From the desk of Sunbeam Captain Michael T. Johnson
Yesterday, I received an e-mail from Sunbeam Director Douglas Cornman asking about exploring possibilities for improving internet access aboard the Sunbeam. Given the interconnected nature of both healthcare and education, this is a logical question. It is important for the crew to stay up-to-date particularly given that many Island Outreach services occur independent of the boat.
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This was a moment of enormous reflection for me. I am approaching my twenty-fifth year aboard the Sunbeam, and while my predecessor, Captain Dave Allen, experienced unprecedented leaps with marine electronics, I have been exposed to a parallel jump in communication technology.
As we embark on 24/7 instant communication, it is easy to forget standing in line for the wall-mounted cellular phone getting grumpy that the person talking was getting a bit, shall we say, loquacious. At the other end of the spectrum was Mike, standing on the roof of the pilot house, taking instructions from Dave to turn his satellite dish a fraction of an inch east. This happened in every single harbor! Can’t miss the World Poker Series though.
Next came Wi-Fi. Every harbor had at least one unsecured network that could be accessed in a very small area of the boat (or outside). I can still picture engineer Storey King standing in the skiff holding his computer at an awkward angle, finger on the trackpad. We did become more clever though—an external antenna. That was a game changer. We could pick up much more distant signals including The Spruce Point Inn in Boothbay Harbor when I was pining to see pictures of my three-month-old daughter. “Enter guest name to access internet.” Shoot, what do I do? I tried “Smith.” Bingo.
As we closed in on life as we now know it, enter the smart phone. These were not an instant panacea. In fact, at first, they were pretty much a novelty. Unless we were within a couple miles of the Swan’s Island cell tower, they were as my daughter calls them, a brick. Remember the aforementioned wall-mounted phone? It was still in use. This did slowly change with cell phone towers in Stonington and Vinalhaven vastly improving coverage.
Now we are about to fill in the final piece. I confess that I am a bit conflicted. I have friends who sail in the South Pacific who can communicate via text message anytime, anywhere. This takes a little bit away from the romance of the sea and gazing at the Southern Cross for entertainment. However, we have a job to do on the Sunbeam, and the addition of better connectivity will make it easier. Like Captain Dave once said, “If you don’t buy new stuff once in a while, all you have is old [stuff].”
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