Apps from 30 years of delivery practice
Two iOS apps for skippers and crew. What was missing on board across more than 900 deliveries and 580,000 nautical miles, we built ashore – and took back to sea with us.
Software that survives a night watch
On a delivery the logbook is not filled in calmly at the end of the day. It is filled in between watch changes, weather reports and engine checks — in a seaway, with cold fingers, often in the dark. Anything three menu levels deep does not get filled in. And what does not get filled in is missing later from the handover report.
The same goes for everything else that matters on a passage: the tidal window, the fuel range to the next safe harbour, the watch schedule, the documented handover to the owner. These are not side issues — they are the job.
We worked for a long time with tools built for other purposes. At some point it became clear we would be faster building our own. The development happens ashore, unhurried. The testing happens under way – by the same people, on real deliveries rather than in a test lab.
Three decisions that come from practice
Offline first
There is no signal at sea. Both apps work fully without an internet connection — charts, logbook, calculations. Anything that needs data is loaded beforehand.
Buy once, no subscription
A yacht is not billed monthly, and neither is a logbook. Both apps are a one-off purchase — buy them and they stay yours.
Safety costs nothing
In YachtLog, man overboard, anchor alarm and the emergency card are included in the free version. Functions that matter in an emergency do not belong behind a paywall.
YachtLog – the digital ship's logbook
Logbook, passage planning and cockpit in one app. One tap writes the entry with position, course and weather into the logbook — no form to fill. Plus a route editor with harbour database, marine weather, tidal planner, watch schedule, provisioning planner, and a PDF at the end that works as a handover report and mileage confirmation.
Man overboard, anchor alarm and the emergency card sit on the home screen, one thumb away.
YachtNav – the navigation cockpit
Chart with buoyage, a guidance beam to the next waypoint, wind and waves as layers, AIS with target list and emergency beacon alarm. Plus tidal planner, navigation alarms, bearings and measuring, fuel calculator and anchor watch.
Routes come in as GPX and go out the same way. What was planned at the chart table is on screen under way.
Support, manuals, privacy
Both apps come with detailed manuals — available in five languages. Support is answered by the same people who develop the apps.
More to come
Further apps will appear wherever something is missing in practice — following the same pattern: used on our own deliveries first, published afterwards. This page stays the overview, however many are added.
If something is missing on board that no app covers: — we are listening.