I recently wrote that, displeased with some of iNavX’s policies, I was going to use iSailor. I have both apps on my phone and iPads—in addition to the new Pro, I have an old iPad mini. No sooner had I said that than iSailor screwed up.
I learned of this when I went to their in-app chart store and found a blank world map showing no folios, which is what they call regions. After futilely trying on successive days, I emailed iSailor support. I received an unuseful response. So I emailed back and was told to check to see if I had the current version, which is 1.11.0. I did not. So I went to the App Store which initially indicated I had the current version, but when I clicked enough showed an ‘update’ button. I updated. Note that an update for iSailor had not appeared in the App Store notifications. It still hasn’t.
During this exercise I learned that iSailor was bought earlier this year by a firm which has immodestly appended its name to the app and in an attempt to increase revenue will no longer provide updates free after one year. They now have the same ‘subscription’ model as iNavX.
Beyond that, though I have not seen this written as policy and it may just be a bug in their update, I have not been able to download the chart folios I just bought on my iPad to my iPhone.
Those folios were of the west coast of the US in case I decide to sail to Hawaii and Washington.
To cover the west coast of the US in iSailor requires two folios, with a third if you want coverage to Seattle, Washington. In iNavX you get the entire US with one purchase.
If you only sail a single region, as I expect most sailors do, iSailor may be more economical, but I once calculated that the charts for GANNET’s voyage would have cost several hundred dollars more from iSailor than iNavX.
Both apps do the job. I started with iNavX and didn’t learn of iSailor until Durban, South Africa. I don’t know which will be my primary going forward. I am irritated with the restrictive policies of both.
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Several of you have emailed me about the young woman who capsized in the Southern Ocean and was just rescued. I don’t follow these races, but I had read of her at Sailing Anarchy and in THE GUARDIAN.
I have no comment.
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Larry sent me several quotes from Winston Churchill, for which I thank him. They are all good. My favorite:
The best argument against democracy is a five minute conversation with the average voter.
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Tomorrow I make my reservation to fly to GANNET.
