Passage Planning Using Apps – 7 Easy to Follow Steps

What do you need to consider when passage planning? What websites, software, and apps are available to plot a sailing voyage from point A to B? Read the steps we use before we set sail for our next destination. Then, watch our Passage Planning video to get a behind-the-scenes snapshot of what Simon looks at and how he analyses the information. Note that this is not about passage planning on paper chart or passage planning using ecdis.

If you’re looking for the traditional passage planning template, consider getting my best-selling guide: Checklists for Sailors – Passage Planning, Sailboat Maintenance, Cleaning, Medical and more.

Planning a Passage The Modern Way

Planning a Passage Step 1 – Deciding to go somewhere

The first step in our planning routine is to decide that we’re ready to go somewhere. When we’re actively cruising, we often stay in anchorages or marinas for one night to a couple of weeks and then move on. From time to time, we’ll get stuck in one place due to repairs or weather restrictions, but overall, we’re almost always on the move when traveling for a season.

From a planning perspective, Simon and I are always watching the weather and have a firm handle on conditions. When we’re in one place for a while and are setting up for a big trip—perhaps anything over a few days (like our Bermuda to Charleston 800-mile Bermuda To USA Passage)—we’ll start looking at the forecast five days before we plan on leaving.

Planning a Passage Step 2 – Deciding where to go

We survey all our destination options by using our PredictWind navigational app (paid-for version) on our iPad. We look at any restrictions on leaving our current port and then look at potential destinations.

Sometimes, we’ll head out for a three-hour sail, and other times, it might be three days. To give some examples, when sailing up the west coast of Italy, we sailed around 12 hours maximum each day for three days, stopping to anchor or stay in a marina. When we sailed over to Sardinia, it took us over two days.

For the majority of the time, we select destinations based on what other cruisers recommend. Other times we read a local pilot book and determine which destination best suits our current needs – do we want to relax in a quiet bay or find a marina and go for a historical tour on land? We then consider the best place to aim for with consideration to all the items listed in my ‘Passage Planning Basics’ table within my Checklists for Sailors guide.

Planning Step 3 – Watching the weather

So…we check the weather as early as five days before travel. Sometimes, we make a quick decision to leave; sometimes, we leave as scheduled, and other times, we wait for weeks to get a weather window.

After sailing in a variety of conditions, we know what the crew and boat can handle. If day two shows a large swell but we leave on day three with no swell and good wind, we’ll wait for better conditions.

While based in the States, Simon and I look at Windy.com and PassageWeather.com to see the sea state, wind direction, storms, fronts, lows, and highs to get an idea of what’s going on. It’s best to ask local cruisers what their preferred weather website is—you’ll want to find a website that has the best accuracy for the local area.

Passage Planning Practice Step 4 – Departure planning

We then open our PredictWind app again. PredictWind has all sorts of bells and whistles, but I’m only going to describe the features we use routinely. Once again, we look at the weather report within the app (only if we have an internet connection).

In our paid version, we have tools such as ‘Weather Routing’ and ‘Departure Planning’. Weather Routing allows us to select a current and end location in addition to the date we want to leave. Once we fill in the details, we hit ‘Calculate Route,’ which tells us four routes pulling from four different weather models (PWG, PWE, GFS, and ECMWF).

Calculations are based on true wind speed, knots, wind direction, wind angle, swell height, current direction, swell direction, and current speed.

Note that you must have an Internet connection to get live weather data. We then move on to ‘Departure Planning’. This is only useful for longer trips—perhaps 36 hours plus.

We enter the start and finish destination in addition to when we want to leave.

Then, we enter ‘space departures by hours,’ which shows us what the conditions will be if we leave now, tomorrow, the day after tomorrow, and so forth. We could also request what the conditions will be every five hours or 10 hours.

The information provided includes estimated passage time, max wind speed, min wind speed, % time upwind/reaching/downwind, and so forth. Information is also provided on swells, so if you don’t like them, you can often plan to leave when they’re at their smallest (can you tell that I don’t like swells?) Simon covers all of this in the video below.

Planning Step 5 – Plotting a course

Once we decide on the best time to go, we open our Navionics app, which we also use the paid-for version. An Internet connection is not necessary; however, you do need a GPS-enabled device for this app to show your position.

We go into ‘Route’ and select ‘Manual’. If you select ‘Automatic’, it takes the most direct route, which is fine if you’re a motorboat or motoring, but if you want to sail, we select ‘Manual’ so that we can plot the waypoints.

First, we plot where we are; then, we set up our waypoints to navigate out of the area along a course, considering our weather details and points for entrance to our destination. Once that’s done, we set the waypoints up on our boat plotters, which also use Navionics software.

Our plotters are 12 years old, so we actually rely on our iPad more when we’re close to inland, as the details are better. When we’re out at sea, we mainly rely on boat plotters.

Passage Plan Step 6 – Consider safe refuges

After ten+ years of full-time cruising, I’d say that 20% of the time, we’ve had to abandon our plan.

On several occasions in Greece, we arrived late at a bay that was too full and had to head to an alternative bay. One time, we set out sailing west, thinking the wind would be coming from the north, but we found that it was coming from the west. We planned on going to the famous Greek Island of Santorini, but instead, we had to head south and found a great anchorage in Crete.

When we planned to sail from Bermuda to Charleston, South Carolina, we had to divert to Wilmington, North Carolina, because the wind, waves, storms, and Gulf Stream forced us north. Check out our Sailing Bermuda to USA videos and articles to see just how passage planning can go very wrong.

Planning Step 7 – Prepare to leave

Once we know that our departure is imminent, we consider what we have to do to leave the anchorage or mooring. Often, there’s nothing that needs to be done, but if we’re at a marina, we’ll have to pay the bill. If we’re leaving a country, we’ll have to book out and so forth.

With our iPad, we have our navigational information, and as long as we get an Internet connection, we also have access to the weather. When we don’t have Internet access, we rely on VHF weather broadcasts, using our Satellite connection to download GRIB files (weather files), or, in a pinch, on long passages, calling a passing tanker or another vessel to get the latest weather report.

Planning a Passage Video

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