The iPAD is the single-most useful accessory you can put on your boat.
Use it to navigate. The photo above was taken during a Great Lakes delivery when the plotter suddenly died. We bungeed the IPAD to the helm station and off we went. Navionics is our favorite app. Great charts. Easy route planning. Good marina info. And cheap.
Use it to check weather. We check weather, a lot. We like Predict Wind and Pocket Grib.
Use it to learn new skills. I love learning knots and teaching them. Two favorite apps here are Knot Guide & Grog Knots.
Use it as a reference. If I have even a shadow of a doubt about a lighting display or a nav rule, I check one of these 2 apps: The USCG app funded by the family of Julian Romero, USCG Auxiliary Puerto Rico, who died at 20. His family has made such a wonderful gift to us all. And the one I still use most often, Navigation Rules by Double Dog Studios.
An iPhone will serve you well too. I have the 6sPlus. Mostly chosen for its superior image capturing ability, a large screen that I can actually use for navigation. At this moment I have 296 apps and I realize that puts me on the far end of the spectrum. I am a rather serious, if amateur, devotee of tech. My apps are bundled under verb headings. I have a testing bin where I keep apps that yet to prove themselves worthy and I routinely reject apps if they fail to achieve their stated objectives with a minimum of fuss. Our carrier is T-Mobile since we need, no depend on, worldwide service. At one stage we had 7 phone numbers, one for each country that we were routinely traveling & working in. We spent more time topping up Sim cards and still no one could ever reach us. I can't begin to describe how the T-Mobile plan has changed our lives. Here are screen shots of my favorite sailing apps:
Use it to navigate. The photo above was taken during a Great Lakes delivery when the plotter suddenly died. We bungeed the IPAD to the helm station and off we went. Navionics is our favorite app. Great charts. Easy route planning. Good marina info. And cheap.
Use it to check weather. We check weather, a lot. We like Predict Wind and Pocket Grib.
Use it to learn new skills. I love learning knots and teaching them. Two favorite apps here are Knot Guide & Grog Knots.
Use it as a reference. If I have even a shadow of a doubt about a lighting display or a nav rule, I check one of these 2 apps: The USCG app funded by the family of Julian Romero, USCG Auxiliary Puerto Rico, who died at 20. His family has made such a wonderful gift to us all. And the one I still use most often, Navigation Rules by Double Dog Studios.
An iPhone will serve you well too. I have the 6sPlus. Mostly chosen for its superior image capturing ability, a large screen that I can actually use for navigation. At this moment I have 296 apps and I realize that puts me on the far end of the spectrum. I am a rather serious, if amateur, devotee of tech. My apps are bundled under verb headings. I have a testing bin where I keep apps that yet to prove themselves worthy and I routinely reject apps if they fail to achieve their stated objectives with a minimum of fuss. Our carrier is T-Mobile since we need, no depend on, worldwide service. At one stage we had 7 phone numbers, one for each country that we were routinely traveling & working in. We spent more time topping up Sim cards and still no one could ever reach us. I can't begin to describe how the T-Mobile plan has changed our lives. Here are screen shots of my favorite sailing apps:
