SATCOM-C (also known as INMARSAT-C) is a text-only storage and retrieval e-mail system broadcast by satellite.  Here's how it works.  

	You send:  Send e-mail from your computer via the Internet to our mailbox at COMSAT, the satellite access provider for the United States.
	COMSAT Stores:  COMSAT stores the message until we log on to our satellite system aboard the boat.
	We retrieve:  When we log on

When we reply to you, the process is reversed.  We send to COMSAT via the satellite link.  They then charge us for the reply message and forward it to you via the Internet to your normal e-mail address.  

The billing is never double.  That is, you are billed for what you send, not what you receive.  If you send to us, you get billed; if we send to you, we get billed.

Here's how to sign up and send.

	Tell COMSAT that you want to open an account to send Inmarsat-C e-mail to a boat from a land computer via the Internet.
	Our boat's equipment is "Trimble Galaxy Inmarsat-C," and our account number is 436824410.
	There is no monthly service fee.  You are charged per character, per message.
	Several friends have reported that COMSAT does not have the best customer service in the world.  I would recommend you ask them to FAX the forms, then get a service rep on the phone to help you fill them out, then FAX them back in to that rep's attention.

	For example, leave out most vowels, and truncate long words.
	We have a lot of fun figuring out what you're trying to say.
	COMSAT will charge you $.01 per character for the e-mail you send us.
	Example: The message "Will meet U Fiji 7/7/00, pls confirm" would cost you 30 cents.

Typing that subject word will eliminate a lot of information Comsat otherwise puts at the top of each message (your latitude and longitude, for example!) and will save you an estimated $2.00 per e-mail.

The message should reach us directly on the boat the same day, no matter where we are -- even in the middle of the ocean.