Pathfinder Sailing vs Sail Tactician
Price, ratings, monetisation and update history for both apps, side by side — with what reviewers say about each.
Pathfinder Sailing
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The Pathfinder Sailing App for the iPhone and Apple Watch is the Ultimate App for Sailboat Racing. This app helps you get better starts, hit the wind shifts, and sail faster. Racing screens provide input on your starts, boat speed, wind shift management, and current trends—right on your iPhone or Apple Watch. Race replay and analysis allow you to view your race and performance details and compare your boat track over a Google map with other boats in your fleet using the Pathfinder app. Live Map shows your boat's location and track over several different map backgrounds, including NOAA charts where available. The Marks & Courses screen allows you to create marks, import gpx files for marks and courses, and drop marks on the Live Map. You can then navigate to them via the Navigate screen or Live Map. You can also select a free and provided NOAA current GRIB or a paid GRIB from another service such as Tidetech or Mercator. Two plans are offered: - Pathfinder Plus Plan with sailing instrument integration - Pathfinder Basic plan, which uses your iPhone's GPS Post-race virtual replay provides metrics analysis to improve your sailing performance. You must purchase a monthly or annual subscription to access this content and all race screens within the app after the 14-day free trial period. App features: - Race Timer with audible output to time your starts more effectively. Supports custom time countdown. - Start screens to nail your starts by precisely pinging your start line and tracking the Distance Below Line and your required Speed to Start. - Speed screen to compare your actual performance to polar target speeds and wind angles to get up to speed faster (Plus Plan) - Compare your real-time performance to your polars for real-time feedback on speed and wind angles (Plus Plan) - Visualize wind shift trends to understand the oscillations and better predict shifts (Plus Plan) - Understand the impact of tidal current on your boat and whether you are sailing into a different current with Live Map and NOAA current GRIB (all plans) - Record your races and replay them - Track your performance metrics after the race - Export race logs in JSON or Expedition format for offline analysis Free trial - If you subscribe to the Pathfinder Sailing app, your first 14 days are free. A paid subscription is required beyond the free trial period to access the content. You will be billed for the monthly or annual subscription at the end of the trial. Your subscription will automatically renew at the end of the subscription period. By using this app, you agree to the Pathfinder Sailing Terms and Conditions and Privacy Policy at pathfindersailing.com EULA: https://www.apple.com/legal/internet-services/itunes/dev/stdeula/ Terms and Conditions: https://pathfindersailing.com/termsandconditions/ Privacy Policy: https://pathfindersailing.com/privacy/
Sail Tactician
This app transforms your Apple Watch and iPhone into advanced sailing instruments. It provides live data, tracks every sail, and offers post-sail analysis to help you improve your performance on the water.
- Live sailing instruments on watch and phone
- Customizable instrument screens
- Automatic sail recording
- Post-sail performance analysis
- Race countdown and mark pinning
- Integrated coaching for maneuvers
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Whether you race every weekend or sail for the joy of it, Sail Tactician turns your Apple Watch and iPhone into sailing instruments: live numbers on the water, every sail recorded, and a clear look afterwards at what went well and where to find speed. INSTRUMENTS ON YOUR WRIST AND YOUR PHONE Speed, heading, course and distance at a glance, sized to read on a moving boat. A live compass with your no-sail zone drawn from your own boat's angles. The app tracks the wind as you sail and tells you when you're lifted or headed. Build your own screens, full-width stacks or grids up to 8-up. Sail with the watch alone, the phone alone, or mount the phone and run it from the watch. EVERY SAIL RECORDED Press Start and the whole outing is saved, even with the phone locked in your pocket: your track, speed, heading and heart rate, with heel and trim when the phone is mounted. Run a mounted phone from the watch and the watch keeps a backup of the track. Black Box shows nothing but the clock and still records in full. Every session is kept on every tier. SEE HOW IT WENT Every sail lands on a map, colored by speed. Replay it, see your speed over time, a polar diagram of how fast you sail at each angle, port vs starboard, upwind vs downwind, and every tack and gybe timed. The Coach shows what went well and where you lost time, one finding at a time. Trim or clip a session; the original is never touched. The watch shows the same analysis cards. A sample race shows you a debrief before you've sailed one. FOR RACERS Start strong: ping the pin and committee boat for distance to line, time to line, time to burn and the favored end. The countdown speaks every minute from ten and every second from 30, with a long tone at the gun. On the course, VMG with a target heading and tack and gybe calls. Pin each mark with one press as you round it, on the watch, the Ultra's Action button or the phone, and the app works out the course after the race. Lock a screen to stay class-compliant. Share a race with the sailors you raced against and compare boat-on-boat on iPhone. FOR DAY SAILS AND CRUISES Choose Cruise and just press Start: no countdown, no line. See sunset, the forecast, and GPS and battery readiness before you leave, and your distance, top speed and season totals when you're back. TRAIN WITH A COACH Pick a workout and the coach calls it a word at a time (TACK, GOOD, HEAD UP), spoken from the watch or the phone, with a tap on the wrist. It counts your reps and scores each one against your own usual turn. Tap any drill to learn the maneuver. Eleven presets or your own. Training is marked beta. KNOW YOUR BOAT Over fifty classes built in, including ILCA 7 (Laser), Optimist, Melges 24, J/70, Etchells, MC Scow and Nacra 17, each with its own upwind and downwind angles, or define your own. Save your boats with sail number, hull length and rigging notes. Mounted, the phone reads live heel and trim. FREE TO SAIL, PRO TO GO DEEPER Free to download and sail with: countdown timer, cruise mode, Black Box, compass, live speed and heading, pinning marks, five imported races with full analysis, tacking drills, and import and export. Your first five recorded sessions come with everything in Pro. Pro is one subscription, monthly or yearly, keeping start-line tactics, VMG and wind shifts, every drill, race sharing and comparison, and your full history. FOLLOWS YOU EVERYWHERE Sessions sync privately between your devices over iCloud. Sign in with Apple is optional. Optional notifications say when a race from your watch is ready. Speeds in knots, MPH or km/h; distances in nautical miles, miles or kilometers. Export STX, GPX, CSV, KML or TCX. Import STX, and in beta FIT, GPX, CSV, TCX, Vakaros VKX and NMEA 0183. Capsize and knockdown detection requires the iPhone mounted to the boat. Terms of Use: https://www.apple.com/legal/internet-services/itunes/dev/stdeula/
Screenshots
Verdict
The clearest difference is update cadence: Sail Tactician at weekly against Pathfinder Sailing's every 3 weeks. Pathfinder Sailing's advantage is iOS requirement (15.0 vs 17.6). On price, ads, in-app purchases and device support there is nothing between them.
Scored on Price · Rating · Positive reviews · Number of ratings · Update frequency · Ads · In-app purchases · Monetization · Best chart rank · Devices · Requires iOS
Both are free to download. Pathfinder Sailing sells 3 in-app purchases, starting at $9.99 per month and Sail Tactician sells 2 in-app purchases, starting at $4.99 per month. Whichever you choose, the download price is not the number that matters.
Pathfinder Sailing ships an update every 3 weeks, Sail Tactician weekly. The most recent releases landed on November 4, 2026 and November 8, 2026 respectively.
| Parameter | Pathfinder Sailing | Sail Tactician |
|---|---|---|
| Price | Free | Free |
| Rating | — | 5.0 (1 ratings) — better |
| Number of ratings | — | 1 — better |
| Update frequency | Every 3 weeks | Weekly — better |
| Ads | No | No |
| In-app purchases | Yes | Yes |
| Monetization | — | Free with in-app purchases |
| Devices | iPhone, iPod, Apple Watch — better | iPhone, Apple Watch |
| Requires iOS | 15.0 — better | 17.6 |
| Further details — not scored | ||
| Size | 34 MB | 34 MB |
| Age rating | 4+ | 4+ |
| Developer | Pathfinder Sailing LLC | Graham Hutchinson |
In-app purchases
Pathfinder Sailing
- Monthly Basic Subscription1 Month trial$9.991 Month
- Monthly Subscription1 Month trial$19.991 Month
- Yearly Subscription1 Month trial$190.001 Year
Sail Tactician
- Pro$4.991 Month
- Sail Tactician Pro$29.991 Year
Questions
Is Pathfinder Sailing free?
Is Sail Tactician free?
Do Pathfinder Sailing or Sail Tactician have ads?
Which is updated more often, Pathfinder Sailing or Sail Tactician?
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