Starlink on the boat, how to have superfast internet anytime, anywhere, Vela magazine, 29 October 2024

The following is an edited extract of the original article which can be viewed by clicking on the link below.

Starlink on the boat, how to have superfast internet anytime, anywhere

During the build of Rapido 53XS #01, Picomole, owner Aldo Fumagalli asked Luca Tausel to act as his representative in Triac Composites‘ factory where Picomole was being built in Vietnam. Below, Luca writes about Starlink.

With Elon Musk’s super satellite antenna, Starlink, we can have broadband internet on board, anywhere. Here’s how it works in the experience of those who installed it, how much it costs, pros and cons.

With previous satellite systems, we were barely getting a few emails or GRIB files for weather at a few kilobytes per second. With Starlink, the entire crew can use Wifi from their smartphones, receive real-time weather information, contact medical or maintenance services via video conference, work remotely listen to music and stream movies from the middle of the Pacific or polar caps, as if they were on the couch at home, close to the fiber optic router.

Aldo Fumagalli, owner of the trimaran Rapido 53XS, chose to integrate the Starlink version, in its “top” boat configuration.

THE SEA TRIAL FROM VIETNAM TO THE MEDITERRANEAN

The new trimaran Rapido 53 XS was built in Vietnam, and having the need to tackle with a newly launched boat an ocean crossing in an area of navigation new to us, passing through many more complicated regions, with the pressure to seize the end of the window by the end of May to cross the North Indian Ocean, it was extremely useful to have this kind of satellite connection. We tested Starlink from the construction site in Vietnam, south of Saigon, to Greece.

We descended true Singapore and sailed up the Straits of Malacca, stopping at Langkawi in Malaysia: then we crossed the first half of the northern Indian Ocean to the Maldives, followed by sailing the Arabian Sea to the island of Socotra, crossed the Gulf of Aden under Yemen, and then the Red Sea, and from Suez we arrived in Greece. Maritime Starlink has always worked… The antenna was accidentally stepped on and suffered no damage, it is actually super strong structurally. We did not notice any damage caused by the brackishness. The connection remains perfectly stable even in the waves

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• To read the original article which includes details on ease of installation, pricing and terrestrial Starlink, click here.