GoAstern Games
Navigation and Seamanship
QAR 2.99 · Designed for iPad. Not verified for macOS.
Drill the seamanship skills every sailor is supposed to know — and most of us forget between certificates. Built for RYA Day Skipper and Yachtmaster candidates, Sea Cadets, and anyone who wants the basics back at their fingertips before the next passage.
WHAT'S INSIDE
Visual & audio signals
• Morse code — ITU letters and digits, audio playback at 5–20 WPM, screen-flash and Aldis-lamp torch mode, microphone-based live decode
• Semaphore — 8-position arm code, A–Z plus the J-prefix numerals
• ICS maritime flags — letter flags and numeric pennants, full operational meanings (Oscar = man overboard, NC = distress, AB = need a tug urgently)
• NATO phonetic — A–Z plus 0–9 with audio review and confusion drills
Watch-keeping
• Nav lights — fourteen vessel types × four aspects (head-on, stern, both beams), fog-signal audio playback, Rule 21 arcs-of-visibility diagram
• Day shapes — IRPCS Rules 24–30 black-silhouette signals
• IALA buoyage — cardinal, lateral, isolated-danger, safe-water, special, and emergency-wreck marks. Region A / B switch
• IRPCS — twenty animated give-way scenarios covering Rules 9–18
Navigation
• Chartwork — DR / EP / CTS, water and ground vectors, tidal triangles, fix and waypoint symbols
• Tides — heights diagram, rule of twelfths and sinusoidal calculators, secondary-port corrections, time-at-height with a live tidal curve
• Pilotage — transits, leading lines, danger bearings with a live NLT/NMT calculator, harbour-entry pre-flight, IPTS port traffic signals
• GPS literacy — datums, COG/SOG/CTS, DOP, eight failure modes and how to spot them
Safety
• Mayday + DSC — interactive script builder for the Channel 16 voice call
• Distress signals — IRPCS Annex IV non-flag signals (flares, EPIRB, SART, dye, arms-wave)
• MOB recovery — six animated manoeuvres (figure-eight, beam-reach return, Williamson, Anderson, Scharnow, quick-stop)
• Pre-departure check — 44-item interactive checklist with progress saved across sessions
Seamanship
• Knots — the eight RYA knots with step-by-step tying
• Anchoring — anchor types, holding ground, scope, kedge use cases, setting and weighing procedure
• Met Office weather — shipping-forecast terminology, forward and reverse drills
HOW YOU USE IT
Three areas: Games, Drills, and Reference.
Games — flashcards with spaced repetition, beat-the-clock timed rounds, a mixed-exam mode that draws from every module, and Soundings — a battleships × minesweeper hybrid where you hunt a hidden fleet using IALA cardinal-mark clues. Two-player Bluetooth Hangman and Soundings for paired phones in range.
Drills — procedural exercises with no scoring. Run through the MOB manoeuvres or work the pre-departure checklist before each passage.
Reference — single-page lookup for every catalogue in the app. Pull it up at the chart table when you need to remember what a flag means at a glance. An in-game reference drawer opens with one tap from any game so you can check without losing your place.
PRIVACY
Progress and entitlement data are stored locally on the device. Sign-in is optional and uses a passwordless magic-link, Apple, or Google. No tracking, no ads.
Ratings & Reviews
- This app has not received enough ratings or reviews to display an overview.
v1.5.0 — RYA syllabus expansion
Major content release covering Competent Crew through Yachtmaster
Ocean, plus the Dinghy and Powerboat schemes.
New modules
- Sailing — yacht / dinghy / powerboat anatomy (57 labelled parts
across four views), manoeuvres, points of sail, advanced
techniques.
- Safety — flares (inshore / coastal / offshore + safety drill),
first-aid kit categories A-D matched to voyage scope, liferaft,
EPIRB / PLB, lifejackets, capsize recovery.
- Engine — diesel pre-start / start / shutdown, troubleshooting
tree, outboard maintenance, kill-cord drill.
- Powerboat handling — hull modes, trim, sea handling, stopping
distances, turning.
- Passage planning — eight-stage workflow, tidal gates,
contingency triggers.
- Tender handling — types, painters, towing, boarding, davits.
- Mnemonics drill — CADET, WOBBLE, Five Essentials, Rule of
Twelfths, Buys Ballot's Law and more, with reference cards plus
a quick-fire drill.
Expanded coverage
- Heavy weather + tropical revolving storm avoidance.
- VHF + SRC channel reference and MMSI decoder.
- Synoptic weather and shipping-forecast structure.
- Rope splices, three-point fix, IALA Regions A and B.
- IRPCS Rules 25, 32, 33, 36 and 37.
- Anchoring techniques, secondary-port calculator, provisioning
calculator.
- Chart anatomy and a reading-the-diagrams legend.
The developer, Mark Olliver, indicated that the app’s privacy practices may include handling of data as described below. For more information, see the developer’s privacy policy .
Data Linked to You
The following data may be collected and linked to your identity:
- Contact Info
- Identifiers
- Usage Data
- Diagnostics
Accessibility
The developer has not yet indicated which accessibility features this app supports. Learn More
Information
- Provider
- Mark Olliver
- Size
- 15.4 MB
- Category
- Education
- Compatibility
Requires iOS 16.0 or later.
- iPhone
Requires iOS 16.0 or later. - iPad
Requires iPadOS 16.0 or later. - Mac
Requires macOS 13.0 or later and a Mac with Apple M1 chip or later.
- iPhone
- Languages
- English
- Age Rating
4+
- 4+
- Contains
Messaging and Chat
- Copyright
- © M Olliver

