A live sailing conditions dashboard covering the entire Gulf Coast — from the Texas border to the Florida Keys — with real-time wind forecasts, tide predictions, a 7-day outlook, marina mapping, and a Navigation Advisory for hurricane-affected facilities.
SailWindow is a single-page web app that runs entirely in your browser — no app store, no install. Each time you open it or tap Refresh Live Data, it fetches two live data sources:
api.weather.gov.api.tidesandcurrents.noaa.gov.V5 covers the entire Gulf Coast with 32 verified NOAA stations spanning Texas, Louisiana, Mississippi, Alabama, and Florida. It runs those datasets through a scoring model calibrated to your preferences and presents everything on one clean screen.
The large number at the top of the screen is today's Sailability Score — a single 0–10 rating that summarizes how good conditions are during the best available window.
The score is accompanied by a quality badge:
| Score | Label | Meaning |
|---|---|---|
| 9.0 – 10 | 🟢 Excellent | Prime conditions — go sailing |
| 7.0 – 8.9 | ✦ Good | Solid day — conditions comfortably in range |
| 5.0 – 6.9 | 🟡 Marginal | Sail with awareness — something is off |
| 0 – 4.9 | 🔴 No-Go | Not recommended — stay ashore |
Beneath the score, a row of reason tags gives a plain-English summary: wind range, gust status, rain chance, storm risk, and wind direction during the window.
SailWindow scans every daylight departure time (7 AM – 6 PM) in the next 24 hours of forecast that fits your Trip Duration preference, scores each block, and surfaces the best one. The departure and return times shown are the start and end of that block — if you check in the evening, the best window may fall tomorrow morning.
The window is also highlighted as a green shaded band on both the Wind and Tide charts so you can see at a glance how conditions look across the day.
Below the score card, four tiles show the key metrics measured during the best window:
Range of sustained wind speed (knots) and direction during the window. Ideal means it falls within your preferred wind range.
Peak gust during the window vs. your max-gust preference. Turns amber at "Near limit" and red at "Exceeds limit."
Whether the tide is rising or falling during the window, compared to your tide preference.
Average precipitation probability during the window. Turns amber above 30% and red if thunderstorms appear in the forecast.
The first chart shows 24 hours of hourly wind data starting from the current hour:
Tap anywhere on the chart to see the exact sustained and gust values for that hour. The note below the chart states the window start and end times.
The second chart shows the full-day tide height curve in feet above MLLW (Mean Lower Low Water), with the best window shaded in green. Tap to read the exact tide height at any hour.
Below the chart, a table lists each high and low tide event for the day with its local time and height in feet. High tides appear in teal; low tides appear in muted grey.
| Time | Height (ft) | Type |
|---|---|---|
| 6:14 AM | 2.6 ft | ↑ High |
| 12:31 PM | 0.4 ft | ↓ Low |
| 7:05 PM | 2.1 ft | ↑ High |
All times are displayed in local time as reported by NOAA.
Tap 7-Day in the bottom navigation to open the full-screen 7-day outlook. Each day card shows:
The 7-day view uses the same scoring engine and preferences as the Today view, so a day that scores green here will score green on the main screen when that day arrives.
Tap the ⚙ gear icon or the preferences row at the bottom of the dashboard to open the Preferences modal. You can set:
Tap Save & Refresh to apply the changes and immediately reload live data.
The location bar at the top shows your active marina and NOAA station. Tap Change to open the quick-chooser:
| Marina / Location | NOAA Station |
|---|---|
| Florida — Keys & SW | |
| Key West, FL | 8724580 |
| Naples, FL | 8725110 |
| Fort Myers, FL | 8725520 |
| Florida — Tampa Bay | |
| Clearwater Beach, FL | 8726724 |
| St. Petersburg, FL | 8726520 |
| Tampa — Hooker Point | 8726667 |
| Tampa — Egmont Key | 8726347 |
| Tampa — Gandy Bridge | 8726607 |
| Florida — Gulf Coast & Panhandle | |
| Cedar Key, FL | 8727520 |
| Apalachicola, FL | 8728690 |
| Panama City, FL | 8729108 |
| Pensacola, FL | 8729840 |
| Pensacola Beach Pier | 8729807 |
| Alabama | |
| Dauphin Island, AL | 8735180 |
| Mobile State Docks, AL | 8737048 |
| Mississippi | |
| Pascagoula, MS | 8741533 |
| Biloxi, MS | 8744117 |
| Bay Waveland, MS | 8747437 |
| Louisiana | |
| SW Pass, LA | 8760922 |
| Grand Isle, LA | 8761724 |
| Port Fourchon, LA | 8762075 |
| New Orleans, LA | 8761927 |
| Calcasieu Pass, LA | 8768094 |
| Texas | |
| Sabine Pass, TX | 8770570 |
| Port Arthur, TX | 8770475 |
| Galveston Pier 21, TX | 8771450 |
| Freeport, TX | 8772447 |
| Matagorda City, TX | 8773146 |
| Rockport, TX | 8774770 |
| Aransas Pass, TX | 8775241 |
| Corpus Christi, TX | 8775870 |
| Port Isabel, TX | 8779770 |
Tap the Marina tab in the bottom navigation to open the full-screen Marina view.
The view opens in full-screen list mode. A map/list toggle button (🗺) appears in the top-right of the header. Tap it to switch between the marina list and the full-screen map. Tapping Focus Map on any marina card automatically switches to the map and centers on that marina.
The view shows a side-by-side split: marina list on the left, live map on the right.
A collapsible Navigation Advisory banner appears at the top of the Marina list. It covers facilities that are technically listed as "open" but have suspended transient docking, fueling, or shore power due to hurricane damage or ongoing reconstruction.
Tap the banner to expand the full advisory. It is organized by storm event:
Marina cards for affected facilities display an ⚠ Advisory pill badge and show current status in the hours field.
For marinas not in the built-in list, open Sailing Preferences → Location → Custom GPS / NOAA Station.
Tap Feedback in the bottom navigation (the speech bubble icon) to open the feedback form. You can report:
Report a previously closed or damaged marina that has reopened for transient or general use.
Flag a marina that has newly closed or sustained damage not yet reflected in the advisory.
Correct a phone number, address, hours, or other metadata shown on a marina card.
Feature requests, bugs, or general comments about SailWindow.
Select a category, fill in the marina name and details, and tap Send Report →. Your email app opens with the report pre-filled and addressed to the SailWindow team. An optional email field lets us follow up if we need to verify the report.
When you first open SailWindow, a 7-day free trial begins automatically — no credit card required. A countdown banner at the top of the screen shows how many days remain. You have full access to all 32 Gulf Coast stations during the trial.
After the trial ends, SailWindow remains free with access to 5 Tampa Bay & Pensacola stations:
Locked stations are marked with 🔒 in the location dropdown and on marina cards. The 7-Day forecast, Custom Location, and GPS location also require an active trial or subscription.
A subscription unlocks all 32 Gulf Coast stations plus every future coast expansion (East Coast, West Coast). Plans are $5.99/month or $49/year (save 32%). Tap Upgrade → in the trial banner or select a plan in the subscribe screen — checkout opens in a new tab via Stripe. When your payment is complete, return to SailWindow and tap I've paid — Activate ✓ to unlock everything.
Each hourly period is scored on a 0–10 scale, then the best consecutive block matching your trip duration is selected.
| Factor | Effect |
|---|---|
| Wind below preferred minimum | −0.5 per kt short |
| Wind above preferred maximum | −0.6 per kt over |
| Gust spread > 7 kt over sustained | Up to −2.5 pts |
| Gusts within 3 kt of your max limit | −1.5 pts |
| Precipitation probability | −1 pt per 25% chance (max −2.8 just under the 70% no-go) |
| Tide mismatched with preference | −0.3 pts |
| Tide matched with preference | +0.5 pts |
For each candidate departure time, the app averages hourly scores across the full duration and also considers the minimum score in that block (70/30 weighted blend). This guards against windows that look good on average but contain one dangerously bad hour.
Tap the ↻ Refresh button at the bottom of the main screen, or the circular arrow icon in the top bar. NWS updates its hourly forecast grids roughly every hour. Weather data is always fetched live; marina map data is cached for 24 hours.
Tap the moon/sun icon in the top-right corner to toggle between dark and light themes. Your preference is saved automatically. Note: the Navigation Advisory uses high-contrast colors in both modes for legibility in bright sunlight.