Forum: Training Materials, Presentations and Classes

A New Tool for Teaching & Learning Sailing – Check Out SailTalks.com

Odey Hariri
Nationality: United States
Hey everyone,

I wanted to share a website I’ve been building called SailTalks.com — it's a virtual whiteboard built specifically for sailing coaches, instructors, and learners.

The idea is simple: sailing hasn’t kept up with the tech age, and we’re trying to change that. Sail Talks lets you:

  • Drag and drop boats and marks to create clear, interactive diagrams

  • Animate lessons with a full timeline — play, pause, rewind, and slow down

  • Save your lessons or scenarios to the cloud and access them from any device

  • Explore community lessons created by other coaches and sailors

  • Use it in person or virtually to prepare for class, run chalk talks, or review races

Whether you're a coach who’s tired of whiteboards and magnets, or a student trying to learn on your own, Sail Talks is designed to help.

It's free to use (with optional premium features coming soon), and I'm actively developing it — so feedback, bug reports, and feature requests are super welcome.

Would love if you gave it a try and shared it with other sailors!

⛵ Try it out: https://sailtalks.com
📬 Reach out with questions/ideas: sailtalks.com@gmail.com

Let’s bring sailing education into the 21st century 🚀

— Odey
 Creator of Sail Talks

Created: 25-Apr-12 08:08

Comments

P
Michael Butterfield
Certifications:
  • International Judge
  • International Umpire
  • International Race Officer
1
Looking forward to trying this.
Seems desktop oriented as the pen did not work on my android tablet.
What we are looking for is a simple tool to prepare diagrams to lodge with electronic protests.
It is hard to prepare as a scribe with the scantinformation we now receive.
Created: 25-Apr-12 09:16
Gordon Davies
Nationality: Ireland
Certifications:
  • International Judge
1
A small detail - when using TSS I align boats to grid so b convention boats close-hauled are at 45° to the wind.
Either a grid, or a heading indicator when we rotate boats would be helpful.
Other wise this looks useful
Created: 25-Apr-12 10:16
P
Angelo Guarino
Forum Moderator
Nationality: United States
Certifications:
  • Regional Judge
1
Couple quick comments .. 

  1. First .. Very cool .. great start and thanks for sharing it with our forum members
  2. Undo/Redo .. a must have for at least the last operation.
  3. Line tool -> Needs a way to draw a straight line.  The universal shortcut for that is holding the shift-key down while dragging.   The most flexible implementation of that is that the straight-line is between the origin and the current cursor point so that you are not limited to 0/90 degrees. 
  4. grid as others have mentioned
Created: 25-Apr-12 13:03
Odey Hariri
Nationality: United States
0
Thanks so much for all the comments and feedback — it’s incredibly helpful!

  1. Currently working on implementing mobile/touch functionality

  2. Undo/Redo functionality is in progress

  3. Features like straight lines and a grid are great suggestions — definitely planning to add those in future updates

Keep the ideas coming, and thanks again for checking out Sail Talks!

Created: 25-Apr-12 15:36
Reinhard Schanda
Nationality: Austria
Certifications:
  • National Judge
1
How can I export the lesson (diagramms) to other applications, such as Powerpoint or Word files, or send them by e-mail?
Created: 25-Apr-12 20:09
Odey Hariri
Nationality: United States
0
Currently, there isn’t a built-in export feature for lesson diagrams. However, if the ability to download the whiteboard as an image is something you're interested in, I’d be happy to look into adding that soon.

In the meantime, you can save your lessons to your account and even make them public if you'd like to share them with others. For now, the easiest way to use diagrams in PowerPoint, Word, or email is to take a screenshot using tools like the Snipping Tool (Windows), Screenshot (Mac), or any screen capture extension.

Thanks for the great question—features like this help shape the future of Sail Talks!

Created: 25-Apr-12 20:31
P
Angelo Guarino
Forum Moderator
Nationality: United States
Certifications:
  • Regional Judge
0
Odey .. I had an idea for the straight-line draw when in touch-mode.  Maybe implement a 2-finger touch mode for the line drawing such that a straight-line is drawn between the 2 touch points as you drag both points around.
Created: 25-Apr-13 10:52
Odey Hariri
Nationality: United States
0
Thanks for the great idea, Angelo — it's definitely something that can be implemented!

Also, just a quick update: Sail Talks now works on mobile and touch devices. While it still performs best on larger screens, it's fully functional on phones and tablets too. I think it could be a great solution for handling electronic protests on the go.

@pmbutterfield@msn.com — would love to hear your thoughts!

For anyone curious, I also made a quick video showing how it works on an iPad:
▶️ https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8PwQjDQFy4I&

Created: 25-Apr-13 14:13
Odey Hariri
Nationality: United States
0
Also I have added a grid option in the Tools menu!
Created: 25-Apr-13 15:17
[You must be signed in to add a comment]
Cookies help us deliver our services. By using our services, you agree to our use of cookies. Learn more