Yachting World has tested a variety of navigation apps for iPad. These are their findings.

http://www.yachtingworld.com/yachts-and-gear/ipad-navigation-apps-tested-61366

Vice Commodore, OCC 

A new article by Behan Gifford on Sailing Totem covers the newest sailing apps. July 2015.

http://www.sailingtotem.com/2015/07/the-best-apps-for-cruising.html

In part II she covers apps for living aboard:

http://www.sailingtotem.com/2015/07/the-best-apps-for-cruising-part-ii.html

Vice Commodore, OCC 

I forgot to mention that the Navionics tide prediction feature was very useful.

I 'll have to check out the Garmin Blue Charts, Simon. Thanks for the info.

By the way, for anyone coming out to Ireland, the free new Met Eireann app is very useful. Simple and easy to use.

Vice Commodore, OCC 

We are experimenting with Garmin 's Blue Charts App this year which seems to work very on an iPad and has the interface with Active Captain and superimposed weather which includes radar for rain, cloud cover, Gribs, live reports from weather stations etc etc. Not quite as many navigating and routing features as Navionics though. No problems with viewing in full sunlight but then we are in Scotland!

On our recent delivery of Aleria from Galway to Westport sailing along the coast of Ireland, we forgot to bring along the chart plotter chip which we had removed for the winter. So I had good reason to test the Navionics app on my Samsung android. We did have paper charts on board.

I am pleased to report that the app worked flawlessly. I was able to programme in waypoints for a route from Galway via the Aran Islands and Inishbofin with touch screen ease. If I didn 't like a waypoint, I could edit the route just by selecting "edit" and dragging a waypoint on screen. The amount of detail was equivalent to any chartplotter. And, along the way, I could take photos and annotate chart locations with personal notes. All in all a really good experience.

The only drawbacks are that the GPS uses a lot of power and so must be plugged in to a power supply to serve effectively and the handheld screen is too small to be used a primary nav source. But it convinced us that it might be time to get a tablet as back up.

We also input the waypoints from the Navionics handheld into our chartplotter and used that to give us CTS and TTG. Not a bad combination.

My only complaint is that Navionics still hasn 't seen it fit to include Ireland in the name of the app. Ireland is covered in the UK & Holland app. I tried to explain to HQ that there are two countries - N Ireland and Republic of Ireland - and that only one is part of the UK but they just didn 't get it. It had taken me several attempts and purchase of the Western Europe app first to learn which app edition covered the Republic waters.

Vice Commodore, OCC 

New App attempts to bring lots of functions into one place.

SailingApp $5.99

The SailingApp is a Dynamic New App, Designed by Sailors for Sailors.
Loaded with easy access Reference Material from A-Z Great new Sailing specific Tools & Calculators that are built to fit the needs of everyday sailing challenges that make the time on the water more enjoyable. The Form and Function of the SailingApp is designed to enhance your Sailing experience wherever you sail and more fun for everyone onboard.

http://www.sailingapp.com/

Vice Commodore, OCC 

I tried Boat Beacon for real this week on a delivery from Scotland to Ireland. It worked very well when in mobile range and uploaded our track and data onto websites and apps such as Marine Traffic and Shipfinder for family and friends to browse to their heart 's content.
[attachment=39]boatbeaconscreenshot.jpg[/attachment]

Here 's a Practical Sailor article about apps for iPads.

http://www.practical-sailor.com/issues/37_16/features/nautical_apps_ipad_10755-1.html

Vice Commodore, OCC 

Just found a great blog dedicated to sailing apps. http://i-marineapps.blogspot.ie/

Vice Commodore, OCC 

[quote="simoncurrin" post=587]I loaded it up and put in our boat 's name and can now see that we are the only sailing vessel in land-locked mid Wales! It is very clever.[/quote]


Hmmmm, a slight miscalculation. I presume your boat is in Scotland? So as long as you are on the boat, it reports the boat 's location. The glitch in the app is that the mobile goes with you not with your boat. The AIS system showing boats in strange places could really complicate things, eh?

I wrote to Sail-World who received this comment from the developer of the app:

"Boat Beacon only transmits location if transmit is deliberately turned on. It shows a permanent notification to remind folks when it is transmitting and will repeatedly alert every 30 minutes if it is transmitting and not connected to a charger (transmit uses a lot of power) or when the battery falls below 50% .

Folks could leave it transmitting by mistake when they go ashore or deliberately and irresponsibly transmit when on the land (other than just for testing). (They could also do this with real VHF transponders.) This is not a problem as far as navigation for others is concerned (they are not at sea :) ) and with over 3,500 users so far every one appears to be responsible and this has not been an issue. I hope that helps."

Vice Commodore, OCC