Learn to sail.
Then take the helm.
SailWise teaches sailing in short lessons with Pip, a puffin who knows the ropes. Then it puts you on the water in a simulator with real sail physics: steer, trim by the telltales, tack through the wind and bring the boat alongside a dock.
Eight short units, from bow and stern to crew overboard.
Lessons take a few minutes each and you learn by doing: tap the part of the boat, pick the point of sail on the wind wheel, decide who gives way when two boats meet, name the horn signal you hear, read the telltales and put the steps of a tack in order.
Keep a streak going, earn XP and hit your daily goal.
A boat that sails like a boat.
- ●Steer with the helm pad: centre runs straight, the edges are full lock.
- ●Trim the sheet and watch the windward and leeward telltales stream, flutter or droop.
- ●Read the wind dial, the point of sail and the heel gauge as you go.
Point too close to the wind and the sail luffs, then you stop in irons. Sheet in too hard on a reach and it stalls. Gusts heel you over and round you up, a gybe without control slams the boom across, and the rudder does nothing until water is flowing past it.
Pip coaches as you sail and tells you exactly what went wrong, in plain sailing language.
Or sit in the cockpit and steer by eye.
Tap the binoculars and the chart becomes a view from the helm. You sit on the windward side, the boat heels and pitches through the waves under you, and the sail fills or flogs as you trim. Drag to look around for the next mark.
The chart view is the better teacher, because you can see the wind and your angle to it. The helm view is how it feels to sail. Switch between them any time.
14 missions in six stages, plus a daily regatta.
- 1Steer. Feel the wind, get stuck in irons, visit every point of sail
- 2Trim. Sheet in, ease out, read the telltales
- 3Tack & Gybe. Your first tack, beat to windward, a controlled gybe
- 4Wind & Heel. Gusts, heel and staying in control
- 5Seamanship. Crew overboard and sailing in a current
- 6Beyond the basics. Docking, night sailing and a catamaran
Earn up to three stars on each one. The daily regatta is a new windward-leeward course every day, the same for everyone. Free sail lets you pick the boat, wind strength, gusts and time of day.
Dock it. Sail it at night. Fly a hull.
The last stage takes the skills you’ve built into the situations that make real sailors nervous.
Bring the boat into a berth between moored boats, under sail. Luff the sail to bleed off speed and stop without a bump. Pip is watching your speed.
Follow a lit channel home through flashing red and green buoys. Your running lights show port and starboard, and red-right-returning finally makes sense.
Take a beach catamaran out in a gusty breeze. It hits 12 knots, lifts a hull and, if you don’t hike or ease, capsizes.
Your days on the water, ready for the charter company.
Log every real sail: the boat and its length, where you went, how long, and whether you were crew, student or skipper. When it’s time to charter, SailWise turns your log into a tidy sailing résumé PDF, because the first thing a charter company asks for is your experience.
From deckhand to celestial navigator.
Each SailWise level covers the knowledge for a familiar sailing course, so you can study before (or after) your lessons on the water. Level 1 is ready now; the rest are on the way.
Covers the knowledge for ASA 101 · US Sailing Basic Keelboat
Covers the knowledge for ASA 103 · US Sailing Basic Cruising
Covers the knowledge for ASA 104 · US Sailing Bareboat Cruising
Covers the knowledge for ASA 105 · US Sailing Coastal Navigation
Covers the knowledge for ASA 106 + 108 · US Sailing Coastal + Offshore Passagemaking
Covers the knowledge for ASA 107 · US Sailing Celestial Navigation
Not affiliated with, endorsed by, or approved by ASA or US Sailing. Course names only describe which topics each level covers. Rules content follows the public-domain US Coast Guard Navigation Rules.
Your coach is a puffin.
Puffins spend most of their lives at sea, so Pip knows a thing or two about wind and waves. Pip cheers your streaks, explains every wrong answer, and rides along in the simulator with a tip when your sail starts to luff or you come in too hot for the dock.
● Red is port. ● Green is starboard. Pip will make sure you never forget.
Questions, answered.
I’ve never sailed. Is it for me?
Yes. Level 1 starts with bow and stern and which way the wind is coming from. Each lesson takes a few minutes, and the simulator starts with simply steering to a buoy before it asks you to trim a sail.
How realistic is the simulator?
The boat is driven by a physics model, not canned animations. It works out the apparent wind and how much lift the sail makes at its angle, so a sail that’s too loose luffs and one that’s too tight stalls. The boat carries momentum, the rudder only works with water flowing past it, gusts heel you and round you up, and a careless gybe slams the boom across. We tuned turn rate, tack time and stopping distance against a real small keelboat.
Can SailWise get me certified?
No app can. SailWise covers the knowledge behind the common entry-level courses so you arrive at your first lesson already knowing the words, the points of sail and who gives way. Certification needs an accredited instructor and time on the water. SailWise isn’t affiliated with ASA or US Sailing.
What’s the sailing résumé?
Log your real days on the water in the Logbook: the boat, its length, where you sailed, whether you were skipper and for how long. SailWise turns it into a clean PDF to send charter companies, who usually ask for exactly that.
Is my data private?
Yes. There’s no account, no analytics, no ads and no tracking. Your progress and logbook stay on your iPhone. The only thing the app ever sends is a problem report, and only if you write one and tap Send.
SailWise is coming soon to the App Store. Questions? Visit support.
SailWise is an independent study aid. It is not affiliated with, endorsed by, or approved by the American Sailing Association (ASA) or US Sailing. Course names are used only to describe which topics each level covers. SailWise doesn’t certify anyone: certification requires an accredited instructor and time on the water.