Keeldragger Sailing SoCal

Keeldragger Sailing SoCal is a free chart, weather and passage-planning app for Catalina, the Channel Islands and the Southern California coast, from Point Conception to San Diego. It puts the information in front of you; the skipper decides.

CHARTS, OFFLINE
• KD Charts: our own charts, drawn from NOAA's electronic navigational chart (ENC) data and updated as NOAA publishes. Download once at the dock; they work with no signal.
• The NOAA chart (May 2024) and satellite imagery are there too.

PLAN THE PASSAGE
• Routes drawn on the chart or typed point by point, with each leg's bearing, distance and time at your speed. Follow one leg by leg; stop it with one tap.
• Shipping lanes, land, an after-dark arrival and charted shallows are flagged once; the decision stays yours.
• Today's Crossing: route, advisories and forecast on one page, ready to print.
• My Areas: draw, circle or paste your own areas, flagged on every leg that crosses them.

WEATHER AND NOTICES
• NWS marine forecasts in their own words, coloured against your own wind and sea limits, and live buoy reports.
• Wind, seas and current as a moving picture, three days ahead.
• Coast Guard Notices to Mariners, with hazard areas drawn on the chart.
• Whales: Whale Safe sightings, its Whale Presence Rating for Southern California, and the Whale Atlas Zone.

ON WATCH
• Anchor alarm with a rode helper; a collision (CPA) watch on every AIS target; wind, depth and feed-loss alarms. Armed alarms keep watching with the screen locked, each with its own tone.
• MOB: one tap marks the spot, and the screen becomes bearing, distance and elapsed time.
• Shore Watch: the device left aboard sends a drag or an alarm to your phone ashore.
• Apple Watch: alarms with Mute and Acknowledge, instruments, and the bearing and ETA to your waypoint.
• Night mode: red on black, from dusk to dawn.

YOUR BOAT
• Connect your boat's NMEA Wi-Fi gateway for AIS targets and an instrument display. The app only listens. A built-in simulator lets you try it all at the dock.
• The ship's log keeps itself: passages open and close on their own, with watch entries, events and instruments. Each passage prints as a PDF with its track on a map.

FOLLOW ME AND BUDDY BOATS
• Share My Boat is off until you turn it on. While a passage is open it sends your position, boat details, instruments and the AIS you receive to Keeldragger, and anyone signed in to a Keeldragger account can follow you live.
• Follow a boat that is sharing, with her instruments and the traffic around her. Other sharing boats show on your chart as the fleet, a little behind real time.
• Buddy Nearby: a knock when a favorite boat comes within range.
• Messages: write to a buddy, a sharing boat or a group, with your position when you choose to attach it. Check-ins tell your buddies if you don't check in. Report and block are built in. Not for emergencies: use VHF 16.

A FIRST-HAND GUIDE
• Every published waypoint is written by a sailor who has been there: approach, holding, depth, moorings and photos. Your own notes are never overwritten.
• Quick cards for moorings, the lanes, harbor contacts and using the app, printed as one packet.

YOUR DATA
• No account needed. No ads, no analytics, no tracking.
• Syncs through your own iCloud by default. An optional free Keeldragger account adds end-to-end encrypted sync with the web edition and other devices, and is needed for Follow Me and Messages. Messages are not end-to-end encrypted.
• The web edition at app.socal.keeldragger.com plans the same passages in any browser.

Data from NOAA, the NWS, the U.S. Coast Guard, Whale Safe and others, credited in the app.

NOT FOR NAVIGATION. Keeldragger Sailing SoCal is reference and planning material. KD Charts and the NOAA chart are not official and not certified for navigation, and forecasts can be wrong. Navigate by official charts and publications, proper instruments and your own eyes. The skipper remains responsible for the vessel and crew.