DeckVaktAnchor watch, without pretending the phone is free
An anchor watch is a person, a radius, and a way to wake someone if the boat leaves the circle. An app can hold the circle and sound the alarm. It cannot invent a second crew member, and it cannot ignore the battery.
What an anchor watch is
You pick a spot, you set a drift ring that matches scope and swinging room, and you decide who is responsible if the boat starts to leave it. In a quiet creek that person can be asleep with an alarm. In a crowded roadstead or a rising wind they should be on deck. The app does not get to make that call. The skipper does. Write it in the standing orders.
DeckVakt’s anchor watch is a drift ring and an alarm on the phones that already hold the passage. It is not a substitute for a second anchor, a better bottom, or leaving.
Who is on it
On a full crew you can put a name on the watch the same way you put a name on a sea watch. On a two-handed boat you are already in deficit. Be honest: a night at anchor after a hard passage may need a marina, a second person up, or a shorter ring and an early departure — not another four hours of “the phone will tell us”.
Rotate it. The person who anchored and set the snubber should not also own the 02:00 check by default.
The alarm and the battery
GPS that stays awake costs power. DeckVakt is honest about it: around nine per cent of a battery for a night of anchor watch is the order of magnitude we plan for, against about two per cent an hour with the board screen on and a negligible cost for ordinary watch alarms with the screen off. If you cannot spare that, you do not have an electronic anchor watch. You have a hope.
Test the alarm in the afternoon. An anchor alarm you have never heard is a decoration. It must get through silent mode the same way a sea-watch alarm must.
What it is not
It is not a replacement for looking. It is not AIS. It is not a rode-tension metre. It will not tell you the neighbour is dragging onto you until your own position says you have moved — or they have pushed you. If the forecast is the reason you are nervous, leave.
The rest of DeckVakt is the offshore sailing watch app. Anchor watch is a small, honest feature on the same phones. It is not the product.
Questions skippers ask
Do I need an anchor watch app?
You need a radius, a responsible person, and a way to be woken. An app can be that way. A person on deck is still better when the wind is up.
How much battery does DeckVakt’s anchor watch use?
About nine per cent of a phone battery for a night is the planning figure. If you cannot spare it, do not rely on the feature.
Can the rest of the crew sleep?
If the skipper has set a ring, tested the alarm, and is happy with the forecast and the bottom, yes. That is a judgement, not a default.
Does it work without signal?
Yes. GPS and the alarm are on the device. You do not need a mobile tower to know you have dragged.
Is this the same as a watch rota?
No. An anchor watch is a special-purpose alarm. The sea-going watch rota is the main product.
Drift ring, an alarm that gets through, and an honest battery cost. Fully usable on the phones. The desk app is extra. Not a substitute for leaving.
Join the waitlist