Every tool here runs in your browser and shows its answer on the page. Nothing asks for an email address, and nothing is held back behind a signup. Where a result is worth keeping, there is a print button that produces a clean PDF through your browser.
These are the calculations and checklists that come up over and over in sailing: how much sail a boat carries for its weight, how much chain to let out, what a boat really costs to keep, what to put aboard before leaving the dock. Each tool shows the formula or the rule of thumb behind its answer, so you can check the working rather than trust a number from nowhere.
The Tools
- Sail Area CalculatorTotal sail area from your rig dimensions, plus the SA/D ratio and what it means when the wind is light or strong.
- Hull Speed and Passage Time CalculatorHull speed from waterline length, and what it means for arrival time at averages a cruising boat actually holds.
- Anchor Rode Scope CalculatorHow much rode to let out, measured properly from the bow roller, plus the swing circle you need around you.
- Trip Provisioning CalculatorWater and food sized to your crew, your days away and whether washing comes out of the tanks.
- What Sailboat Fits You? A Seven Question QuizSeven questions on budget, crew, home waters and maintenance, pointing at one of five boat types.
- Points of Sail Interactive DiagramTap any segment of the wheel for its wind angle, the right trim, and what the boat actually feels like there.
- Cost of Boat Ownership CalculatorInsurance, maintenance, dockage and haul-out by length and region, with annual and five year totals.
- Sailing Knots: Flashcards and QuizFlashcards and a two-way quiz on the ten knots that actually come up aboard.
- Sailing Packing List GeneratorA checklist built from your trip length, trip type and climate, with the safety gear that never drops off.
- VHF Channel and Distress Call Cheat SheetPrintable channel table with word-for-word Mayday and Pan-Pan scripts and the DSC distress procedure.
- Sailing Skill Level QuizEight questions on miles, nights at sea and emergencies, with a reading list matched to where you actually are.
How to Read the Numbers
Two kinds of answer show up in these tools, and they deserve different amounts of trust.
Some are arithmetic. Sail area from rig dimensions, scope from depth, hull speed from waterline length: measure the inputs correctly and the output is exact. The tool states the formula so you can check it by hand.
Others are estimates built on rules of thumb, and the ownership cost calculator is the clearest example. A budget figure drawn from a percentage of purchase price is a starting point for planning, not a quote. Those tools say so on the page, show the range rather than a single number, and point at the articles where the real invoice-level figures live.
Anything that could not be verified against a real source was left out rather than guessed at. Where sources genuinely disagree, the tool says which way they disagree.