The short version
- What it is
- A sailboat racing app for Apple Watch and iPhone: a start-line countdown and live tactics on the water, and a coached debrief afterwards.
- Price
- Free to download and race with. Pro is $4.99 a month or $29.99 a year, first month free.
- Made by
- Graham Hutchinson, in Ohio. He races an MC Scow and a Snipe.
- Contact
- support@sailtactician.com. Please say which outlet or channel you're writing for.
In one paragraph
Sail Tactician turns an Apple Watch and an iPhone into a racing instrument for dinghies and small keelboats. Before the gun it runs the countdown, shows which end of the line is favored, and tells you how far you are from the line and how many seconds you have to burn. During the race it shows course, target heading and VMG on the wrist. Afterwards, the iPhone replays the race on a map and a Coach ranks what went wrong by what it cost, in seconds at your own boat speed. It also imports races recorded on Garmin, COROS, Suunto and other GPS watches, so sailors who race with those still get the debrief. There's no account to create: races sync through the sailor's own iCloud.
Fact sheet
| Name | Sail Tactician |
|---|---|
| What it is | Sailboat racing app: start timer, start-line and wind tactics, race recording, post-race coaching and training drills |
| Platforms | iPhone with iOS 17.6 or later. Apple Watch with watchOS 10.6 or later (optional; the iPhone records and races on its own) |
| Price | Free. Sail Tactician Pro: $4.99 a month or $29.99 a year, first month free |
| Free tier | Countdown, compass, live speed and heading. Every race is recorded and kept; the full debrief opens on the first five |
| Current version | 3.2, released 6 October 2026 |
| First released | 29 May 2026 |
| Maker | Graham Hutchinson, Ohio, USA |
| Account | None. Optional Sign in with Apple; races sync through the sailor's private iCloud |
| App Store | apps.apple.com/us/app/sail-tactician/id6741540409 |
| Website | sailtactician.com |
| Press contact | support@sailtactician.com |
What's different
- Coaching that counts the seconds. Every post-race finding, from an overstood layline to a run of slow tacks, shows how many seconds it cost at the boat's own speed, and the two that cost most lead. Being over the line at the gun always leads; anything under about ten seconds never does.
- A wind that says where it came from. Every tactical number rests on the wind, so the app labels it: FORECAST (a weather grid square, often 20–30° out on a lake), SET by the sailor, or TRACKED from the courses actually sailed. After the race, a wind worked out from the windward mark is marked "mark" and one inferred from the track "est".
- No account and no server. Races go to the sailor's own private iCloud database, which we can't see. There's nothing to sign up for.
- Works with the watch a sailor already owns. It imports FIT files from Garmin, COROS, Suunto and most other sports watches, plus GPX, TCX, CSV, Vakaros VKX logs (with the gun and the line) and NMEA 0183 captures. Imports are labelled beta.
- Checked on real races. Every post-race figure is tested against real races before it ships.
There's more, and the limits too, in what Sail Tactician does differently.
Images and video
Real captures from the app. You may use them in coverage of Sail Tactician. Every link is the full-size file.
| File | Shows | Size |
|---|---|---|
| sizzle-reel.mp4 (poster) | 54-second film, dock to debrief: the start set from the wrist, the race, the replay and the coaching | Vertical video, MP4 |
| prestart-hub.webp | iPhone pre-start: countdown, favored end, distance and time to the line | 608 × 1322 |
| watch-countdown.webp | Apple Watch countdown with distance to line, burn time and favored end | 396 × 482 |
| watch-race.webp | Apple Watch during the race: course over ground, target heading, VMG, speed and true wind angle on starboard tack | 396 × 482 |
| coach-start-race.webp | iPhone Coach card on a real race: the start leg, with the line, the gun and the finding | 608 × 1322 |
| maneuver-efficiency.webp | iPhone session detail: port vs starboard, and tacks vs gybes on speed lost and recovery time | 608 × 1322 |
| walk-map.webp | iPhone race map: the track, three tacks, the start line, the windward mark and its laylines | 608 × 1322 |
| cruise-view.webp | iPhone Cruise view: speed, heading, distance, elapsed time, average and top speed | 608 × 1322 |
| blackbox-elapsed.webp | Black Box mode on iPhone and Apple Watch: elapsed time only | 818 × 906 |
| logo-icon-1024.png | App icon | 1024 × 1024 PNG |
Need a different screen, a larger size, or footage for a video? Email us and say what you need.
Review access
If you write about sailing, review apps, or make videos for sailors, email support@sailtactician.com. Tell us which outlet or channel it's for, and ask about review access. The app is free to download, so you can start without waiting for us.
Two things help a review. First, the iPhone alone is enough to try it; the Apple Watch adds the wrist. Second, the debrief needs a recorded race. If you can't get on the water, import a race from a GPS watch or a Vakaros log you already have.
About the maker
Sail Tactician is made in Ohio by Graham Hutchinson, who races an MC Scow and a Snipe on Cowan Lake as a member of the Cowan Lake Sailing Association. His father taught him to sail, and he has sailed for 40 years and raced competitively for the last four. He serves on the board of the CLSA youth sailing program, and builds wooden boats: two Optimist dinghies so far. He started the app in January 2026 to make himself faster at the racing he does, and he still builds it and writes the guides on this site.
Away from the water he has spent twenty years in enterprise software, leading the consulting and engineering teams that help companies put new technology to work. His background is on LinkedIn.
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