A phone showing the icons of sailing apps
  • 6th July 2020
  • Blog
  • by Pete Green
  • 1

Our yacht delivery skippers are often asked for their professional sailing advice. In this technological age we now live in, one of the main questions we are asked is about the phone apps that we recommend.

A phone showing the icons of sailing apps

Here is a list of 16 essential sailing apps compiled by one of our senior yacht delivery skippers. If you use a sailing or yachting app that we haven’t mentioned then please let us know in the comments section below.

What are the best sailing apps in 2020

 

1) Navionics

The go to chart system for portability and quality. It is clear and easy to use charting with good integration with boat technologies and other apps. It’s affordable and particularly good on a Cellular tablet. Don’t forget to download the latest weather and tide overlays, as well as explore the other features within the app before you lose connectivity for a sensible medium term forecast overlay.

https://www.navionics.com/gbr/apps/navionics-boating

 

2) Windy

A superb weather app with various models showing wind, waves and so much more.

https://windy.app/

 

3) Boat Beacon

The paid for version gives you real time AIS and the ability to enter and transmit your vessel details too! You need to have a phone signal for it to work, but isn’t that where you need AIS the most? This App is a game changer!

https://pocketmariner.com/mobile-apps/boatbeacon/

 

4) Ray Remote/Ray Control/Ray View

These apps give you access to boats with later generation Raymarine installations and you can use your phone or tablet as a repeater/controller accordingly.

https://www.raymarine.com/mobile-apps/rayremote.html

 

5) Predict Wind

The paid for version is great for accurate weather routing and departure planning.

https://www.predictwind.com/apps/

 

6) Digital Yacht iAIS

For boats that have a Bluetooth Digital Yacht AIS transmitter/receiver you can add an AIS overlay to your phone or tablets plotter.

https://digitalyacht.co.uk/product/iais-application/

 

7) Navily

A fantastic resource with good and up to date information on anchorages, marinas and ports – Almost a virtual almanac!

https://www.navily.com/

 

8) B&G Link/Link Pro

Similar to Ray marines App, these B&G apps allow you to use your tablet or phone as a repeater or to access the system setup information to resolve issues for boats installed with later versions of B&G instruments and plotters.

https://www.bandg.com/news/link-app/

 

9) Tides Planner

Although Navionics is useful, this is a dedicated app for getting you in (hopefully without too much bumping on the bed!).

https://www.imray.com/tides-planner-app/

 

10) Marine Traffic

The go to global ship tracking site (note the free version does not always give you the latest or satellite info).

https://www.marinetraffic.com/en/mobile-apps

 

11) Spotify/Deezer

Keep a happy ship with some quality sounds. Subscribe and download to your device. Take a 12v FM Bluetooth transmitter along too, and you can convert even older boat stereos into the latest audio platforms with libraries to keep everyone entertained!

https://www.spotify.com/uk/download/other/

 

12) WhatsApp

Go to platform to communicate with head office, clients and crew, minimising otherwise expensive calls.

https://www.whatsapp.com/

 

13) Anchor Pro

Anchor watch to help you get that well-earned rest.

https://www.peckish-sloth.com/anchor-pro-android/

 

14) Garmin Active Captain

Integration with boats that have Garmin systems installed.

https://explore.garmin.com/en-GB/active-captain/

 

15) Celestial Navimatics

If you’re not packing a sextant, but still need to practice your celestial Nav, this is the go to App. It’s a paid for but gives you all the tools to do the job.

http://www.navimatics.com/Celestial/

 

16) Skype

A bit old school now, but still a fantastic way of keeping your costs down for international calling.

https://www.skype.com/en/get-skype/

Both android and apple versions of these sailing apps are available. You can follow the links above and download or search the apps name into Google Play or the App Store.

A banner reading Delivered by Halcyon Yachts

Halcyon Yachts Ltd is a dedicated international yacht delivery specialist with highly experienced and qualified crew. For more information or to see details of their recent deliveries please visit: http://halcyonyachts.com/

1 Comment

  1. 31st March 2022 at 9:57 am
    Taff Sailor

    I think you missed one of the major players in this space – savvy navvy https://www.savvy-navvy.com is a great app, with free charts in the US. The app works a lot like Navionics, but has some fundamental differences, like being apple to add boat polars, weather routing that includes tide, weather, wind date to give you a proper passage plan with tack/gybe information. The Departure scheduler is amazing as well so you can see when is the best time to leave to get to your destination using the best/most of the tide.

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