Are Smartphones good for Sailing

[Boathook]

I beg to differ. My E7 plotter stopped responding to the touch screen on a number of times. When approaching Scapa Flow the screen had got quite wet as it was a force 7 to 8 blowing and my hands were soaking wet. It took a lot of kitchen paper to dry the screen and fingers to get it to work again. When you are singlehanded and the ram bracket on the tiller had sheared rendering it unuseable, as I was, it was not fun. I have also had the same problem with my iPhone SE 2020.

Mine is an es9 'hybrid' plotter so possibly a generation later than yours and no problems after a few years so far. I only seem to use the rotary controls in rough weather when the boat is bouncing around making the touch screen difficult to use.

 

[Boathook]

I felt I must be a real sailor when I lost signal on my single handed cruise this summer . Lulworth Cove and Chapman's Pool. Proper adventure!

A lot of that coast doesn't have a phone signal close in. A nuisance when your are relying upon the 'phone' to provide the latest weather. Just hope that the previous forecast received was correct in the medium time range !

 

[Stemar]

A lot of that coast doesn't have a phone signal close in. A nuisance when your are relying upon the 'phone' to provide the latest weather. Just hope that the previous forecast received was correct in the medium time range !

The way I see it is that with a signal, you're better off than without the phone; without, you're no worse off than not having it. Like so many things, it's a good servant and a useful addition to the sailing toolbox, but a bad one if you rely on it to the exclusion of a bit of common sense and general seamanship.

 

[Chiara’s slave]

For sure, if you haven’t studied the weather to the point of obsession beforehand you’re going to have a less successful trip. Being able to check for updates is a useful bonus on the kind of trip where you use a phone for such things, ie coastal, but not completely essential.

 

[FairweatherDave]

A lot of that coast doesn't have a phone signal close in. A nuisance when your are relying upon the 'phone' to provide the latest weather. Just hope that the previous forecast received was correct in the medium time range !

TBH losing signal just made it more fun. I liked checking the forecast each evening by leaving the boat and going for a beautiful clifftop walk. I'm a weather addict at home with easy Internet access but once sailing the short term tweaks to the forecast I'm not too bothered about unless I'm at the edge of my comfort zone....,you get what you get, you are in it. I liked the isolation from family. But gutted I couldn't even get decent radio reception to enjoy some classical music ...had nothing to listen to.

 

[Uricanejack]

Used to be every sailor or boy scout had a knife.
Now it’s a smartphone, Sometimes I wonder how I ever got by without one.

 

[ProDave]

A smart phone is a lousy knife. you still need the real knife handy.

 

[dunedin]

A smart phone is a lousy knife. you still need the real knife handy.

The safety knife is close to hand in the chart table drawer. But I have never understood why anybody would need to use a knife, or indeed a swiss Army knife tool, regularly. Yes I use when fitting and removing the sails, once a year (to cut the self amalgamating tape on batten retaining strings), and very occasionally when renewing a whipping on a fender line or similar. But smart phone apps are used multiple times a day, knife occasionally - and multi tool never as just select correct dedicated tool.

 

[RupertW]

The safety knife is close to hand in the chart table drawer. But I have never understood why anybody would need to use a knife, or indeed a swiss Army knife tool, regularly. Yes I use when fitting and removing the sails, once a year (to cut the self amalgamating tape on batten retaining strings), and very occasionally when renewing a whipping on a fender line or similar. But smart phone apps are used multiple times a day, knife occasionally - and multi tool never as just select correct dedicated tool.

I agree - the phone gets used for a lot everyday on the boat - some to do with sailing but we mostly use an iPad. The knife is there to be thrown out every 10 years when it gets rusty.

 

[Stemar]

I see a knife as a vital piece of safety equipment, just like my life jackets. Just like my life jackets, I hope I'll never need to use it in an emergency but, again. like the life jackets, it isn't much use in the draw when you really need it NOW.

 

[capnsensible]

 

[Fantasie 19]

or have they taken something away from it ?

Personally, I felt ordinary mobile phones were ok but I'm not so sure about Smartphones.

All my music is on the phone, and I also use it for up to date tide and weather detail so I would say yes, it is useful and it adds to the experience

 

[RunAgroundHard]

If you have a newish smart phone which has a video feature and an "Action Mode", the image stabilisation when recording sailing videos is amazing. It makes hamfisted people like me look as if they know what they are doing. The software that manages light etc makes the videos really high quality, with no washout or dark spots, wysiwyg. Recent videos taken on my boat with a new smart phone are incredible compared to the old ones. If anyone wants to see some side moob, while sailing by Jura, in the smir, with hairy oxters, I can oblige for a fee, belly button extra.

 

[Aquaboy]

Haven't got one at all..... but life still goes on somehow

 

[KevinV]

Above decks there's enough to keep my (and any crew's) eyes busy, and I process analogue data better. A glance at a chart sticks more in my mind as "real" than a picture on a screen (the same is true for a needle in roughly the right place vs a "precise" number flickering on a readout)
Screens also draw the eye like magic, especially if there's movement on them, so I prefer to not pilot/navigate by one or have them on deck at all. The need for reading glasses makes the case for keeping them below decks (for me) even stronger, plus sailing is an escape from "all that". It's not a religious thing - needs must at times.

Brilliant below decks though, for everything from comms, weather, news, pilotage planning through to entertainment.

All entirely personal of course, and one of the joys of having one's own boat.

 

[magicol]

Let’s celebrate the work of our scientists and engineers who create things that make our life easier. I started sailing when the compass was the main technology on board. I love my smartphone. It is only ever a backup but in one device it provides me with so much information; access to the internet, GPS, a camera, radio, music and a means of keeping in touch with the family. It’s not essential but what’s not to like?

 

[KeelsonGraham]

And smartphones can also do this, which is really cool.

 

[lustyd]

And smartphones can also do this, which is really cool.

is that really wide tacking, or two trips?

 

[Buck Turgidson]

is that really wide tacking, or two trips?

My first thought was, that's a lot of selfies! I had a look at my trip to the med and I only had one photo offshore and that was of a cloud 60nm abeam Finisterre. ?

 

[KeelsonGraham]

is that really wide tacking, or two trips?

Two trips. There and back to A Corunna