Free tools
Free tools for anyone who loves boats and the coast. Nothing to sign up for and nothing to pay, and you are welcome to link to them.
- Morse code translatorType words to get Morse code, or paste dots and dashes to get the words back.
- Knots to mph converterOne knot is a little more than one mile an hour: about 1.15 mph.
- Sailing knots, step by stepEight knots used on sailing boats, what each one is for, how to tie it and how to undo it, with a card to print for the chart table.
- Beaufort scale converterType a wind speed and see its Beaufort force, from 0 (calm) to 12 (hurricane force), with the waves the Met Office says to expect in the open sea.
- Portsmouth Yardstick calculatorMixed fleet, one race.
- Signal flag name generatorType a name, a boat's name or a word and see it spelled in the flags ships use, one flag for each letter.
- Shipping forecast areas, and what the words meanViking, North Utsire, South Utsire, Forties...
- Rule of twelfths calculatorType the times and heights of low and high water from your tide table.
- Lighthouse light characteristics, explainedEvery lighthouse flashes its own pattern, and charts write it in a short code beside the light.
- Sailing time calculatorHow long will it take?
- Boat name generatorChoose a mood and get a shortlist of boat names to start from, with the rules if you register one.
- UK lighthouse mapExplore 31 selected UK lighthouse sites, from tower tours to visitor centres and coastal walks.
- Print size pickerGive the width of the space and see the print size that suits it, shown to scale.
How the tools work
Every tool runs in your browser. There is nothing to sign up for, and nothing you type is saved on our side. Your settings sit in the link in your address bar, so you can bookmark an answer or send it to your crew, and it opens the same way for them.
Where a tool uses a rule or a table, the page names where it came from and the day we read it: the ITU for Morse code, the Met Office for the Beaufort scale and the shipping forecast, the international units brochure for the knot. Where a choice is ours, the page says so. We drew the signal flags ourselves from their written descriptions, and the lighthouse lamp is our picture of a pattern, not a real light's timing.
The Portsmouth Yardstick calculator holds no numbers: your club types its own. It shows which RYA list is current as we last checked, and says plainly when that check needs doing again.
For clubs and crews
You are welcome to link to any of these from your club's website or newsletter. The Portsmouth Yardstick calculator can also sit on your own site; the code to copy is under it. The knot cards and the signal flag sheet print on A4, with a line that should measure 50 mm so you can check your printer kept the size.
More to read: the journal.