The short version
- Who it's for
- Dinghy racers: ILCA, Optimist, Thistle, Lightning, scows, and any boat where both hands are on the sheet and the tiller.
- On the water
- The countdown, the line and the shifts on your wrist. The Apple Watch records the race by itself, so the phone can stay ashore or dry in a bag.
- Afterwards
- The race lands on your iPhone with every tack and gybe scored, and a Coach that ranks what cost you most, in seconds.
- What it costs
- The countdown, compass, speed, heading, Black Box and the tacking drill are free, with the full debrief on your first five sessions. Pro adds the start line, VMG and shift tracking.
A dinghy has nowhere to put an instrument and no hand free to work one. So Sail Tactician puts what you need on the wrist and leaves the rest for the dock.
The start on your wrist
Set the minutes with −/+ and press Start. The watch counts down with spoken numbers or beeps in the final seconds and a long beep at the gun. When the committee's signal goes, the orange sync key rounds to the nearest minute: 4:40 becomes 5:00, 4:20 becomes 4:00. More in the start timer.
Before the sequence, sail past the pin and tap Pin, then past the committee boat and tap Boat. With Pro, the countdown then shows the favored end, your distance to the line in meters or feet, and Burn: the seconds in hand to hit the line at the gun on your current approach.
Put the Start Line metric on a race page and it keeps working after the gun. Over early, it turns red and reads OCS. Set Water Lock to engage when the countdown ends, and the screen stays live for the sync, then locks at the gun so spray can't press anything. More on the watch app in Apple Watch sailing app.
The shifts, without looking
Capture the wind before the start: bow into it, tap the Wind tile. With Pro, the watch then refines that wind from the courses you sail on both tacks and taps your wrist twice when a shift of 8° or more settles in, upward for right and downward for left.
The race pages show speed, course, heart rate and your tack and gybe counts, and with Pro, VMG and a TACK cue. TACK means you've borne away at least 5° from your own course on this tack for about 15 seconds: a header.
Where the phone goes
Wherever you like. The watch has its own GPS and records the whole race. Back in range, it transfers to your iPhone by itself, and the watch marks it sent only once the phone confirms it arrived.
If your boat has somewhere solid to fix it, a waterproof case on the centerboard trunk or a thwart turns the phone into a heel and trim display. Heel and trim exist only on a mounted, levelled phone.
If your class wants less on screen
Black Box is free. The countdown runs as normal; at the gun the screen becomes elapsed time, a recording dot and End. The race is still recorded in full.
One cost: a Black Box race recorded on the watch alone saves no wind. Add it on the iPhone afterwards, or place the windward mark where you rounded and the app works the wind out from your start to the mark. What your class permits is for its rules and your race committee to decide.
What you learn ashore
On your iPhone, Maneuver Efficiency puts tacks against gybes on speed lost and time to rebuild. On real races a tack costs roughly 45% of the boat's speed through the turn, and a dinghy tacks a lot.
The Coach card shows how many seconds each finding cost you at your own speed, and leads with the two that cost most: a slow start, an overstood layline, tacks that lost far more than your usual one.
The free tacking drill runs on the watch alone. It calls TACK, scores the turn and answers in one word: GOOD, or the one thing to fix. Training is in beta. Coaching a fleet of dinghies? See for coaches. Already race with a Garmin or COROS? Those races import for the same debrief.
Questions
Do I need to take my iPhone on the boat?
No. The Apple Watch records the race with its own GPS and sends it to your iPhone when you're back in range. You need an iPhone (iOS 17.6 or later) to install the app and read the debrief, and the watch needs watchOS 10.6 or later.
Is my boat class in the app?
Over 50 presets ship, including ILCA 4, 6 and 7, Optimist, Lightning, Snipe and six scows. If yours isn't there, add a custom boat with your own angles. See the boat profiles.
Can I use it in a class that restricts electronics?
Your class rules and race committee decide that. Black Box shows only the clock during the race and still records everything, but check your own rules first.
What do I get without paying?
The countdown with audio cues, compass, speed and heading, Black Box, the tacking drill, and the full debrief on your first five sessions. Pro, at $4.99 a month or $29.99 a year with the first month free, adds the start line, Burn, VMG with the TACK cue, wind-shift taps, the other drills and your whole history. See pricing.
Sources
Everything here describes Sail Tactician 3.2 and is taken from the in-app User Guide (Settings → Support → User Guide): the Apple Watch chapter, Black Box, Wind Shift Tracking, Device Mounting and Session Detail.
What changed
- First published.
Put a racing instrument on your wrist.
Start line, wind shifts and VMG at a glance, and a coach in your pocket afterwards. Free to download for Apple Watch and iPhone, with the full debrief on your first five races.
Download on the App Store