Top Useful Apps for a Safe Sailing Adventure

By Ivan Gureev, Founder of Bora Sailing Club

Yacht Charter is a sea adventure you can embark on with friends, choosing the country, route, and duration of your passages on your own. The key to a successful yacht trip is good preparation. That’s why I recommend installing and testing the following apps for safe sailing in advance.

The first and most essential app, without which you shouldn’t leave the marina, is Navionics Boating App

Of course, in sailing school you were probably taught how to use paper charts, and during your international skipper’s license exam, you certainly proved you can do it. But out at sea, you won’t get far without electronic navigation!

A navigation system might be installed in the plotter right on board your cruising yacht (these systems are usually found on newer boats). It should be updated before your charter to provide the latest data. But even if everything seems fine, I still strongly recommend having an independent navigation system on hand — like the Navionics Boating App or a similar app. It’ll give you access to up-to-date information and help you safely navigate at sea. Ideally, install it on a backup smartphone from one of your crew members and take along extra power banks. Out at sea, anything can happen, and having extra navigation tools won’t hurt.

For a small fee, you can download charts of the areas you plan to sail in. The Navionics Boating App will clearly show you where you can and cannot sail. It displays depths, marinas, their channels, lighthouses, buoys, and other essential info — everything a cruising yacht captain needs. Naturally, you shouldn’t rely solely on electronic navigation; you must also have paper charts on board in case of power loss, dead batteries, or flooding.

The second app is Navily App

Unlike Navionics, this isn’t a navigation system but rather a hybrid of a social network for sailors and a map with convenient anchorage spots, marina channels, and other useful details. You’ll find plenty of photos of marinas from various angles, along with detailed images of marina entrances.

Why else is this app helpful? When planning to enter a marina or drop anchor, you can use Navily to check wind and wave conditions. You can also view the positions of yachts already moored at your chosen spot and even chat with their owners to ask how comfortable it is to stay there.

Navily App also provides marina contact details, VHF channels, and even lets you book a berth online.

The third, but no less important, app is Anchor Alarm App

There are many versions of this type of app from different developers. I recommend testing how the app works on your phone in various modes (including when the screen is locked).

Once you’re anchored, you set a zone in the app — basically the area where the yacht can drift. If the boat moves outside the set radius, say 40 meters, the app will assume you’re dragging anchor and send a notification. A common flaw with these apps is that they might stop tracking when the phone is in sleep mode (locked). That’s why it’s crucial to read reviews carefully, check the settings, and test the app in real conditions.

And of course — having this app doesn’t replace the need for a proper anchor watch on board. It’s important to keep an eye on your surroundings and react in time if anything happens.

Another handy app is Marine Traffic App

This app shows the real-time positions of ships and yachts worldwide. If at night you spot unfamiliar lights, you can open Marine Traffic to check the vessel’s course and speed. It makes it much easier to decide how to safely navigate around it.

As you might guess, during the day we can see other ships, but at night this app becomes irreplaceable — and can reveal some unexpected surprises! For example, during a winter practice run with our Skipper School, we saw very distinct lights of a vessel over 50 meters long at night. The mystery was that its deck was completely unlit. We couldn’t figure out how close or far it was, but once we checked Marine Traffic, we saw it was a U.S. Navy ship. Naturally, we decided to give it a wide berth and plotted a course around it.

The next group of apps will help you quickly refresh your knowledge or find information when you see something unfamiliar at sea:

• COLREGs (International Regulations for Preventing Collisions at Sea) apps let you review the rules in test mode.

• Maritime Buoyage System / MarineRules & Signals apps are useful when you spot something blinking on the water and want to identify the buoy. There are many different types of signals, and these apps help you quickly check which one you’re looking at. Of course, you should already remember the main buoy lights, but before a cruise — especially if it’s been a while since your exam — it’s a good idea to review the basics. These include cardinal marks, lateral marks, isolated danger marks, safe water marks, and others.

These are the main apps I recommend every yacht captain have on their smartphone. And the last two — perfect for brushing up your knowledge while flying to the starting point of your next yacht adventure!