Say what it cannot do
Every port page publishes its error. When the weather will matter, the app says so on the day.
About
Made in a harbour office, above the tide gauge.
Wrackline started in 2019 as a spreadsheet for our own sailing club at Ossett Head. It now runs on the phones of sailors, anglers, surfers and walkers along the whole coast.
- building tide software on this coast
- 7 years
- building tide software on this coast
- two developers, one hydrographer, one on the duty phone
- 4 people
- two developers, one hydrographer, one on the duty phone
- longest wait for a reply from support
- 1 day
- longest wait for a reply from support
Why another tide app?
The club’s printed tide table was right about the moon and silent about everything else. After a winter when three boats touched the bar on "safe" tides, we started logging the harbour gauge against the table and publishing the difference on the noticeboard.
People read the difference more than the table. That became the idea: a prediction that tells you how good it is, port by port, and warns you on the days the weather will push it off.
The app still does one thing. It tells you where the water will be. It does not sell your location, it does not show adverts, and the person who answers the duty phone has sailed the bar you are asking about.
Three rules we build by
Nothing leaves the phone
No account, no location tracking, no advertising IDs. The business is the subscription, not you.
Answer the phone
The duty phone is answered from six in the morning until ten at night, by someone who knows the tide.