Practical answers for life on board, from getting data off your plotter to keeping a proper log.
Plotters and instruments
- Export your track from a B&G Zeus as GPXHow to save a trail from a B&G Zeus or Vulcan chartplotter as a GPX file and open it on your iPhone.
- Export your track from a Simrad as GPXHow to save a trail from a Simrad NSS or GO chartplotter as a GPX file and open it on your iPhone.
- Export your track from a Lowrance as GPXHow to save a trail from a Lowrance HDS or Elite chartplotter as a GPX file and open it on your iPhone.
- Export tracks from a Garmin chartplotter as GPXHow to save tracks from a Garmin GPSMAP or ECHOMAP chartplotter to a memory card as GPX and open them on your iPhone.
- Export tracks from a Raymarine Axiom as GPXHow to save tracks from a Raymarine Axiom or Element chartplotter to a memory card as GPX and open them on your iPhone.
- Export a track from the Navionics app as GPXHow to get a track recorded in the Navionics Boating app out as a GPX file and open it in another app on your iPhone.
- What is an NMEA WiFi gateway, and do I need one?A small box that puts your boat's NMEA 2000 or NMEA 0183 data on WiFi. When you need one, which models are proven, and how it reaches your iPhone.
- NMEA 0183 vs NMEA 2000: what's the difference?The two standards that carry wind, depth and speed around your boat, explained for sailors, and what they mean for getting that data onto a phone.
- How to get your plotter's data onto your iPhoneWind, depth and speed from your chartplotter on your iPhone. Which plotters stream over WiFi, which need a gateway, and how to bring in old tracks, brand by brand.
Keeping a logbook
- How to keep a sailing logbookWhat a sailing logbook is for, what goes into it and how often to write, with a simple routine that works on day trips and long passages alike.
- What to write in a sailing logbookThe entries that matter in a ship's log (position, course, speed, wind, weather, barometer, engine and events) and how to write them.
- Digital vs paper logbook: pros and consAn honest comparison of keeping your sailing log on paper or in an app, covering what each does well, where each falls short, and why many sailors use both.
- Logbook for long distance sailing: how to run one offshoreHow to choose and run a logbook for long distance sailing: position intervals, watch handovers, a paper backup rule, power and updates ashore.
- Logbook template for boats: spreadsheet format with examplesA copyable boat logbook template: spreadsheet columns for trips, fuel, maintenance and documents, with a filled-in logbook example that links by reference.
- Keeping a sailing logbook efficiently: capture once, reuse laterHow to keep a sailing logbook efficiently so one set of notes becomes a trip report, leg overview, illustrated PDF or sea-mile proof with little extra work.
- Which logbook app? How to choose the best sailing logbook appWhich logbook app suits you? Six decision questions, a table by type of sailor, a first-weekend test and a fair list of the sailing logbook apps available.
- How to record a digital logbook: hardware and data sourcesHow to record a digital logbook on a boat: phone GPS, GPS watch, plotter track, NMEA gateway or voice notes, with what each captures and what fails.
- How to log engine hours on a sailboatWhy engine hours matter on a sailing boat (service, fuel, resale) and a simple way to keep track of them in your logbook.
Sea miles and licences
- How to prove your sea miles for a sailing licenceWhat licensing bodies usually count as sea miles and sea time, which records help you prove them, and how to keep them from the first trip.
- Sea miles for the German SKS licence (Seemeilennachweis)What the German Seemeilennachweis is, how many sea miles the SKS and SSS ask for, and how to document them so your exam board accepts them.
- Sailing licences compared: SBF, SKS, RYA and ICCWhat the common recreational sailing licences require and allow (Germany's SBF See to SHS, the RYA ladder, the ICC, US Sailing and ASA, the Danish, Norwegian and Swedish certificates), with an interactive picker, a comparison table and a recommendation per type of sailor.
- Which sailing licence do I need? Find your best fitSeven questions (where you sail, what for, which boat, your age and experience) and the licence that fits, with the path to it, the miles and days you need to bring, and where to start.
- Sea miles log app: choosing one that proves your milesHow to choose a sea miles log app: what the RYA and USCG actually ask for, what the app must record, reconstructing past miles and common rejection reasons.
Licence finderWhich licence fits you?Seven questions about where and how you sail, and the licence that fits, with the path to it and the miles you need.Find my licence
Boat and maintenance
- Life jacket servicing: self checks and service intervalsLife jacket servicing explained: what you can check yourself, an inflatable lifejacket service interval table by maker, cartridge weighing and national rules.
- How often to service a sailboat engine: marine diesel intervalsHow often to service a sailboat engine: a marine diesel service interval table from the manuals, first service, low-load running, lay-up and a yearly plan.
- How often to antifoul a boat, and what decides itHow often to antifoul a boat: usually every one to three seasons, depending on paint, water and use, with UK, US, Australian and New Zealand rules as of 2026.
- Boat maintenance log: what to record and how to keep oneHow to keep a boat maintenance log: what each entry needs, three sample entries, organising by system, rebuilding the history of a used boat and handing it on.
- Boat maintenance app: choosing a tool that reminds youWhat a boat maintenance app must do: reminders by date, engine hours or distance, whichever first, with a starter list of 12 jobs and an honest comparison.
Learn to sail
- Points of sail explainedClose-hauled, beam reach, broad reach and running: the points of sail, the wind angles behind them and how to trim for each.
- Tack vs gybe: what's the difference?Both change the side the wind comes from. In a tack the bow turns through the wind, in a gybe the stern does. Here is how each works and when to use which.
- True vs apparent wind explainedTrue wind is the wind you'd feel standing still; apparent wind is what you feel on a moving boat. Why they differ, how to work one out from the other, and which to use when.
- The Beaufort scale for sailorsThe full Beaufort wind scale from 0 to 12 with wind speeds in knots, typical sea and wave heights, and what each force means on a sailing boat.
- Right of way when sailing: who gives way?The basic COLREGs rules between sailing boats, and between sail and power: port and starboard tack, windward and leeward, overtaking, and who keeps clear of whom.
- Right-of-way quiz: who keeps clear?Nine situations on the water. Decide which boat keeps clear, then see the rule behind it. Port and starboard, windward and leeward, overtaking, sail and power.
- How to read a polar diagramA polar diagram shows how fast a sailboat should go at every wind angle and wind speed. How to read one, find your best upwind and downwind angles, and use it on board.
- Create your own polar diagram: a method for your boatHow to create your own polar diagram: calibrate the instruments, sail steady sections, filter and bin the data, and use a high percentile for targets.
- Sea state and waves explainedSignificant wave height, wave period, wind sea and swell, and the Douglas sea scale. How to read a wave forecast and what it means on a sailing boat.
QuizTest your skillsNine situations on the water: who keeps clear? Tap the boat, then see the rule behind it.Start the quiz
Sailing glossary
The terms you meet on board, on the plotter and in Manta, in one line each.
- AIS (Automatic Identification System)
- Apparent wind
- Beam reach
- Beaufort scale
- Broad reach
- Chartplotter
- Close-hauled
- COG (course over ground)
- Current set and drift
- Dead reckoning
- Depth below keel
- Deviation
- Douglas sea scale
- GPX (GPS Exchange Format)
- Gybe
- Heading
- Heel
- Knot
- Leeway
- Logbook
- Magnetic variation
- Nautical mile
- NMEA 0183
- NMEA 2000
- NMEA gateway
- Okta
- Polar diagram
- Port and starboard
- Reefing
- Route
- Running
- Significant wave height
- SOG (speed over ground)
- STW (speed through the water)
- Tack
- Track
- True wind
- True wind direction (TWD)
- VMC (velocity made on course)
- VMG (velocity made good)
- Wave period
- Waypoint
- Windward and leeward