Five popular sailing apps are reviewed: 1) Imray Marine Rules and Signals is a reference tool for boat rules, signals, and communications at sea. 2) Navionics Boating provides navigational charts that can be downloaded, and allows tracking routes and sharing location with others. It has additional upgrades available. 3) WeatherPro gives weather forecasts including temperature, wind, and probability of rain. It has alerts for extreme weather. 4) PredictWind provides high-resolution wind forecasts and maps with departure planning and route optimization based on wind conditions. 5) Compass Eye overlays a compass on live camera views for navigation on land or water, and provides bearings, speed, and course readings with

1. Five of the Best Sailing Apps
There are now many apps available for sailors, some for fun but others that can help with
the safety aspects of boating. Here are five of our favourites on the market.
Imray Marine Rules and Signals
Obviously we’ve all completed our professional courses with a registered training school
(haven’t we?) and we’ve learned the “rules of the road”, signals, flags, etc. However, if you
find yourself in a situation where you need a quick reminder, this app is a great reference
tool. Comprising of steering and sailing rules, day and night boat markings, restricted
visibility sound signals, distress signals and all other forms of signals and communication at
sea, you can use it to refresh your knowledge at any time, not just when an emergency
arises.
Navionics Boating
This boating app has loads of functions and has the advantage that you can try it for free
before you buy.
Charts can be downloaded for whichever location you need. You can record your tracks and
create and edit routes based on your cruising speed and fuel consumption. It also has a wind
prediction function with sun and moon cycles. The map options include Safety Depth and
Easy View and you are able to overlay geotagged photos.
All this information can be shared with your friends and family while you are on the water
via email, Twitter and Facebook!
Various upgrades can be purchased such as sonar charts, marine directories with
information on ports and marinas, advanced route planning and more.
WeatherPro
WeatherPro provides you with three hourly forecasts for the week ahead giving you
temperature, wind speed and direction, air pressure, humidity and the probability and
amount of rain. You will also receive alerts for extreme weather warnings anywhere in the
world. You can receive weather reports from over two million locations around the world
and it has global satellite and animated radar.
If all that isn’t enough there is a premium version which has fantastic high resolution maps
with advanced weather information including heat maps, cloud cover forecasts and
precipitation types. It even shows lightning strikes! There are also weather reports for ski
resorts in 17 countries and for sun seekers the UV index and water temperatures for many
holiday destinations.

2. Predict Wind
Claimedtobe the most accurate windforecasttool available PredictWindgivesyouhighresolution
maps,graphs andtablesprovidingamazingdetail.Whenyouare planningatripitwill show the
optimumdeparture day,the fastestroute withthe windconditions andreal time graphs.WithGPS
trackingyour familyandfriendscanfollow yourtrack.
Compass Eye
Notjust forsailors,thistool can be usedon landtoo.Using yourdevice’slivecameraview acompass
isoverlaidwhichisaccurate inall directionsandhasan 8x digital zoom.Youcan setbearingor
collisionmarkersandthe redandgreenbearinglinescanbe draggedintoposition.Itwill giveyou
triangulationbearingsandyoucan setmagneticor true north dependingonyourlocation.WithGPS
enableditwill showspeedovergroundandcourse overground.
These appsare all useful tohave butany electrical device canfail soyoushouldalwaysbe able to
revertto the oldfashionedmethodsof pen,paperandcharts as taughtduringyour training.