You looked weeks ahead: Saturday was showing 25 knots.
"Let's cancel," you said.
Saturday came — flat calm.
We should have
gone.Or: glad we didn't.
Other apps show only the latest forecast. But a forecast is not a fixed thing — it changes as the target date approaches. Windtrack doesn't just show the forecast; for the date you choose, it tracks how the forecast changes over time, analyses it, compares it with past years and presents it as a clear report. Know the wind before you sail.
A sample track. The models start scattered between 9 and 26 knots; as the target approaches they converge around 19 knots. The narrower the spread, the more the forecast can be trusted.
How it works
Most sailors — charter crews especially — plan a passage weeks ahead. The dates are fixed from the start; the weather only comes into focus as it approaches. That is exactly the gap where Windtrack comes in.
Choose your point and time
Pick your departure point, or a bay along your route, on the map; set the day and hour. The system creates four more satellite points about 20 nautical miles north, south, east and west of your point, so you also see how the wind behaves across the area.
Windtrack keeps watch for you
Five global models — ECMWF, ICON, GFS, Météo-France and UKMO — are queried four times a day for the point and time you choose. No update is ever deleted; you see which way the forecast is drifting and whether the models are coming together.
The change is analysed for you
AI turns all the data gathered into plain sailor's language: a short skipper's comment — in Turkish, English, German, Russian and Greek.
Notifications for important changes
If the forecast for your tracked point changes significantly, your phone lets you know. The comment is prepared before the notification is sent, so it is waiting when you open it.
The gap between models: "spread"
What Windtrack tracks is spread: the gap between the highest and the lowest model in the same update. Windtrack doesn't tell you "18 knots on Saturday"; it says "five models are converging around 18 knots and haven't changed their minds for three days". That is a data-driven answer to "go or no go".
In a sailor's language, without deciding for you
Everything gathered — trend, spread, direction stability, spatial pattern, POSEIDON, past years — is handed to the AI as structured data and turned into a short skipper's comment. What follows is not invented; it is what the system produced for a real tracked point:
This forecast has been rock solid: all five models have sat in the "agreed" band through every one of the ten updates we've tracked — the strongest confidence signal this tool gives. Latest average is 16.5 kt from the N, gusting around 20.8 kt, spread just 2.1 kt, and direction is locked into a tight 22° arc between N and NNE.
For this date and spot, that's slightly above the usual — typical is around 13.8 kt — but well within what past years have delivered here. Nothing unusual.
The striking feature is spatial: 20 miles east the wind drops to 10.3 kt, while north (18.6 kt), west and south all hold 17+ kt. The eastern sector is a clearly softer zone; your target point sits on the windier side of that divide.
POSEIDON's high-resolution view backs it up at 15.2 kt.
Hour by hour, 09:00 is unremarkable — the day builds to its peak of 18.2 kt around 17:00, and 06:00 is the calmest at 14.4 kt. Shifting your time there earlier buys you a slightly quieter picture; later afternoon is the firmest.
Real system comment · 18 hours to target
Historical context: "Is this wind normal?"
"14 knots on Saturday, 6 knots between the models." Is that good or bad? The answer doesn't come from the forecast alone; you need to know what normal looks like for that place on that date. At points covered by POSEIDON, the forecast is compared against the same location's past five years within the same date window. Inside the historical band it is ordinary seasonal variation; past the top 10% of the record it really is unusual — and it will be said so.
With you at sea, too
Offline access
Even out of coverage, the latest forecasts, charts and comments open. Every item shows when it was fetched, so stale data never fools you.
Station Data
See live measurements from the observation stations nearest your point side by side with the forecast. The station's distance in miles is always shown.
High resolution
For points in the Mediterranean and the Black Sea, the 5 km Greek POSEIDON model comes in three days before the target — it can resolve channel funnelling and lee shadows.
Spatial pattern
The centre and the four satellite points are read together: if your bay has 16 knots while the wind drops 20 miles to the east, the comment tells you so.
Widgets, Apple Watch and CarPlay
Home Screen and Lock Screen widgets, the Apple Watch app and complications, and CarPlay show your tracked point's average wind, direction and gusts at a glance. Widgets refresh automatically as forecasts update. A Premium feature. Widgets and Apple Watch require iOS 26 and watchOS 26.
Why it can be trusted
First-rate sources
The data comes from the world's reference global models (ECMWF chief among them) and from HCMR's operational POSEIDON model. Actual measurements from observation stations are collected and compared with the forecasts on the same convention.
Maths that follows seamanship
Wind direction is a circular quantity; the average of 350° and 010° is not 180°. Everywhere in the system a vector mean and circular spread are used — in the Aegean, where the meltemi swings around 0°, that detail is the difference between "the models are scattered" and "the models agree on northerly".
Thresholds are not left to the AI
Judgements like "is the spread narrowing, is the pressure falling" are computed by the system; the AI only puts them into words. If the data is thin, no comment is made; if it is uncertain, it says "uncertain". No "no risk" assurance is ever given for something unknown.
It states its limits
Windtrack does not run its own weather model; it watches the existing forecasts — and all five models can be wrong together. The historical archive is model output; there is no wave or current data yet. A system that does not hide these is easier to trust.
The difference, briefly
| Other forecast apps | Windtrack |
|---|---|
| The latest forecast at this moment | How the forecast changes over time and what that means |
| A single model or a single map | Five global models and POSEIDON: agreement and divergence |
| A single point | Centre + 4 satellites for the structure of the wind field |
| Numbers without context | Compared against 5 years of history for the same place and date |
| You stop checking | Checks four times a day in your place — and deletes nothing |
Premium
You can start using Windtrack for free. With Premium, your tracking goes further:
With Premium
- Unlimited new points
- 3 tracking points at once
- Forecasts up to 15 days ahead
- Points stay open indefinitely
- Detailed point analysis and captain commentary
- Station data and archive
- Widgets, Apple Watch and CarPlay (iPhone)
- Use on computer and tablet
Premium is started from inside the app, through the App Store or Google Play. Sign in within seconds with your Google or Apple account.
Who is it for?
Windtrack was built for skippers sailing the Mediterranean and the Aegean, by a skipper, and is in active use by sailors in these waters. Available on the App Store and Google Play for iPhone and Android.
Questions and suggestions: info@windtrack.tr