On a sailboat, your phone can be one of your most valuable tools in your captain’s toolbox. There are a lot of paid sailing apps out there, everything from chart plotters to fish finders, but most aren’t worth your money, or your time. These free apps, on the other hand, are actually useful both on and off the water. I use these often to plan passages, track conditions, stargaze from anchor, and even empty the head. They’re available on iOS and Android, and if you want premium functionality, many offer optional upgrades.
Windy
The most important decision you’ll ever make as a skipper is the Go/No-Go decision. Every experienced sailor knows to check the weather conditions before casting off. For the official forecast, check NOAA/National Weather Service or listen to the WX VHF channel. But these zone forecasts don’t always tell the full story. For that, you need an app like Windy, which provides wind forecasts in 3-hour chunks 6-days into the future (or more with a premium subscription). Windy is hands-down the best free weather app for sailors. It provides highly visual, real-time wind, wave, and weather models you can swipe through with ease.
MarineTraffic
These days, most commercial vessels and many pleasure boats carry an automatic identification system (AIS) transceiver. With that information you can identify any vessel, it’s heading, and it’s speed. MarineTraffic does just that. I use it for assessing danger in crossing situations around commercial shipping boats, tracking my flotilla friends, or just checking in on anchorages and marinas to see how busy things are before I depart. MarineTraffic is the World’s #1 ship tracking app (at least according to them). In my experience, it’s excellent for anchoring strategy, route planning, or just marine nerding. Premium plans unlock satellite AIS data and advanced search features.
Animated Knots
There are a handful of knots that every sailor needs to know. They are so essential and versatile that they can be used to solve any line handling problem. You can probably name them, in no particular order: Bowline, Clove Hitch, Round Turn and Two Half Hitches, Sheet Bend, Reefing Knot, Trucker’s Hitch, as well as every which way to coil and stow a line. But even the best sailor can use a reference to refresh the memory or learn a new knot from time to time. That’s why it’s great to have a lightweight, offline knot app on your phone. Animated Knots shows clear, step-by-step animations for every knot you can think of.
Stellarium
Some of the most beautiful stargazing I’ve done in my life has come while I’ve been at anchor at an offshore island. Clear skies, no city lights, no crowds, just peaceful serenity and all the time in the world to take in the natural beauty of the stars. Take the opportunity for some introspection, wonder what it all means, or imagine yourself as an ancient mariner, navigating by the stars. Knowing what you’re looking at, or being able to find your favorite constellation makes it that much better. With a planetarium app like Stellarium, just point your phone skyward and see an overlay of constellations, planets, and satellites mapped in real time.
Next Spaceflight
Similarly to stargazing, peaceful nights at anchor sometimes offer another sky viewing experience: Watching a rocket launch. Here in Southern California, we can see rockets launched out of Vandenberg Space Force Base fly across the sky, as long as we know where and when to look. That’s why I love having the Next Spaceflight app that gives me alerts for when a launch is scheduled. It’s easy to set a filter on your location to get alerts when there’s a launch coinciding with your time at sea or at anchor.
Pumpout Nav
Last, but not least, here’s an app that everyone can get behind! I thought about making this one number two, but decided against it. Ok, ok, jokes aside, this app is great for finding the nearest operational pumpout station in your home marina or when you’re visiting another port. For some reason, this information has always difficult to find. I can’t tell you how many times I’ve carefully piloted my difficult-to-maneuver cruising sailboat to a pumpout station, only to find that it’s out of order. But no more! This app is fully free and supported by NOAA. I always make sure to empty my personal holding tank before leaving shore, but now I keep this app on my phone for the (hopefully rare) occasions that I need to empty my boat’s holding take.
Captain’s Word
There’s no shortage of sailing apps these days, but these are the ones I actually keep on my phone and find myself checking over and over again. They’re simple, free, and genuinely helpful whether you’re planning your next crossing or just enjoying a peaceful night at anchor.
