Conn,

OUR EXPERIENCE:
We are 2/3rds or more away around beginning in the Caribbean and currently in Marmaris. We have HF, a Pator3 modem, winlink and sailmail. Hen not near civilization we used the HF for email communication and downloaded weather information. When near civilization we used WiFi and/or 3G modem. We seem to be using the 3G modem about 60% of the time recently.

When crossing the Pacific from Galapagos to French Polynesia we found a large hole in sailmail stations until we got closer to the Marquesas where sailmail has installed a new station at Manahi.

However, while making passages around the world, some of our best information came from informal Nets that included cruisers ahead of us as well as some behind us. You cannot duplicate these daily meetings on sat phones for lots of reasons, but one is that sat phone to sat phone calls can be very expensive. I have seen some as high as $14/min.

We have a sat phone for emergencies and only pay for airtime when used. I do not believe you can write a contract like that anymore. We did not use it for 2 years, but when crossing the Bay of Bengal, we encountered an un-forecasted LO which was fairly violent. We were unable to get weather information (grib files) that recorded this LO, but we were being hit with 45kt winds...we used the sat phone to call Commander's Weather who was able to give us the position of the LO, allowing us to plot a course out of it.

MY COMMENTS/ANSWER TO YOUR QUESTION:
Your rigger is absolutely correct if you only analyze the situation from his perspective...the additional cost of the rigging could buy you lots of minutes for your sat phone...does he also sell sat phones?

If you currently have HF, you may want to look at an HF halyard antenna to replace your rigging antenna...it will not be as good, but will probably suffice.

If you do not have HF and you do not want 2-way communication with fellow cruisers on passages, then your rigger is probably correct. With the money you will save from not purchasing and rigging HF, you can buy a lot of sat phone minutes.

BTW, out of 20 yachts crossing from Galapagos to French Polynesia with us in 2008, only one did not have a HF transceiver, and he had a HF receiver.

Best,

Bill
BeBe, SM2k, #387
Currently Marmaris, Turkey

--- In amelyachtowners@..., "Conn" <connwilliamson@...> wrote:

I am going to get some standing rigging replaced on our Mongo. We are intending to cruise the Pacific in the next few years. My Rigger suggested to do away with the HF aerial system on the tridadic and back stays, saying that HF is outdated. What do Amel owners that are cruising full time think of this. HF or Sat phone?.

Cheers to all...Conn.. Jasmyn #28