New Sailing App Calculates Course to Steer and Speed Over the Ground

Course to Steer, is a new sailing app developed by Keith Wilkinson which calculates a course to steer to compensate for tide, wind and magnetic compass errors. 

You can check chart-work before sailing by entering your intended ground track (or course to make good) along with your boat speed plus the set and rate of tidal stream.

Your course to steer and speed over the ground are calculated instantly. 

Corrections can also be made for leeway, magnetic variation and deviation simply by tapping in the required values.


The course to steer is calculated to give true, magnetic and compass values.

The app is aimed at any navigator needing to work out or check a course to steer.

It might also be useful for those learning the principles of navigation and could be handy for smaller yachts without the space for a chart table on board.

It can be used in combination with a chart plotter, particularly if tidal flow information is included, though data obtained must be manually entered into the app, whatever the source.

The application is available for Android and iOS devices.