Sea Sports

Sea Sports turns the chart into a companion for paddling, surfing, kiting and

other water sports. Open it from the chart pill menu, between AnchorQueen

and Merconi. It has five sub-modes: Live, Plan, Discover,

Voyages and Tutorial. Recording a session itself is described in

Chart → Sea Sports; this page covers the mode built

around it.

What you see

Pill menu row — Sea Sports — Live, plan, voyages & tutorial, with a

surfer glyph.

Sub-mode bar — Live, Plan, Discover, Voyages, Tutorial. The

selected pill shows its name; the others show only an icon. The bar hides

while Live runs full-screen.

Panels that stay out of the way — every Sea Sports panel opens small:

a one-line summary and its main button (Start, the route, your latest

session, your next lesson), so the chart stays visible. Drag the handle up

(or tap it) for the rest; drag it down to fold it away again. On iPad and in

landscape the panel sits at the bottom-left corner instead.

Your sport on the chart — while a session runs, your sport's board,

kayak or swimmer replaces your boat on the chart, whatever mode you are in.

The canoe, kayak and stand-up paddleboard were redrawn for

4.6 from new detailed models — on the chart, on their start-screen cards

and in the 3D replay.

Long-press the chart to plan a route to that spot. With no plan on the

chart the route plans straight away; with a plan open you get a short menu —

Start here, Add stop, End here (see

[Editing the plan on the chart](#plan-edit)).

Deep links — safeanchor://seasports/live, /plan, /discover,

/voyages and /tutorial open the matching sub-mode.

Live

Open Sea Sports ▸ Live. With no session running you see the Ready

card: your sport (and gear), today's wind, gusts, water and air temperature

and sunset at your position, the Apple Watch status, and one big Start

button. Change sport opens the Sea Sports

start screen — the screen the Tutorial calls

the sport picker — and tapping a sport there starts the session at once. Where

it records (iPhone, Apple Watch or both) follows Record on on that

screen.

When the session runs, Live fills the screen with the numbers that matter:

elapsed time, your speed in large type, three figures for your sport, and

distance. If you are following a sport route, the next waypoint with its

distance and ETA appears below.

Hold to stop — hold the red button for one second, then tap Stop

session. A tap does nothing, so spray can't end your session. On the chart

outside Sea Sports, the session panel stops with a tap and a confirmation

instead — see While you ride.

Water lock (drop icon) — locks the screen against drops and spray; the

stop button becomes Hold to unlock (2 seconds).

Chart tools (map icon) — shows the chart and the rails under a compact

strip; Live view brings the big screen back.

Course up / Re-centre — keeps you centred; course-up turns the chart to

your heading. Panning the chart releases follow; tap Re-centre to

resume.

The screen dims after about 12 seconds without a touch; touch once to wake

it. The screen stays on while a session runs.

Battery and heat. Live caps the chart's frame rate (60, then 30, then 20

frames a second) and refreshes the figures more slowly as the phone warms, in

Low Power Mode, or while dimmed. See

Troubleshooting.

3D map. Where it is enabled, Live draws the map behind its cards in 3D —

the same live 3D chart as the chart's Live mode, with

your sport's own shape, your track, charter boats and nearby AIS traffic. Taps

and long-presses open the same cards and menus as on the flat chart, and

Re-centre works the same way.

Plan

Plan draws a water-only route for your sport. It needs no depth data, so

it works for a SUP, kayak, swim or kite session on a fresh install, offline.

A plan can have several stops, a route style and safety notes, and you can

edit it right on the chart.

Open Sea Sports ▸ Plan and pick your sport (the cruise speed under the

chips sets the ETA).

Say where you are going. Type a place in Where to? (or tap Where to?

in the collapsed panel), or tap Nearest bay, Cove, Beach,

Anchorage, Marina or Slipway to see up to ten places near you

with their distance, then tap a place. Loop 30 min / Loop 1 h plans

a round trip from your position straight away — there is no place to pick.

You can also long-press the chart where you want to go.

AnchorQueen draws a smooth route on the chart, with a green A where it

starts and a red B where it ends, and shows distance, time, how far

from shore it strays and your sport speed.

Add stops, change the [route style](#plan-styles) or drag a pin to adjust

the plan; read the [safety notes](#plan-safety) before you go.

Press Start to follow the route and begin recording, or Save route

to keep it.

Offline you get the places you have saved or visited; with a connection,

bays, coves, beaches and slipways from OpenStreetMap are added. If the route

has to stray further from shore than usual, the card says so.

Saved sport routes. Tap the bookmark in the Plan card to see them. Filter

with All · Paddle · Swim · Wind · Wave · Sail · Speed or Favourites

(♥). Wakeboard, water-ski and tube routes are under Speed. Tap a route to preview it on the chart and press Start; swipe a row

to delete it. Sport routes also appear in the route library under the Sea

sports chip and in Map Search under the Sea Sports chip

(Quick filters), and replay with your sport's

symbol.

How sport routes are planned. Sea Sports routes ignore water depth:

paddle, swim and board sports float in a few centimetres, and you may not

have a chart pack installed. The route is drawn over water only, using the

coastline built into the app, and it keeps clear of the shore line; smoothing

rounds the corners but never cuts across land. The

coastline is simplified (about 150 m) and very small islets, rocks, reefs,

fish farms, swimming-zone ropes and boat traffic are not shown, so a

route is a starting line, not a guarantee that the water is safe. Check wind,

sea state, currents and local rules before you go, and never rely on the

route alone. There is no length or distance-from-shore limit on a sport route

— plan as far as you like, and judge for yourself whether the crossing suits

your sport and the day.

Stops and route styles

A plan is a list of stops: a departure, optional via stops and an

arrival. The departure is your position by default, but it can be any point

on the water. Add stops, reorder them, remove them, or reverse the whole

plan; every change redraws the route.

Routes are smoothed into flowing lines but never cross land. The departure and

arrival are named after the nearest harbour, marina, slipway, beach or bay, or

the nearest place name; failing that they read My position or Dropped pin.

A route is named like Kayak · Chiaiolella Marina → Procida. Saved routes keep

their stops, so reopening one shows the same stops. A saved route does not

remember its style: re-planning it uses your sport's usual style.

The stop list

Under the search field the plan lists its stops: A (departure), numbered

stops, and B (arrival), each with the distance and time to the next stop.

Swipe a stop to remove it. Tap Reorder to drag stops into a new order, or

Reverse route to swap the whole plan. Add stop adds one before the

arrival. Tap the departure to start somewhere else, or My position to start

from where you are again. The header shows the route as A → B with a green and

a red dot.

Route style

Choose how the stops are joined with the style chips:

Direct — the shortest water path.

Coastal — stays close to shore; the default for paddle, swim and wave

sports.

Cove-hop — adds up to three suggested stops at coves, beaches and bays

along the way; remove any you don't want.

Loop — a round trip from the departure, no arrival needed.

Out and back — to the last stop, then back the same way.

Freehand — straight lines between your stops. If one crosses land, the

plan says which leg and shows where, instead of routing around it.

A dimmed chip does not apply to the current stops — tap it to see why. Your

sport remembers the last style you chose.

Where to?

Type a place at the top of the Plan sheet — or tap Where to? in the

collapsed panel. Results are grouped as Nearby for your sport (bays, coves,

beaches, anchorages, marinas, slipways close to you), Saved routes & marks

(your own routes, marks and waypoints; tap a saved route to open it) and

Places (harbours, OpenStreetMap, Wikipedia and Google Places). Online places

are searched from the third letter you type. Rows from Google show Powered by

Google; AnchorQueen keeps only the place's identifier and position, never its

details.

Tap a result to go there (it becomes the arrival). Tap + on a result, or

press and hold it, to add it as a stop instead, or to start from it. A place on

land is moved to the nearest water within 300 m; if there is none, the plan says

so and nothing changes.

Editing the plan on the chart

Your plan is drawn on the chart: a green A for the departure, numbered pins

for the stops in between and a red B for the arrival (a loop or an

out-and-back shows one pin at the start with a return arrow). Tap the line to

select the route — it thickens, and small + handles appear in the middle of

each leg. Tap a pin to open its options: Set as departure, Set as

arrival, Navigate here (a fresh plan from your position to that stop) and

Remove stop.

Drag a pin to move a stop; the route follows when you let go, and a pin

dropped on land moves to the nearest water within 300 m. Drag a + handle to

add a stop in the middle of a leg. Long-press the water to choose Start

here, Add stop or End here; before you have a plan, the long-press

plans a route straight away as usual. A GPS departure that sits under your own

boat is drawn as a ring around it with a small A. Pins can also be selected

with VoiceOver: each one reads as Departure, Stop 1, Arrival and so on,

with its name.

When

The When pill in the Plan header says when you plan to go — Now by

default. Tap it to pick +1 hour, +3 hours, Tomorrow 08:00,

Tomorrow 17:00, or any date and time, then tap Set departure.

Everything on the Plan sheet follows that time: the arrival time in the

ETA cell, the conditions line, and the Conditions and Along the

route sections.

When you plan for later than about 15 minutes from now, the main button

changes to Save plan for and Start now moves into the sheet.

The saved route keeps its departure time, and opening it later brings the

same time back. A time more than about 7 days ahead says Beyond the

forecast — you can still plan and save it, but conditions cannot be shown

yet.

Conditions

One line under the route summary shows the wind, the wave height and the sea

state at your departure time, with a symbol for how it rates for your sport:

a tick for Good conditions, a triangle for Caution, a cross for Not

advised. Pull the sheet up for the detail: wind and gusts with the Beaufort

force, waves with the Douglas sea state, swell, air and water temperature,

the next high and low tide, sunrise and sunset, and a warning if you would

set off in the dark (arriving after sunset is covered under

[Safety notes](#plan-safety)). Along the route shows the start, the

middle and the end of your route with the time you would be there and the

wind and waves expected at that moment. Conditions show before you plan a

route too, for where you are.

The rating is a guide to the forecast, not a guarantee. Forecasts change and

the sea can be different close to shore, so always check the sea and the

weather yourself before you go. The water temperature is the latest

measurement, not a forecast, and says Measured now when your departure is

later. Without a connection the conditions show a dash; sunrise and sunset

still work.

Safety notes

Plan checks your route for the things worth knowing before you set off. Every

note is advice — none of them stops you starting.

Conditions per leg. Each stop in the list shows when you should be on its

leg (for example 09:10–09:24) and how the sea looks there: a tick for calm, a

triangle for caution, an octagon for hard going, with the wind against your

heading (Headwind 14 kn) and the wave height. On the chart the line is coloured

the same way — green calm, amber caution, red hard — and keeps the Sea Sports

accent colour where there is no forecast. Headwind counts for paddling and

swimming: more than 10 kn straight ahead is caution, more than 16 kn is hard.

The times come from your sport speed; wind changes the rating, not the ETA.

Open water. Where the line runs further from shore than is comfortable for

your sport (300 m swimming, 1 km paddling), a dashed amber line runs beside it

and the Safety card says how long the crossing is. Tap Show on chart to see

nearby beaches you could land on if you had to turn in (they need a connection

the first time).

Shipping lanes. If a leg crosses a shipping lane, a red note reminds you to

cross at right angles and look both ways. The planner already prefers the

shortest way through a lane, which is square across. Ferry routes are not yet

checked.

Sunset and turning back. If you would finish — or start — after sunset, the

card says so, and Leave earlier moves the departure so you finish 15 minutes

before sunset (it is not offered when even leaving now would be too late). For

an out-and-back or a loop it shows the time you reach the far end, so you know

when to head home.

Voyages

Voyages is where your sessions live after the water. It shows your history:

every recorded session on a timeline along the left edge of the chart. Your

spots, highlights, sea life nearby, shared reels and the routes other captains

share are in [Discover](#discover).

History

Drag the timeline (or tap the older / newer arrows) to move between sessions;

the chart flies to the session and draws its track. The card shows the sport,

place, date, duration, distance, top speed and the sport's headline figure; a

trophy badge means the session holds one of your personal bests.

Replay plays the session on the chart, 3D opens the 3D film,

Compose builds a shareable [story](#compose) and Details opens the

full session.

The calendar button narrows history to a year, month or day; the tour

button visits every session in turn.

Filter by sport family with the chips (All · Speed · Wind · Wave · Towed ·

Sail · Paddle · Swim), or search by sport, place, year or month.

With no sessions yet the card offers Start your first session. If your

phone holds sample sessions, a Samples chip shows or hides them.

Discover

Discover is the third sub-mode of Sea Sports, between Plan and Voyages.

Community routes. Routes other captains chose to share appear on the chart

in the colour of their sport, each with a dot where it starts, and in a list

ordered by how close the start is to you. Pick a sport chip to narrow the list.

Tap a line or a row to focus it: the sheet shows its sport, name, who shared it

(or "A captain"), distance, duration and how many captains saved it.

Go saves the route to your routes and opens it in Plan, ready to start.

Save to my routes keeps a copy you can edit; it never changes the

original.

Report route tells us something is wrong. A route reported by several

captains is hidden until it has been reviewed.

You need a captain account to browse and share community routes. Without one,

Discover shows a sign-in prompt and everything below still works. Community

routes can also be switched off while we roll them out; Discover then shows a

short note and your own data below.

My community routes lists the routes you published. Switch one between

Public and Private, or delete it. Publish from the menu of a saved plan in

Plan or of a recorded session in Voyages.

Your own data sits below the community block:

Your spots groups sessions that started within about 500 m of each

other — tap Go again to plan a route back.

Highlights lists your personal bests; tap one to open the session.

Ocean life nearby shows marine life, dive sites and wrecks around you;

tap one to see it in Merconi.

My shared reels lists what you have shared.

These used to be under Voyages ▸ Discover. Voyages now shows History only.

Share a route

You can share a planned sport route or a recorded session with other captains.

Open the … menu on a saved route (Plan ▸ Saved sport routes) or on a

session card (Voyages ▸ History) and choose Share to community.

Pick Public (anyone signed in can find it in Discover near where it

starts) or Private (only you; you can make it public later).

Check the name, add an optional note, and choose whether to show your name.

Otherwise it appears as "A captain".

For a recorded session, set Trim each end. That distance is cut from the

start and the end before the route is published, so your berth stays

private. The preview shows the shared part; the trimmed ends are dimmed. The

default is 300 m.

Tap Publish.

The menu appears only when you are signed in to a captain account. Sample

sessions cannot be shared, and a new recording can be shared once it has

synced. If a track is too short for the trim you chose, lower the trim. Each

tier has a daily publish limit. A route you saved from Discover cannot be

shared again.

Compose

Turn a session into a short video of your own. Open Voyages, pick a

session and tap Compose (or open the session and tap Compose story).

What goes in

Highlights — your biggest jump, longest ride, top speed and other best

moments. Switch off the ones you don't want; the 3D film starts before your

first highlight and ends after your last.

Your photos & videos — add up to 12 from your library. They are placed

in the order you took them, and when one was taken during the session it is

cut into the 3D film at about that moment. Videos are cut to 6 seconds;

slide the start to choose which 6.

Title & cards — the title, a stats card, a map card and, if you set a

record, a personal-best card.

Look — 9:16, 1:1 or 16:9, and 15, 30 or 60 seconds. There is no music;

your own videos keep their sound. A 16:9 story shows the 3D film with bars

at the sides.

Create story makes the video on your iPhone. Keep AnchorQueen open while

it works. If your iPhone gets warm it waits until it has cooled; if it gets

too hot it stops and keeps your choices. When it's ready you can Share it,

Save to Photos, or make a Public link of the 3D film. The map in the

film needs a connection.

Privacy: your photos and videos stay on your iPhone unless you share the

video yourself. A public link only contains the 3D film, never your own media.

Tutorial

The Tutorial sub-mode is a minute-long tour of Sea Sports in seven short

lessons: pick your sport and gear, go live, plan a route to the nearest bay,

record with Apple Watch, relive a session, compose and share a story, and stay

safe.

Tap a lesson to open its steps. Next and Back move through them; the

last step has a Try it button that takes you straight to the right place

(the start screen, Live, Plan or Voyages), or Mark as done if you only

wanted to read. Every lesson has Read more, which opens the matching

section of this manual. Finished lessons show a tick and the card counts

"3 of 7 done". Restart tutorial clears the ticks.

The first time you open Live, a small "New here?" note points to the

Tutorial. It shows at most twice, never while a session is running, and

disappears for good once you tap it, dismiss it or finish a lesson.

Apple Watch

You can start a session from your wrist and let the watch record on its own

or together with the iPhone (Record on on the

start screen). The full

walk-through — the Sea Sports page, Water Lock on the watch, syncing and

status — is in Chart → Record on Apple Watch.

Stay safe

Sea Sports helps your judgement; it does not replace it.

Sport routes ignore depth. A planned route keeps clear of land but knows

nothing about rocks, reefs or shallows. Look out for them yourself.

Tell someone ashore where you are going and when you expect to be back.

Wear a buoyancy aid or lifejacket and attach your leash before you leave

the shore.

Read the Safety card. [Plan's safety notes](#plan-safety) flag open

water, shipping lanes, headwind and sunset — advice only, so the decision is

yours.

Check the wind and the forecast first. The Live card (drag it up) and

[Plan's conditions](#plan-conditions) show wind, gusts and more for where

you are.

Know your limits. If in doubt, stay ashore.