How often do you get to communicate with your friends and family by email or phone?

Dear Jack, We have 3 different satellite communication systems: Fixed Iridium (9.6kbaud), an Iridium OpenPort (128k baud) and a Fleet Broadband (250k baud rate). So I can telephone or email through any of these three systems. Interestingly, we have found that the best audio/voice quality, is by Skype using the data link of the Fleet Broadband, it is as if the person were sitting at the chart table. Of course, that uses a lot of data in our service plan, so we don’t do it often. And I will check email several times per day, not only for emails from family and friends back home, but also because we get regular missives from race management. on the AEZ (Antactic Exclusion Zone), special weather bulletins for storms, and media schedules for Radio Vacances and Vendee Live, plus occasionally simply a friendly greeting as over the holidays.

Question from Jack, West Newbury, MA USA