Why I built Rhumb

I am a Yachtmaster Offshore, and I sail. Every time I helped someone new to the water set up a chart app, the same thing happened. They opened it and could not find the chart. There were menus, layers, chart downloads, and an account to make first. These apps are built for professionals, and they cost £40 to £150 a year. For someone who is still learning, that is too much app and too much money.

I wanted an app that opens to the chart and works. It does the few things a coastal skipper actually needs, does them correctly, and stays out of the way. That is Rhumb.

The decisions behind it

Doing less is a choice, and I made it on purpose. The chart is the hero, and everything else is small and pinned to the edges. I make the default decisions so you do not have to hunt through settings. Rhumb uses the standard controls your phone already gives you, and it is north-up always, so the chart never rotates while your boat and your course do. It uses the correct terms too: course over ground, speed over ground, °True, and nautical miles, the same words your instructor uses. Being right is how Rhumb teaches, quietly and by example.

What I promise

Because I built this for people who are learning, some things matter to me more than growth. These are the promises I keep.

• The essentials stay free. The chart, seamarks, your position, course and speed, dividers, and markers cost nothing, and they stay that way.
• You start without an account. Open Rhumb and you are on the chart.
• The paid tier plays fair. It is priced to undercut the professional apps, and cancelling takes one tap in your app store account. I do not use trial traps or fake urgency.
• Honest about safety. Rhumb is an aid for recreational planning. It does not replace official charts or safe navigation practice, and I will never claim it does.
• Native on iOS and Android. Each platform gets its own native app, built to be as reliable and as battery-efficient as is technically possible. Out on the water, a frozen app or a flat battery is a real problem, so this is worth the extra work.
• Works on older phones. I keep the supported iOS and Android versions as low as is reasonably possible, so you do not need a new phone to use Rhumb.
• Offline is the bar I hold the paid tier to. Out on the water there is often no signal, so I want every paid feature to work with no connection. Offline charts are in development.

If this is the app you have been looking for, I would be glad to have you aboard.

— Ivan Kuznetsov
Rhumb Founder
Yachtmaster Offshore