Useful Apps for Dinghy Sailing

This blog post is a collection of the most useful apps for dinghy sailing which is an exhilarating and skillful activity that connects you to the water, wind and nature. Modern technology and apps can enhance your sailing experience, improve safety and help you to become a better sailor. From weather forecasting to navigation and even learning and analysis techniques, here's a list of must-have apps for dinghy sailors.

Weather apps

As dinghy sailors are heavily exposed to the weather, an accurate weather forecast is essential for the sailing experience. There are various weather-related apps available on the market for dinghy sailors both paid and free versions. The following ones are among the most popular apps used in the dinghy sailing community:

Windy

I personally use the Windy app to get wind and weather forecasts. Features like animated wind maps, weather radar and the option to chose between various forecast models (ECMWF, GFS and Arome) make it my favorite wind forecasting app.

Key features:

• Prediction of wind speed and direction
• Wave height prediction

Link to Windy

PredictWind

PredictWind is another great app for wind forecasts, tailored specifically to sailors.

Key features:

• Wind forecasts
• Weather routing and trip planning

Link to PredictWind

Racing and analytics apps

If you are into racing and competitive dinghy sailing there are various apps that can help you with GPS tracking, race analysis and training.

SailingMetrics

Obviously, we also want to include our own app in this list. The key differentiator is the gamification of the training via a decentralized sailing competition and the great support for solo training on the water through races and courses defined by the app.

Key features:

• GPS tracking and video recording
• Race analysis
• Regatta management

Link to SailingMetrics app

Navigation apps

If your are more into dinghy cruising and enjoy exploring new areas, navigation apps can come in really handy.

Navionics Boating

The Navionics app provides detailed nautical charts to navigate with confidence. While dinghies typically don't require extensive navigation tooling, having information at hand such as the water depth contours or tidal information can be very useful.

Key features:

• Charts
• Depth contours
• Tidal information

Link to Navionics

Regatta apps

If you are a race officer organising a racing event for dinghy sailors there are also a wide range of apps available that help you with time tracking, mark laying and scoring.

Sailrace dinghy race timer

Easy to use dinghy race timer and scoring app that can be used by sailing clubs to manage, run and score dinghy races.

Key features:

• Starting sequence
• Live streaming
• Scoring (single fleet and Portsmouth Yardstick)

Link to Sailrace

Summary on dinghy sailing apps

While dinghy sailing is fundamentally about skill, experience and intuition, the apps mentioned above can provide helpful information and enhance your sailing experience. So before you head out on the water, download them, try them out and check out for you if they are of value for your sailing activities.

In case you have any apps that you'd recommend please contact us, we are happy to try them out and willing to include them in this list.