Iphone
You-Tack Pro, The Racing Sailor’s Illustrated Guide is a new iPhone/iPod app that truly helps to make the rules understandable, and to make the learning process fun. It has 42 illustrated situations that will open your eyes about things that happen regularly on the race course. When I say illustrated, I mean with both diagrams and video. Plus, there’s a quiz about each of those situations that quickly (and sometimes painfully) lets you know if you really understand what’s going on. And when you get the quiz answers, there is always a convenient link to the applicable rules. Nice.
The app also includes the complete rule book including all of the appendices, definitions and signals. At $19.95 it is not cheap, but it is a very easy and fun way to improve your rules knowledge … and to quickly get into your comfort zone as you prepare to go into “the room.” – http://appshopper.com/sports/you-tack-pro
MORE: A collection of sailing iPhone apps are posted on the Scuttlebutt
Forum: http://forum.sailingscuttlebutt.com/cgi-bin/gforum.cgi?post=9220
Apple’s much-hyped iPhone has attracted much attention, commentary and criticism since it was first released in the US in 2007. The global release of the iPhone 3G in mid-2008 saw it quickly become one of the most popular ‘smart phones’ around.
A major part of the reason for its popularity is the huge number of applications (known as ‘Apps’ in Applespeak) available for the iPhone.
As of the end of June, there were tens of thousands of Apps available for the iPhone through Apple’s Apps Store. More than half of these are priced at less than $10 – including over 12,000 that are free.
They cover an incredible variety of subjects, categories and capabilities – and there’s a lot of rubbish in there as well. But what’s an iPhone got to do with sailing? Quite a lot, actually. Of those billion or so Apps available, there’s quite a few that have specific sailing/marine applications, and are purpose-designed for sailors.
As with a lot of the latest mobile phones, the iPhone has built-in GPS, and there’s increasing numbers of Apps taking advantage of this – including some for serious navigation purposes. (That’s also a useful safety feature; if you do ever get lost or in trouble – and you’re in phone range – you can provide details of your exact location to rescue authorities.)
If you download Apple’s iTunes application (Windows or PC), then go to the Apps store (and you don’t need an iPhone to do that), you’ll find a substantial number of Apps coming up when you search for keywords such as ‘sailing’, ‘yachting’ or ‘marine’. More are being added all the time.
Again, there’s a lot of rubbish among them, but there’s some incredibly powerful Apps that have the potential to replace quite a few other gadgets and instruments on your boat (and for many you don’t need to have phone coverage).
I’ll start here with a couple of the best sailing Apps for iPhones.
The nice things about Apps:
One nice thing about the Apps for the iPhone business is that most of the sailing-related Apps have been developed by small companies or enthusiasts. That means they tend to be very responsive to queries, comments, suggestions, etc.
So far, I’ve found all of the ones I’ve purchased have been happy to respond to any queries, constructive criticism, etc. That makes a nice change from dealing with large multinational software suppliers/developers with non-existent customer service.
The other great thing is that new features are being added to the best Apps all the time, and to date have been made available free of charge. As a new version goes up in the App Store, you are notified next time you synchronise your iPhone, or whenever you tap the App Store button on the phone.
It then downloads and installs automatically.
Apple’s much-hyped iPhone has attracted much attention, commentary and criticism since it was first released in the US in 2007. The global release of the iPhone 3G in mid-2008 saw it quickly become one of the most popular ‘smart phones’ around.Apple’s much-hyped iPhone has attracted much attention, commentary and criticism since it was first released in the US in 2007. The global release of the iPhone 3G in mid-2008 saw it quickly become one of the most popular ‘smart phones’ around. A major part of the reason for its popularity is the huge number of applications (known as ‘Apps’ in Applespeak) available for the iPhone. As of the end of June, there were tens of thousands of Apps available for the iPhone through Apple’s Apps Store. More than half of these are priced at less than $10 – including over 12,000 that are free. They cover an incredible variety of subjects, categories and capabilities – and there’s a lot of rubbish in there as well. But what’s an iPhone got to do with sailing? Quite a lot, actually. Of those billion or so Apps available, there’s quite a few that have specific sailing/marine applications, and are purpose-designed for sailors. As with a lot of the latest mobile phones, the iPhone has built-in GPS, and there’s increasing numbers of Apps taking advantage of this – including some for serious navigation purposes. (That’s also a useful safety feature; if you do ever get lost or in trouble – and you’re in phone range – you can provide details of your exact location to rescue authorities.) If you download Apple’s iTunes application (Windows or PC), then go to the Apps store (and you don’t need an iPhone to do that), you’ll find a substantial number of Apps coming up when you search for keywords such as ‘sailing’, ‘yachting’ or ‘marine’. More are being added all the time. Again, there’s a lot of rubbish among them, but there’s some incredibly powerful Apps that have the potential to replace quite a few other gadgets and instruments on your boat (and for many you don’t need to have phone coverage). I’ll start here with a couple of the best sailing Apps for iPhones. One nice thing about the Apps for the iPhone business is that most of the sailing-related Apps have been developed by small companies or enthusiasts. That means they tend to be very responsive to queries, comments, suggestions, etc. So far, I’ve found all of the ones I’ve purchased have been happy to respond to any queries, constructive criticism, etc. That makes a nice change from dealing with large multinational software suppliers/developers with non-existent customer service. The other great thing is that new features are being added to the best Apps all the time, and to date have been made available free of charge. As a new version goes up in the App Store, you are notified next time you synchronise your iPhone, or whenever you tap the App Store button on the phone. It then downloads and installs automatically.
Ayetides – Mark Cherrington
AyeTides:
Turning the iPhone landscape gives graphic display – .. .
AyeTides is a lovely tide prediction program, developed by August Hahn, of Hahn Software. Before the iPhone came along, he’d also developed Mr Tides, a Mac-based tides program.
This App is completely self-contained, with all tide data kept on the iPhone, so you don’t need internet access to predict tides. It also allows you to predict tides out to 2100.
New features are being added all the time. You can put in ‘Favourites’ for the areas where you commonly sail, so you can call them up easily, plus it’s easy to find other locations around the world.
It makes nice use of the iPhone’s built-in accelerometer. Hold the device upright, and you see a table of the tide times and heights for the day; turn the iPhone on its side, and you see it in graphical format – it’s also interactive in this mode, allowing you to drag the cursor to see the tides at any time.
AyeTides links in with the iNavX navigation program, which I talk about below.
Ayetides is not expensive at all. For more information about the program, including prices, go to www.ayetides.com.
Other Tide Programs:
There are quite a few other tide prediction programs available; I tried a free one before AyeTides was released, and found it crashed the iPhone. While that issue has probably been fixed now, I’ve been happy with AyeTides since I bought it, and have seen no reason to try anything else.
iNavX – boat shows as the blue triangle – Mark Cherrington
iNavX:
This is a seriously impressive navigation program, which essentially gives you a high-quality chartplotter within your iPhone.
Developed by the people who produced the respected GPSNavX program for Macintosh, it’s a fully featured navigation program that gives you just about everything you need for navigation, including detailed maps, at a very affordable price. (Varies from country to country, but less than $80 or equivalent)
Certainly as a backup system, it’s a no-brainer.
If your boating area is primarily in the United States, you can get free access to NOAA RNC raster United States waters marine charts covering the West Coast, Gulf Coast, East Coast, Great Lakes, Alaska, Hawaii, and Virgin Islands.
Elsewhere in the world you will need to purchase chart software, with a number of sources available.
The best deal at the moment is Fugawi X-Traverse Navionics charts, which are available at (Northern Hemisphere) ‘summer special’ prices. This deal is good for the southern hemisphere too. I purchased detailed charts for ALL of Australia (that’s right, the entire country) for $19. Usually they are around $60 (still a bargain). At that price, I bought the NZ charts as well.
The level of detail and accuracy is phenomenal; I can get in close enough to see the individual berths at the marina adjacent to my sailing club.
iNavX showing the boat track – Mark Cherrington
And as well as real-time chart plotting, iNavX supports waypoints including KML (Google Earth) and GPX import/export, track log, measuring bearing/distance, GRIB weather forecast, tides/currents and port/navaid searches.
For tide data, it integrates with AyeTides, and lets you easily swap between the two Apps if you have both on your phone.
It is a little tricky getting your head around accessing the charts you purchase (you need to go to the X-Traverse website and purchase them separately, but there’s direct links off the iNavX website that help you to do this).
You download the charts to your iPhone as you need them (or anticipate you will), so they are always there. You are not dependent on a phone signal or internet access to view them.
Single Device:
The Navionics charts from X-Traverse licence is limited to a single device; if you lose or upgrade your iPhone, you will have to jump through a few hoops to be able to use your charts on your new device.
The iNavX/GPSNavX developers also operate a very useful website/bulletin board at www.macsailing.net. Originally developed for discussions and troubleshooting around Macintosh-based sailing and maring applications, it has expanded to
iNavX showing display at wide angle – Mark Cherrington
include iPhone marine applications, which you can view here http://www.macsailing.net/fbb/showforum.php?fid/11/keyword/iPhone.
Questions about Apps such as iNavX or AyeTides are answered directly on the site by the developers, so the lines of communication are very short.
iNavX costs probably less than $60 or equivalent. For more information, go to http://www.inavx.com.
Navionics:
It’s worth pointing out that you can also buy standalone Navionics charts through the Apps store at very low (less than $20) prices.
These standalone charts don’t offer as many features as iNavX (such as waypoint import/export, GRIB weather overlay and others), but they are exactly the same charts, with the same degree of accuracy and detail.
For more information, go to http://www.navionics.com.
SailMaster:
Sailmaster – .. .
This App has been developed by Sydney-based sailor Harry Brigden as an economical alternative to dedicated stand-alone tactical sailing systems, which typically cost several hundred dollars.
Features include:
* Boat Speed, in knots or km/h.
* Waypoints/Course, using GPS co-ordinates of the rounding marks (and other obstacles).
* Digital Compass, measuring the direction the device is moving in rather than the direction it is pointed in.
* VMG (Velocity Made Good) and time to next marker or waypoint
* Tidal information, displaying direction, height and times of the tide in a user’s local area.
Three other features, more suitable for the racing sailor are:
** Countdown timer, configurable for 15, 10, 5 or 3 minute countdowns.
** Lift/Header, calculating a shift in direction from the average boat direction and displaying the variance as either a lift (+) or header (-).
** Angle of heel.
Otterbox – .. . Click Here to view large photo
SailMaster recommends using an Otterbox waterproof casing to protect the iPhone (see Part 3 next week for details on this, and other options for keeping your iPhone dry); Brigden has adapted these so they can be velcroed to the mast (of a dinghy) or other part of the cockpit.
Having GPS constantly on also sucks battery power at a great rate – with GPS turned on, the phone’s ‘sleep’ mode disabled and calls diverted, you’ll get about four hours battery life with the iPhone 3G (note that the just-released 3GS – outlined in a bit more detail in Part 3 – is promising significantly longer battery life).
As mentioned earlier, the current Otterbox doesn’t have provision for a power cable, but again, this is something that Brigden is working on.
He’s also working on incorporating the ability for the iPhone to connect to an external GPS unit, for faster, more accurate signals, using one of the low-cost USB-type GPS receivers.
One thing to be aware of when using Sail-Master (or any other GPS-tracking App): making or receiving a phone call will interrupt it, and any tracking or logging will at best be interrupted, at worst will cease and you’ll have to start again (this is a function of the way Apple has set up the iPhone’s operating system.)
For this reason, Brigden recommends diverting calls for the duration of the time you intend to use the iPhone in this way.
Through the Apps store in Australia, SailMaster costs $A14.99. For more information, go to http://sailmaster.structure6.com/sailmaster/Home.html.
Websites
This is a mix of websites, built-in functionality and iPhone Apps that I’ve used on my iPhone and found useful (or potentially useful) for sailing. While they’re in no particular order, I’m starting with the cheapest.
Websites:
BOM Radar – .. .
Living in Sydney, I have three key websites saved as ‘Favourites’ (actually icons on my main screen). They are all weather-related, and are:
** www.seabreeze.com.au. This link goes straight to Seabreeze’s Sydney weather page, and lets me see at a glance the wind, wave and swell forecasts for the next 7 days. Scroll down a bit, and I also get the coming week’s tides, as well as live weather readings from the four or five Sydney weather stations.
** www.bom.gov.au. I have this link going to the BOMsite’s NSW forecasts page; from there I can get the Sydney metro forecast, then jump back and get the NSW Coastal Waters Forecasts for the next few days.
** BOMsite Sydney rain radar. Also off the NSW forecasts page, there’s a link to the Sydney rain radar loop, which is on a 10 minute cycle. If there’s thunder clouds appearing out west (a common occurrence during Sydney’s summers), it’s a fairly simple matter to click on this link, which will tell you how fast it’s moving, if it’s tracking to hit you – and how long it’s likely to last.
Note that for all these sites (and any other websites you wish to visit) you will need phone reception – ideally 3G, but standard mobile phone reception will allow them to load, although somewhat slower.
All these links cost you nothing, and even a fairly low data contract shouldn’t push you over the limit when accessing these (but check with your provider).
iPhone knotguide – .. .
Knots:
For those who are rope-challenged, there’s a whole bunch of knot-tying Apps available, including some very slick animated ones, ranging in price from $1.20 to $5.99.
They are useful to have; every now and then you need to use a knot you don’t tie that often, and a reminder in your phone comes in very handy.
I opted for ‘Knots, Splices and Ropework’ for a whole $1.20 (http://web.me.com/philbosh/lolsoftware/knots.html), which is ‘the complete original 1917 classic treatise by A. Hyatt Verrill’. It includes scrollable text of descriptions and 154 diagrams of classic knots, splices and rope work – and has the look and feel of the original book (which no doubt is out of copyright).
It gave me the best tip I’ve ever seen for tying a rolling hitch, a knot I have always had trouble with.
Other knot Apps include ‘Knot Time’ ($A1.19, http://www.7zillion.com/iPhone/KnotTime), iKnots ($A3.99, http://www.diatche.com) and Sailor Knots ($A5.99, http://www.lbergelt.de/products/iphoneapps/sailorknots.php). All three of these include animations.
Marine Rules & Signals:
Another handy little App that gives you ready access to useful, even vital information. This is a reference guide to rules and signals at sea, and includes rules of the road, buoyage systems, lights and shapes, sound signals, flag signals and communications (including Mayday and PanPan).
So if you ever see a mysterious pattern of lights coming straight for you out of the darkness, you can just whip out your iPhone and figure out just what the hell it is. If it stops you attempting to cross between a couple of vessels towing/under tow, it will have paid for itself.
Through the Apps store in Australia, Marine Rules & Signals costs $A8.99. For more information, go to http://www.imray.com.
Windmeter – .. .
Wind Meter:
This is a great example of some real lateral thinking. Wind Meter works by measuring the volume of the wind passing across your iPhone microphone (who would have thought you can even do that), and converting it to a wind-speed reading.
You simply point the microphone into the wind, click the ‘Get Wind’ button, then after a few seconds, press ‘Got Wind’, and you get an average reading.
It supports a range of measurements, including knots, mph, km/h, the Beaufort scale, m/sec and feet/sec.
As our masthead wind instrument is currently not working, I’ve not had the chance to test it properly, but other sources have reported it to be ‘surprisingly accurate’.
However, until they figure out how to measure wind direction, and then link it to your SOG via GPS, it’s not going to give you true wind-speed, only apparent.
Through the Apps store in Australia, Wind Meter costs $A1.19. For more information, go to http://goingapps.com/default.aspx.
About the author:
Mark Cherrington lives in Sydney and owns a 34 foot Van de Stadt 34, which he races (casually) and cruises. He also crews from time to time on OPBs. He has an iPhone as well, but he’s not SO obsessed with it. He also helps out with the Heaven Can Wait 24 Hour Race charity fundraising event, held each October on Lake Macquarie.About the author:
©2009 Sport Phillip Marine