About Us - Meet the Team Behind the Global Sailing App
Hello from Tom and Chris, two UK sailors / Software Engineers & Product Designers 👋. We are the co-founders of SailTies.
Meet the sailors behind SailTies
We're a small team of sailors, designers, and developers who believe the best moments on the water deserve to be shared.
SailTies began after co-founders Tom and Chris discovered their love for Sailing. They met while working in tech, both dreaming of skippering their own adventures around the Mediterranean. After completing their Day Skipper course together and exploring the crystal-clear waters of Greece, they realised that every voyage tells a story worth keeping.
During a once-in-a-lifetime passage through Ithaca and Kefalonia in the Ionian Sea, they came home with only a few notes in a paper logbook. The experience was unforgettable, but the record of their trip was underwhelming. They wanted something better, a way to capture the full story: the miles, the moments, and the memories that make sailing so special.
So, they built it.
SailTies is a digital sailing log and global sailing network where crews can record voyages, relive them, and connect with others who share the same passion.
Today, tens of thousands of sailors across 185+ countries use SailTies to track over 11 Million nautical miles and counting.
Our mission
Our mission is simple: “Make it easier to go boating more often.”
Sailing connects us to nature, to each other, and to the sea itself. But for too long, it’s been a world that feels closed-off and complicated to enter.
Finding opportunities to sail often means scrolling through Facebook groups, walking the dock or spending hours online and recording your experience still means scribbling in a paper logbook.
We believe that should change. SailTies exists to make sailing open, social, and seamless. We’re building tools that make it effortless to:
- Track, share, and relive every voyage.
- Join the world’s largest connected sailing network.
- Showcase your experience through a verified digital logbook.
- Find crew and join voyages to get more time on the water.
Because every trip, from a weekend hop to a bluewater crossing, is an experience that deserves to be tracked, celebrated, and shared. SailTies lets you log it, relive it, and get on the water more often.
Why we built SailTies
It was hard to go sailing as often as we wanted.
After finishing our first sailing courses, we found ourselves in a strange gap: qualified, keen to sail, and yet struggling to get on the water.
Finding reliable crew took too much time. Paper logbooks didn’t help and GPS trackers only told part of the story.
Plus we wanted to relive the moments that mattered:
- Our first trip skippering our friends in Greece and that first pod of dolphins that surprised us at sunset.
- Losing our Achor 🙈.
- Our first night sail across the Solent.
- Sailing around Bristol Harbour in our leaky Albacore dinghy, Rosey.
SailTies lets you log real data and the story behind it. For your sailing record, for your crew, and for yourself.
Our timeline
- 2020 - Tom & Chris start building a SailTies prototype in their evenings and weekends after their first trip sailing in the Med.
- 2021 - Chris takes a beta build through its paces over many thousands of miles on yacht deliveries. Tom is in Bristol fixing bugs and making improvements, wishing he was sailing too. MVP launched on iOS. Early adopters log 100k+ nautical miles.
- 2022 - SailTies recommended as the way to record your sailing experience with partners International Yacht Training (IYT) and NauticEd.
- 2023 - 45k voyages and 10k Sailors using SailTies. Sail Canada partnership launched.
- 2024 - Launch of SailTies Plus (premium features). The app hits 20k sailors.
- 2025 - Strong support from the boating industry, Launch of Crew Match, 30k+ users and over 11M miles logged!
Our crew
We’re a small team with big passion, and we use our own product every week.
Tom, Sailor & Co-founder
Over 2,500 nautical miles sailed across the Med and UK. Skippered friends and family around Greece, Italy, Croatia and Turkey. Passionate about making sailing more accessible to all. 15+ years building mobile apps for the Met Office, UBS, and Cookpad (50M users). Led iOS, Android, and Web teams before founding SailTies. https://sailties.net/u/tg
Chris, Sailor & Co-founder
Growing up on boats with his grandparents, Chris has now sailed over 4,000 miles. Including the Med, the Caribbean and yacht deliveries across the Bay of Biscay and the Irish Sea. Former Facebook design engineer and lead designer at Cookpad. Blends product design and engineering to craft simple, elegant experiences for sailors. https://sailties.net/u/chris
Mike Pickering, Sailor, Head of Commercial Trips
Sails over 300 days in a year. Loves sailing, loves people and uses both of these talents to discover and curate amazing experiences on the water from first time sailors to the salty old sea dog looking to try something new. Former co-founder of Kraken Travel. https://sailties.net/u/mike
Tabbie, Marketing Executive
Loves the outdoors and is passionate about marketing. An amazing creative eye and a drive to succeed.
Keata, Marketing Lead & Aspiring Sailor
Growing up on the east coast of South Africa, Keata has always lived for the ocean, any excuse to be near the water, she’ll take it. With over 25 years of experience helping businesses of all sizes grow through a deep understanding of their customers’ needs and motivations, she brings both strategic thinking and creative flair to the SailTies crew. Now, she’s thrilled to combine her lifelong love of the sea with a brand that helps more people get out and enjoy it, and maybe even take the helm herself soon.
Where we're going next
We’re building the world’s largest connected sailing network — one that makes going boating as effortless as booking cinema tickets.
With SailTies you can already:
- Track: Seamlessly record your voyages, certificates, and stats.
- Share: Bring sailing stories to life with photos, videos, and maps.
- Match: Find sailing opportunities instantly with Crew Match
We are now working hard to build:
- Experiences : Easily get on the water in a few taps with paid boating experiences. From courses with schools to adventures across the Atlantic.
- Explore / Connect: Discover, connect and be inspired by the sailors and voyages in the places where you want to get on the water.
And this is just the beginning.
Now that our foundation is in place, we’re focused on making every part of SailTies even better from tracking to groups, guided by continuous feedback from the sailors who use it every week.
Global Reach
SailTies is used by thousands of sailors across the world.
11 million+
Nautical Miles Logged
100,000+
Voyages Recorded
35,000+
Active, real sailors
185
Countries Represented
We’re growing fast because sailors everywhere want a better way to log, relive, and share what happens on the water.
Verified reviews for SailTies:
⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️
Goodbye Paper Logbook
“Say goodbye to the paper logbook - SailTies has everything in one place!”
Liam, United Kingdom 🇬🇧
⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️
Recording round the world
“SailTies is perfect for tracking my trips as I am circumnavigating the world! It is perfect 😍”
Cami, New Zealand 🇳🇿
⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️
Works perfectly!
“I put all my sailing on it, racing, cruising, dinghies, it works perfectly!”
Duncan, Canada 🇨🇦
⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️
Share all my sailing
“I love that you can add everyone you have sailed with on the trip and then share it with family and friends!”
Becca, USA 🇺🇸
⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️
Strava for Sailing
“Like Strava for sailing, this digital logbook is great making sharing my sailing easy”
Mike, Barbados 🇧🇧
Trusted by the sailing community
SailTies is endorsed by governing bodies such as Sail Canada, International Yacht Training and NauticEd, who recommend SailTies to their members as the best way to record and share their sailing history.
Sail Canada
Governing body of sailing in Canada, recommends SailTies to all members as the best way to record and share their sailing history.
International Yacht Training
Recommend SailTies as the preferred option for recording your sailing, and use the SailTies platform to distribute their digital certificates.
NauticEd
Use SailTies apps as the way for students to record their voyages, and as a digital wallet for their certificates.
Boatfolk Marinas
Use SailTies to grow their communities, by sharing boating with fellow berth holders and making crew matching easier.
FAQs
What is SailTies?
SailTies is the modern version of a sailor's paper logbook. We are the only platform where you can capture all your voyages and sailing qualifications, to create a full sailor CV! As well as a CV, you can create rich memories of voyages by adding photos and logs to the map and even collaborate with the other crew aboard.
How do I add my past history to SailTies to create a CV?
There are 4 ways to add sailing to your SailTies profile. Recording via GPS in the app, importing a GPX file, drawing manually on a map, and filling out a form (which can also be used for bulk entries). Your stats are generated automatically from these voyages and added to your Sailor CV!
Who can see my sailing on SailTies?
Privacy is very important to us. Every crew member can choose their own privacy on a voyage. If you want to remain private - that is totally fine. When you add certificates to your profile, only you can see the certificate photo and the certificate number.
Does SailTies use a lot of battery?
Nope! We have optimised the GPS tracking feature to use minimal battery usage. Sailors have recorded ocean crossings without reporting any problems. However, it obviously uses more battery than if you weren't recording. The best advice is to keep the phone locked when underway, as it is the screen that uses the most battery.
I already use another app to record my sailing, will SailTies work with it?
You can import GPX files from other apps, such as Navionics, to your SailTies logbook. We recommend only having one app open at a time that is actively recording a GPS track.
How much does SailTies cost?
SailTies is completely free! SailTies Plus is an optional subscription to get even more value from your voyages, including automatic weather data, voyage collections and adding videos to voyages.
Who makes SailTies?
SailTies is created by two UK sailors, Chris and Tom. We are a designer and developer, who previously worked at companies Facebook and Cookpad, but our passion for sailing led to us creating SailTies. We are a small, lean team and we are working tirelessly to make the best app for sailors.
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