Your Passage Planner. Bridges, Weather, Docks & Food.
Real-time NOAA weather, drawbridge intelligence, 80+ marinas,
restaurant finder, 7-day trends, and a Cruiser’s Log —
all in one app for the Gulf Intracoastal Waterway.
Window Go/No-Go
48 Bridges VHF · Clearance
80+ Marinas + GPS
Dining 3-mile radius
7-Day Forecast
Cruiser’s Log
NOAA WeatherStripe SecureCloudflare FastBuilt with Claude
Sailing Window
Instant Go/No-Go for AM, noon, or evening.
NOAA-powered
48 Drawbridges
Name · VHF channel · Clearance · Hours.
VHF 9 & 13
80+ Marinas
Port Aransas to Cape Canaveral + GPS.
Pre-loaded
Dining Nearby
Restaurants within 3 miles of any marina.
Walking distance
7-Day Forecast
Spot weather patterns before you commit.
NOAA trends
Cruiser’s Log
Log trips, rate marinas, share bridge tips.
Community
$5.99 / monthor $49/year 7-day trial
Coming Next + Great Lakes Edition + Mississippi Edition
The Backstory
Four longtime friends have sailed the Gulf with boat owner Captain Jim for decades.
Together, they built careers in television journalism and documentary production. All four are Emmy winners. One is also a Peabody recipient, and their documentary work earned Telly Awards. Along the way, they covered wars, hurricanes, fires, riots, elections, the World Series, and the Olympic Games—traveling the world to tell important stories.
They have told a lot of stories—and they still have plenty of stories to tell.
Russ, the crew’s cook — designed the app and named it for his friend Jim, the captain who always brought them home safely. Without Russ, the menu was usually reduced to “beanie weenies.”
Powered by Data. Guided by Judgment.
Ask Captain Jim is grounded in official marine-weather data and science. But weather can be unpredictable, local conditions can change quickly, and sailing always carries risk.
Use the app as one source of information—not as a substitute for experience, judgment, or official marine warnings.
Ask Captain Jim V8.0 — Gulf Coast Edition. Fetches live hourly wind forecasts from NWS and tide predictions from NOAA Tides & Currents, scores every possible time block against your preferences, and shows the best sailing window for today. Covers 35 verified NOAA stations from Port Isabel, TX to Key West, FL. No login required — preferences are saved in your browser.
New visitors get a free 7-day trial; the banner at the top shows how many days are left. Tap Upgrade to subscribe, or Restore access on the welcome screen if you already subscribe on another device.
Sailability Score
The large number (0–10) rates conditions during the best available window. The colour badge describes it in plain English:
🟢 Excellent9–10 · Prime conditions, go sailing
✦ Good7–8.9 · Solid day, comfortably in range
🟡 Marginal5–6.9 · Sail with awareness
🔴 No-Go0–4.9 · Stay ashore
The reason tags below the score summarise wind, gusts, rain, storm risk, and wind direction during the window.
Best Sailing Window
Ask Captain Jim scans all daylight blocks (7 AM – 6 PM) matching your Trip Duration, scores each, and shows the best departure and return time. A green shaded band on both the Wind and Tide charts marks the same window visually.
Conditions Panel
Four tiles show key metrics measured during the best window:
💨 Wind
Speed range (kt) + direction. Ideal = inside your preferred range.
⚡ Gusts
Peak gust vs. your limit. Amber = near limit. Red = exceeds limit.
🌊 Tide
Favorable = tide direction matches your preference (or you chose Any).
⛈ Storm Risk
Average rain probability. Red if thunderstorms appear in the forecast.
Wind & Tide Charts
Wind chart — 24-hour hourly view. Teal = sustained wind (kt), amber dashed = gusts, green band = best window. Tap to read exact values for any hour.
Tide chart — full-day tide curve in feet MLLW, best window shaded. The Tide Events table below it lists each high/low with local time and height.
7-Day Forecast
Tap 7-Day in the bottom nav to see a full week of sailability scores and best windows, powered by the ECMWF IFS model via Open-Meteo — a high-resolution European forecast model well-suited for Gulf Coast marine conditions.
Sailing Preferences
Open the settings sheet to adjust:
Boat Type— Mono, Cat, Tri or Beach Cat. Multihulls don't heel to warn you of a gust, so for them a big gap between steady wind and gusts lowers the score more. Beach Cat also suggests gentler wind limits. Boat Type also sets how much choppy seas lower the score, and the Wind Map colours.
Wind Min / Max (kt)— ideal sustained range. Hours outside it are penalised.
Max Gust (kt)— any hour above this scores 0 (automatic no-go).
Duration (hrs)— length of your sail (1–12 hrs, in half-hour steps). Sets the window width searched.
Tide Preference— Any, Incoming (flood), or Outgoing (ebb). Matching hours get a small scoring bonus.
Tap Save & Refresh to apply and reload live data immediately.
Location & Marina Map
Tap Change on the location bar to use device GPS, pick from 32 Gulf Coast marinas (Florida Keys → Tampa Bay → Panhandle → Alabama → Mississippi → Louisiana → Texas), or open the Marina Map. Tap 🏠 Save current location as Home Dock and a one-tap Home Dock button appears at the top of the chooser. For unlisted spots use Preferences → Custom GPS / NOAA Station, or Current Location (boat at sea).
The Marina tab shows a searchable list and interactive map. On phones, tap the 🗺 icon to toggle between the list and the map. Pick a marina to see its fuel dock, places to eat ashore and dining nearby (with Google Maps links), plus the drawbridges nearby with their opening schedules and VHF hail. Marina data is cached for 24 hours — the map loads instantly on return visits.
Cruiser's Log
Tap Log in the bottom nav to open the Cruiser's Log. Log your departure and destination and the bridges you passed, tick the categories that apply (Docking / Marina, Restaurants / Ashore, Hazards & Cautions, General), note your longest bridge wait, rate the destination marina (1–5 stars), mark it 👍 Good Stuff or 👎 Bad Stuff, and add notes for fellow cruisers. Tap Log This Trip to share it.
Recent Crew Logs, below the form, shows entries from other sailors, grouped by marina — a picture of conditions, bridge delays, and anchorage tips along the route. New entries are reviewed before they appear, so yours may take a little while to show up.
Bridge Schedules
From inside the Cruiser's Log, tap Schedules in the top bar to open the ICW Bridge Schedules reference. It covers 48 drawbridges: 11 on the Florida Gulf ICW (33 CFR 117.287), 23 on the Florida Atlantic ICW (33 CFR 117.261), 4 in the Florida Panhandle, and 10 in Texas, Louisiana, Mississippi and Alabama.
Filter by waterway (FL Gulf ICW, FL Atlantic ICW, FL Panhandle, TX / LA / AL) or search by name, city, or mile marker. Tap any bridge card to expand its opening schedule and CFR citation.
Schedules are based on published 33 CFR regulations. Always verify current restrictions with local USCG notices before transiting — special events, maintenance, and emergency orders can override posted times.
Wind Map
Tap Wind in the bottom nav for three days of wind, gusts and waves across the coast. It opens on your chosen location. Switch layers with Wind / Gusts / Waves, press ▶ to play the next 72 hours, or drag the slider to an hour. Moving streaks show the wind; longer streaks mean stronger wind.
Colours follow your Sailing Preferences and Boat Type: green is your range, red is over your limit. For a cat, tri or beach cat the Waves layer shows sea state, flagging short, steep chop that slams a bridgedeck. Tap any spot on the water for exact wind, gusts, wave height and how often the waves come. Tap the colour key to fold it away.
Captain's Brief
News that affects boaters: bridge and channel work, rule changes, marina deals, boat shows and festivals, checked by hand before it appears. The Today screen shows the top items within 50 mi, Safety first. Tap Brief in the bottom nav for everything near you, or the whole Gulf. Always confirm Safety items with the current USCG Local Notice to Mariners.
Feedback
Tap Send Feedback below to report a marina that has reopened, newly closed, has wrong contact info, or to share app ideas. Select a category, add details, and tap Send — your email app opens with the report pre-filled.
How the Score is Calculated
Each hour starts at 10. Hard disqualifiers drop it to 0: wind below 4 kt or above 26 kt, gusts over your max, rain ≥ 70%, or thunderstorms in the forecast. Otherwise points are deducted for wind outside your preferred range, gusty spread, choppy seas (more for multihulls, and a beach cat is a no-go in 4 ft seas), rain probability, and mismatched tide direction. Wave data is for the nearest open water, so a sheltered bay may be calmer. The best block is selected using a 70/30 blend of average and minimum score, so one dangerous hour can't hide inside an otherwise good window.
Troubleshooting
Data won't load
Check your internet connection. NWS occasionally returns 500 errors — wait a minute and tap Refresh Live Data.
Score seems too low
Check your wind range — a narrow range penalises most days. Also verify the correct location is active.
GPS not working
Allow location access in your browser settings. GPS auto-selects the nearest of the 35 built-in NOAA stations — full Gulf Coast coverage from Port Isabel, TX to Key West, FL.
Using Starlink underway?
Starlink Roam plans work while you're moving, within 12 nautical miles of shore. Farther out, Starlink switches to Ocean Mode, which is billed per GB on top of your plan. Check current rates in your Starlink app before an offshore passage. Ask Captain Jim uses very little data, but streaming video aboard adds up fast.
