Comparison

SpotBuoy vs Sail Tactician

Price, ratings, monetisation and update history for both apps, side by side — with what reviewers say about each.

Head to head
About

SpotBuoy

Features
Read full description

Manage your SpotBuoys and visualize the course setup with this app. Wind tracker will help you to keep track of the wind shifts through out the day.

About

Sail Tactician

This app transforms your Apple Watch into a tactical instrument for sailing races. It provides real-time data, start line assistance, and performance analysis to help sailors improve their racing strategy and speed.

Highlights
  • Audible countdown with voice cues
  • Real-time start line metrics
  • VMG to upwind/downwind targets
  • Tack and gybe suggestions
  • Live compass with no-sail zone arcs
  • Automatic GPS track recording
  • Standalone watch recording
Features
Read full description

A racing instrument for your Apple Watch and iPhone — start-line tactics, live VMG, a coach that calls the drill out loud, and a logbook that tells you what to fix. START STRONG Ping the pin and committee boat and the app does the rest: distance to line, time to line, time to burn, and which end is favored, in degrees and in the distance that bias is worth, updating every second. The countdown speaks every whole minute from ten down and every second from 30 out — spoken numbers or beeps, a long tone at the gun. Start from your wrist, or mount the phone and run the countdown from the watch — on Apple Watch Ultra, from the Action button. Or switch on Black Box and race the timer alone: at the gun the screen is elapsed time and End, nothing else, while everything still records. SAIL FAST A live compass with your no-sail zone drawn from your own boat's angles. VMG with a target heading and tack/gybe calls. The app tracks the wind as you sail, tells you whether you're lifted or headed, and labels every reading TRACKED or FORECAST. Build your own race screens, full-width stacks or grids up to 8-up, and lock one to stay class-compliant. TRAIN WITH A COACH Drill with a coach that says one word at a time — TACK, GOOD, HEAD UP — spoken aloud and tapped on your wrist, so you sail the boat instead of reading a screen. Tacks, gybes, VMG holds, speed runs, race starts, mark roundings or your own: eleven presets, run on the watch alone or on a mounted phone the watch drives. Tap any drill to learn the maneuver itself — what it is, why you would choose it, the steps, a diagram drawn from your own boat's angles, and every rep you have sailed of it. Training is marked beta in the app. KNOW YOUR BOAT Over fifty classes built in — ILCA 7 (Laser), Optimist, Snipe, Melges 24, J/70, Etchells, MC Scow, Nacra 17, Moth and more — each with its own upwind and downwind angles, or define your own. Save the boats you race: sail number, hull length and rigging notes. Mounted, the phone reads live heel and trim from one tap on level water, learns how far the mount sits off your bow, and flags a capsize or knockdown. REVIEW EVERY RACE Every session records speed, course, heel, trim and heart rate, fix by fix. Your numbers score the race itself, with a Start tab breaking down your approach to the gun. Full-screen replay that jumps between maneuvers. Speed and VMG charts, a polar diagram with the angle you actually held on each tack, a heel trace, port vs starboard, upwind/downwind splits and tack efficiency. The Coach is a map and one finding at a time, each priced in seconds at your own speed, with a tacking cone on every beat showing where you overstood or sailed extra — and what went well. Place the windward mark on the map afterwards and the app works the wind out from it. The watch shows the same analysis cards. RACE AGAINST YOUR FRIENDS Share a race with the sailors you raced against and compare boat-on-boat on iPhone: who led when, where the race changed hands, and a two-boat replay lined up at the gun. FREE TO RACE, PRO TO GO DEEPER Free to download and race with: countdown timer, compass, live speed and heading, your first five recorded races with full analysis, tacking drills, and race import and export. Every race is recorded and saved on every tier. Pro is one subscription, monthly or yearly — first month free — unlocking the live tactical suite, every drill, race sharing and comparison, and your full history. Nothing is ever deleted. FOLLOWS YOU EVERYWHERE Sessions sync privately between iPhone and Apple Watch over iCloud, and the app says plainly when it isn't. Sign in with Apple is optional; everything works signed out. Speeds in knots, MPH or km/h; distances in nautical miles, miles or kilometres, short ones in metres or feet. Import and export races as STX, GPX, CSV, KML or TCX, and read Vakaros VKX and NMEA 0183 logs. Terms of Use: https://www.apple.com/legal/internet-services/itunes/dev/stdeula/

Screenshots

SpotBuoy4 screens
Sail Tactician4 screens

Verdict

The call

The clearest difference is in-app purchases: SpotBuoy at none against Sail Tactician's 1. SpotBuoy also leads on iOS requirement (15.1 vs 17.6). On price, ads 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

CostPrice · In-app purchases · Ads · Monetization

Both are free to download. Sail Tactician sells 1 in-app purchase, starting at $29.99 per year. SpotBuoy asks for nothing beyond the download.

Scorecard2 real differences · 7 level
SpotBuoy versus Sail Tactician: the parameters behind the verdict, then further details
ParameterSpotBuoySail Tactician
PriceFreeFree
Rating—5.0 (1 ratings) — better
Number of ratings—1 — better
Update frequency—Every 9 days
AdsNoNo
In-app purchasesNo — betterYes
Monetization—Free
DevicesiPhone, iPad, iPod — betteriPhone, Apple Watch
Requires iOS15.1 — better17.6
Further details — not scored
Size35 MB29 MB
Age rating4+4+
DeveloperMurat AlmatGraham Hutchinson

In-app purchases

None

SpotBuoy

No in-app purchases

1 purchases

Sail Tactician

Subscriptions1
  • Sail Tactician Pro1 Month trial$29.991 Year

Questions

Is SpotBuoy free?
SpotBuoy is free to download, with no in-app purchases.
Is Sail Tactician free?
Sail Tactician is free to download, with in-app purchases available.
Do SpotBuoy or Sail Tactician have ads?
Neither SpotBuoy nor Sail Tactician shows ads.

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