SailTies started as an easy way to create a simple and streamlined personal log of your activity afloat via an app.

Since a soft launch a couple of seasons ago it has developed into a more sophisticated product that includes similar functions to those that have made Strava an eminently popular app for cyclists.

A push of a button at each end of a voyage is all that’s needed to record your track, total distance sailed and time at sea.

At the same time, the software will collate photos you take while en route, pinning them to your track.

Collaboration with other crew is easy, including adding photos and comments.

The SailTies App will collate photos of your voyage

The software keeps cumulative running totals of total distance and time at sea, while everything is available for easy sharing to social media via email or WhatsApp, should you wish to do so.

The app also allows users to add in all their existing experience.

This can be done manually, or by importing GPX coordinates from a chartplotter or GPS, by drawing on a map on screen, or even by importing scans from paper logbooks.

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This proved easy to do for a voyage I made last season from Les Sables d’Olonne to the Solent, though an edit function is currently not available for the dates, with the result that I had to re-enter the route after clicking on the wrong finish date.

My error was immediately obvious from the voyage data that’s automatically calculated – in this case a length of 367 days!

Other neat features include an integrated sailing CV.

This allows crew seeking boats to present their experience easily, while skippers/boat owners can quickly check out the background of prospective crew members.

A digital wallet can hold the complete range of qualifications including sea survival and first aid certificates.

The number of sailing miles by members of clubs and groups is also collated

A separate Groups and Clubs section allows users to find clubs and associations of which they are a member, or are interested in following.

Members of Starcross YC on the River Exe, for instance, have collectively logged more than 6,000 miles on the app. Examples of voyages in the few days before writing this include Poole to the Solent, a 33-mile trip in a big swell between Loctudy and Audierne in south Brittany; Ramsgate to Bradwell marina, plus Dartmouth to Malpas (above Falmouth).

An update to SailTies has just been released, allowing you to compare your key stats against those of your friends.

Clubs and groups can be followed on the app

A long list of parameters includes the longest voyage, the number of miles in the last month and so on.

Co-founder Tom Guy told me: “This element will evolve in the future based on the feedback we regularly encourage users to make to help us define our roadmap.”

As with Strava, all these features are available free, while forthcoming in-app purchases will unlock further functionality such as the ability to pull in weather data automatically and group individual voyages into longer trips such as a summer cruise or a charter holiday in a sunny destination.

SailTies helps you showcase your sailing CV

Recent updates based on user feedback include improvements to privacy settings, while the process for submitting and publishing the log of a voyage, together with associated photos and so on, has been streamlined.

There are already more than 5,000 users across the world, who have recorded voyages in 82% of all countries with coastlines.

The founders expect this figure to increase dramatically next season as a result of a more active marketing campaign and a roll-out of French, Italian and Spanish versions.

Price: free

Contact: www.sailties.net.

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