DeckVakt
In development
For offshore passages
Fair watch rota app for offshore sailing crews
You plan the passage. We stand the watch with you. A fair rota, then the phones run it — alarms, standing orders, the log. Plus the bits nobody talks about: navigation help, anchor watch, the fairness numbers.
Coming soon to
App Store
and
Google Play
App Store
and
Google Play
iPhone and Android apps
No signal
MLC rest records
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What you are actually fixing
Fairness is not something you can eyeball
Ten days of an Atlantic crossing, six crew in rotation. Each square is one night: the darker it is, the more of that person's watch fell between seven in the evening and seven in the morning.
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fairness
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Total
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How the score is reached
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Starting from 100
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Night hours in that watch
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Four taps, then it runs itself
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Those four taps are on the phone. The whole system — rota, alarms, board and log — is usable on iPhone and Android.
The desk
Analytics, navigation, a wide screen
Fairness, rest hours, sleep debt, system comparison, navigation help, anchor watch — included, nothing extra to buy. The phones still stand the watch. The desk is the wide screen in the marina when you want it laid out.
Desk · Swedish rota, Las Palmas → St Lucia
We built it for our own watches
We have been running our own passages on it for years. We have already made the mistakes. You will not invent a new one at three in the morning. We are now letting other skippers on.
Built for us
We already got it wrong on our own boat. This is the board that survived that.
Why we built it ›
Broken on our own crossings
Clock changes that lied, a crew off at 02:00, the phone that drowned. We have already stood those nights.
The crossings ›
Opening it to other skippers
The waitlist is how other crews get the same board — the one we already cut ourselves on.
Get on the list ›
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Quotes are anonymised from skippers who stood the watches on pre-release builds. Names and boats are withheld; the watches were real. About those passages.
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The board is the whole app once you are at sea
Ship's time in numbers you can read half asleep. Who is on, who is next, how long you have. Your standing orders at the top, so nobody has to decide alone whether this is worth waking you for.
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App preview
The rota is safety equipment
Five watch systems, and the arithmetic to choose between them
Pick a system and DeckVakt projects ten days of sleep debt for every crew member — so you can see who comes off worst before you leave the marina.
Pick a watch system
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Selected
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Sleep debt · day ten
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Selected system sleep debt
Baseline sleep debt
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Day 1
Day 10
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A tired watch misses the ship on the horizon, clips on late, and decides on its own not to wake you. Fatigue sits behind a large share of what goes wrong offshore — and unlike weather, it is the one hazard you get to design out in the marina, for nothing, before you leave.
Swedish, four-on-four-off with dog watches, 6-6-4-4-4, staggered pairs, or your own shape. DeckVakt names whoever comes off worst and holds a six-hour sleep block for everybody — so nobody arrives at the far side of the ocean impaired.
10 h
of debt is the gap between the best and worst system for the same crew
The paperwork writes itself
Handover notes, watch acknowledgements, sights and fixes are dated the moment they happen. At the other end they are a deck log, a rest-hours record and a card for every crew member — with nobody writing anything twice.
47
entries by day three,
none of them typed twice
none of them typed twice
Deck log
Las Palmas → St Lucia · p.4
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Signed K. Ellingsen, master
16 Nov 2026
The log is written as the watches happen. At the other end you export from the same board — nobody types the night twice.
Deck log
A passage log PDF from the watches you stood
Handovers, sights, rota changes and acknowledgements, dated as they happen.
Read the deck log ›
Hours of rest
MLC and STCW records from the rota
10 in 24 and 77 in 7, written from who was actually on deck — including call-outs.
Open the rest-hours app ›
Standing orders
The call-me-if list, on every phone
Wind, visibility, traffic and speed as numbers, so a tired watch does not have to invent a threshold.
See the template ›
The bad day
When it goes wrong
Every other section here is the good day. You are the one responsible for the boat, so this is the other one — a dead phone, a crew member who will not install anything, an alarm that has to carry through a closed locker at three in the morning.
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You are still the skipper
Nothing in DeckVakt overrides you. Move anybody to any watch, pair whoever you like, wake whoever you need — the app takes the instruction, tells you what it costs in fairness and rest, and writes down that you made the call. It never refuses.
The other phones
What your crew sees
Almost nothing, which is the point. No account, no password, nothing to set up wrong — three taps in the saloon, and then their own phone wakes them at the right time for the rest of the passage.
01
Share with the crew
App preview
iPhone and Android both run the app. Crew join with a code in the saloon — Bluetooth, local Wi-Fi, or a file if you prefer. None of them need a shore connection.
02
Pick your name
App preview
The skipper has already set your experience, your group and how early you are woken.
03
See your watches
App preview
The whole rota on their own phone, so nobody has to ask you when they are next on.
04
Get woken
App preview
Their phone wakes them, through silent mode, and logs that they acknowledged it.
How they get on the board
iPhone and Android both run the app. The joining code in the saloon is the quickest. Bluetooth, local Wi-Fi, a file, a Garmin, a satellite text, or a printed card all work too — none of them need a shore connection.
How the crew join ›What never leaves the boat
Nobody has to pay or make an account. Optional support never changes a feature. The crew list, the rota and the rest records stay on the phones holding them.
How we handle crew data ›Your data
Saved on your device. Portable when you choose.
DeckVakt does not keep a server copy of your passage, crew, rota, notes or log. That gives you complete privacy and means the app keeps working when there is no signal.
1. Work locally
Plan and run the passage on the phone, tablet or computer in front of you. No account or connection is needed.
2. Export a file
Download a DeckVakt file whenever you want to change devices, continue elsewhere or keep the passage history.
3. Keep a safe copy
After every trip, save the export to your own cloud drive, computer or memory device. Import it whenever you need it again.
The rest of what is in there
A passage needs more than a rota. These come with it, rather than as four more apps to buy and learn in the week before you leave.
12
tools beyond the board,
none of them sold separately
none of them sold separately
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Guides for skippers
Everything we had to work out to build this, written down properly — watch systems, fatigue, standing orders and the records a commercial passage needs.
The app
Sailing watch app
Fair watch rota, alarms that get through, standing orders on the board, deck log — with no signal.
›
The extra
Desk app
Optional. The phones already run everything. The desk is a wide screen plus the extra numbers — fairness, rest, sleep debt.
›
Watch systems
The five that work offshore
Swedish, dog watches, 6-6-4-4-4, staggered pairs and custom — with minimum crew and night rotation for each.
›
All guides
Fatigue, standing orders, rest hours, and the rest
Everything we had to work out to make the board honest.
›
Everything is free. Support it if it earns its place aboard.
Every passage, export and crew tool is free. Plan and test for as long as you need. When you deliberately start a real passage, DeckVakt runs it. After you arrive: “If DeckVakt earned its place aboard, consider supporting its next crossing. It would mean a lot.”
Testing does not count as a passage
Generate rotas, scan QR codes, test alarms and make practice logs as often as you need. Only the deliberate Start passage action marks a real departure. Payment never changes what works.
Support is optional and uses consumable App Store or Google Play purchases. It unlocks nothing, creates no subscription, and can be dismissed. Everything works with no signal — the phone keeps the rota, alarms and log on its own.
Asked before you sail
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What you get
One email when the app is ready. Every passage and every export will be free.
What you do not get
A newsletter. Sharing. Tracking pixels. Privacy.
While you wait
The Swedish system, four-on-four-off, and the rest of the guides are already up.
Deck log
Waitlist
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Welcome aboard! Thank you — we are glad of the company. We will write to {{ waitlistEmail }} when the app is available to the public.
Signed DeckVakt, with thanks
