Favourite Sailing App?

[Buck Turgidson]

What's your favourite sailing App and what functions do you wish you had that you don't?
I use the Imray suite of Apps and although I've tried many others I always end up renewing my Imray subscription.

I am however learning to code and currently building an App that will log all my network data and build a Polar for my boat based on my own sailing ability.

What do you use and what would be on your wish list?

 

[LittleSister]

Generally speaking I go sailing to get away from all that sort of thing!

That said, the app I did use to use was a simple weather one, with modest subscription, from MeteoFrance. Haven''t done so for several years, though.

There is nothing app related on my wish list (but wouldn't entirely rule out using a useful one if it came to my attention).

 

[LiftyK]

SailTies. It logs my journeys for me. It's great. I have no requests to add further functions.

 

[Arcady]

Imray Tides Planner. I invariably use it every time we anchor. There was a feature on the early version which I wished it had and when I suggested it to Imray they a). implemented it almost immediately and b). sent me a set of charts as a thank you. I was most impressed!

 

[Greenheart]

Generally speaking I go sailing to get away from all that sort of thing!

So true.

My plan is to de-tech my next boat as far as that's possible. The pure bliss of no screens or LEDs or beeps. I'll happily clear the whole boat of electronics, take a bootload to a boat jumble, and give away anything I can't sell.

On the other hand, weather apps, tide heights, etc, and GPS, all of which are available on the mobile phone, offer benefits that no sailor in an earlier century would have declined, so it's not sensible to recoil too strongly from them.

I keep my phone at hand 24/7 for medical reasons (as well as to satisfy my liking for photographing things) so I'll never quite escape technology. But I rather like the fact I can keep the boat low-tech or no-tech, while retaining access to a handful of useful services.

I'd say, the Audible app, for the entertainment available from listening to literature while leaving hands free for physical tasks. Although I laughed so hard at Stephen Fry reading Jeeves and Wooster, my watchkeeping might have been affected.
.

 

[Roberto]

The French are developing/merging/restructuring a number of apps, both new and existing, not sure if/how much they are known abroad:
Navimetrix, ongoing merger between Weather4D and Sailgrib
VoyagePilot, new one, passage planning with offline resident AI
Qtvlm, mature but under constant development
Avalon router, idem
CH16, SAR assistance
Macoui, new one, charting and routing.
Nav&co, free official SHOM/France HO charts for people sailing there.
Donia, used a lot by French Mediterranean sailors, info about sea bottom nature (posidonia sea grass, natural reserves, local anchoring regulations etc)
Oh Navily, if Anglosaxon boats tend to concentrate in NoForeignLand, the French are mostly on Navily
Sorry cannot be of any specific advice I have no significant direct personal experience except for the occasional casual look at them; OpenCpn android/pc is enough for me. I notice no one has created the coffee making app yet

 

[steve yates]

Generally speaking I go sailing to get away from all that sort of thing!

That said, the app I did use to use was a simple weather one, with modest subscription, from MeteoFrance. Haven''t done so for several years, though.

There is nothing app related on my wish list (but wouldn't entirely rule out using a useful one if it came to my attention).

Meteo was a great app for west coast of scotland inshore forecasts years ago until it was taken over.

Apart from navionics, my most used apps are imray tides, which is immensely useful, and boatie, I find its weather the most accurate, though thats probably very subjective.

 

[Refueler]

Windguru for weather

Navionics Boating App for all else.

 

[kwb78]

I use LD-Log for tracking trips. It's very battery efficient and has a lot of configuration options for track point interval/distance, and can record other things like engine starts/stops, sail changes etc. Been using it for years now.

 

[Laser310]

The French are developing/merging/restructuring a number of apps, both new and existing, not sure if/how much they are known abroad:
Navimetrix, ongoing merger between Weather4D and Sailgrib

i have been using Weather 4D and now Navimetrix a bit

I do a lot of ocean racing, for which I use Expedition.., but I was looking for more of a cruising solution, mostly for cruising French waters in Brittany, the Med and FWI.

I wanted it available on a tablet, and i wanted easy access to french charts at a reasonable price.

One of the main upgrades with the transition to Navimetrix is that it runs on many platforms, and you can sync them across platforms. So, now I have t on a windows laptop and on my ipad pro. I am only just beginning the transition to Navimetrix, so I can't really endorse it yet, but I liked Weather 4D and they are pretty similar.

Display of the SHOM charts is excellent.