SailTies

About SailTies

SailTies is a Bristol-based sailing app and trip-booking service created by Tom and Chris, two RYA-qualified sailors who began building it in their spare time in 2020. Its first iPhone version followed in 2021. The free logbook tracks each passage, and the company also sells places on crewed sailing trips run by independent operators, priced in pounds by default.

What SailTies sells

• A free digital sailing logbook that records distance, duration, speed and conditions, with crew matching and a live tracking link for family ashore
• SailTies Plus, a yearly subscription adding historical weather, speed analysis, a 3D globe of past voyages, collections, videos and no adverts
• Single berths on skippered trips: Atlantic crossings, Caribbean and Mediterranean cruising, co-charter in Greece, Arctic and Indian Ocean voyages, Caribbean regattas and Fastnet Race 2027 places
• Training and mile-building passages towards RYA qualifications such as Day Skipper and Yachtmaster
• Gift cards worth £25 to £10,000, plus Begin sailing, Day Skipper and Mile builder gift packages

According to the company, logged sea time, passages, boats and qualifications can be exported as a sailing CV, and sailors use it when working towards RYA, ASA, IYT, NauticEd and USCG certificates. SailTies says Sail Canada, International Yacht Training and NauticEd recommend the app to their members. Trips are sold by the berth, so solo travellers join an existing crew, and cabins are shared with someone of the same sex unless a whole cabin is booked.

Delivery and returns

Nothing is shipped. The logbook is a free app download, and gift cards arrive by email, either to the buyer to print or forward, or straight to the recipient at 8am on a chosen date. A gift card can be spent on any trip or course within 12 months of arriving.

Each trip's cancellation and refund terms are set by the operator running it and appear on the trip page before a deposit is taken, so they vary by trip and by how close to departure a booking is cancelled. Unused gift cards can be refunded within 14 days of purchase by emailing hello@sailties.net with the order number, but they cannot be swapped for cash. SailTies says it lists only operators it knows personally or that past customers have recommended, and only sailors who were aboard can review a trip.