Apps for Sailing

6 Apps in One. All six worthy of a separate application. Boating suite is designed to help you manage everything from logging your trips to making a shopping list. The app comes with the following: a log book to maintain detailed records, fuel log, maintenance log, expense log, To Do List, and a shopping list. It's important to know that while all this stuff is great, it means nothing if its stuck on your iPhone. That's why this app also lets you email yourself, or a friend, any of the information. Now its easy to log where you are going and send it to someone in-case the worst happens.

Nautical Terms done right. Offline viewing for when internet connection isn't an option, saving of favorites for later viewing and a stripped down interface make this any pirate--- I mean sailor's pocket reference for the open ocean.

The Buoys iPhone app provides access to recent NOAA, NDBC, and CDIP buoy data quickly and beautifully. Find buoys near you, add them to favorites or just view them on a map. It also has the bonus of adding tide direction and strength, temperature and wind speed.

A simple way to inform people of where you are and what you're in using GPS location and E-mail. And it's FREE!!! (I'd figure I'd mention this info here: DO NOT use or depend on the iPhone as a GPS out at sea. It's a cell phone first, and a GPS second. Not to mention you might not have any service. Buy a stand alone unit.)

Probably the most highly rated survival app in the app store with only ONE 1 star rating as of this writing, SAS Survival Guide delivers survival on the iPhone like no other. The section for sea survival is very robust and the first aid and basic checklist is enough in itself to make you want to purchase this application.

Contains all 40 international code flags and their meanings. I couldn't believe this was free. Did you know a white flag with a red diamond in it means, "I am disabled; communicate with me."? Now you do. Requires no network connection, which is critical out on the open sea. This app also contains the full "International Code of Signals". The UI could be better, but it gets the job done without much hassle. Did I mention it was free?

This is the third time I am writing about this application. That should tell you how reliable and rugged it is. 91 knots and counting (they add them as soon as they get them) displayed in an easy to read format with great diagrams that can show even a person with basic dexterity how to tie the most advanced knots. With offline viewing and the ability to search and save... What else could you want? If Steve Jobs puts robot arms on the iPhone 5, you can bet this developer will design the app to tie them all for you.

Tide Graph is not just a novelty app. It will tell you, with pin-point accuracy, when the next high or low tide is at a given location and when the sun will rise or set. If you need to know, you need this app.

LED Morse Code Transmitter has two things going for it: It works, and it's free. You type in what you want it to spell out, and it does it with the LED Flash on the iPhone. Just for clarification, it has a running list on the phone screen about what it is sending out at that second so you can follow along. I tried it out, and yes it does "SOS" just fine.