium satellite phone. We're gong to
have
way
too much time away from cell sites.

Any suggestions as to a cruiser-friendly source of hardware and
airtime?

Thanks,
Rusty


It's my observation that people who have to have a phone so they can
blabbermouth 24/7 while out cruising should just stay home. If you
need
to be plugged in to the communications grid 24/7 you're not cut out
for
cruising - just stay home and leave the waterways open for real
cruisers, please. Today's men are turning into girly men. Bunch of
sissies. Spend the money on a EPIRB instead. Cruise and try
shutting
your mouth for a week or a month. You might learn something for the
first time in your life.

Wilbur Hubbard


Wilbur,

While I realize that weather is of little interest to you on your
trailer-sailer anchored in your snug little Bayou but to people out
there on the water it is one of their primary concerns and there are
three basic ways to get weather reports once you're out of sight of
land (1) H.F. radio, (2) Iridium phone or (3) satellite (immersat,
for
example).

I've done cost comparisons and going from nothing to a complete
installation is cheaper using Iridium so more and more cruisers are
opting for Iridium as weather reports through Iridium can be
received
24 hours a day while H.F. is greatly dependent upon daily
propagation
variations.

As you say, " try shutting your mouth for a week or a month. You
might
learn something for the first time in your life."


Correction, there is a fourth and more reliable way of getting weather
reports. That's knowing how to look at the glass and the sky and being
able to interpret what they tell you for your part of the world. How
do
you think sailors got around before your exclusive reliance on
technology?

Your little do-it-like-a-lubber screed simply reinforces my opinion
that
you're no sailor.
But, then again, anybody who has good opportunity to do coastal
cruising
in your part of the world, (considered premiere cruising grounds) but
instead sits in a marina on the Internet probably won't ever
understand
that.

Wilbur Hubbard

Wilbur, that is one of the stupidest posts I've ever had the
misfortune to read.

You are right, years ago people didn't have any technology and relied
on all kind of signs and portents to determine what to do.

Originally no one could figure out how where they were once they were
out of sight of land. Then came the compass so we could tell what
direction we were going. Then somebody made a clock that would keep
accurate time and people learned how to take sun shots and we got even
better at knowing where we were, now we have GPS and we know down to a
yard, or so exactly where we are.

Sure, there a lot of old sailor's rhymes and jingles -- Red sky at
night, sailor's delight....., most of them wildly inaccurate, but now
we have a little more science in weather forecasting. Satellites,
weather buoys, there is even a US Navy buoy system in most oceans
where you can get real time wave height, and you want to go back to
looking at clouds to predict the weather? Why? Because you think it is
"lubberly" to use technology?

Throughout history those who adopted the latest technology win and
those who stuck with the old traditional ways end up in the garbage
can.

Hubert, do a little reading about the Tea Clippers. They sailed the
way you are recommending -- lousy charts, poor navigation systems, no
communications, no weather information except clouds. Real Sailor! No
Lubbers here!

And the average life of a tea clipper was something like two years.
Their records read "lost on Scudder's Bank", "demasted in Bay of
Bengal", "believed sunk in typhoon in S. China Seas".......

If you want to go back to the days of Salt Junk and Biscuits for
breakfast, pulling ropes by hand and drowning because you ran into a
typhoon that you didn't know was coming then you are welcome to it.

But for me, I'm going to have every technical advantage I can get.

"Stupid is as stupid does." --Forrest Gump.

Let me just say this. My boats have been struck by lightning twice. If
yours hasn't it will be one of these days. When it does get struck, say
goodbye to ALL of your electronics. If you don't know how to sail
without electronics you shouldn't be voyaging or cruising. To lightly
toss aside traditional weather forecasting skills that rely on a
barometer and human eye and other senses is to do a stupid thing.

Wilbur Hubbard