Everything due before you sail
The Bridge, Helm’s first screen, puts your next passage first and lists what is due before it ends: maintenance, papers and gear that expire, and the journeys after it.
Voydar Helm
The workspace for your own boat
Plan a journey on the chart, check the weather and tides against your boat’s limits, keep its maintenance and documents in one place, and bring your crew in. Helm is private by construction: what you put in it stays between you and the people you add.
Helm Free: 1 boat, 3 crew or guests, 5 journeys. One Voydar account, no card.
What you do in Helm
Plan the journey, then follow it
A journey moves from draft to reviewed, ready, underway and completed. Draw the route on the chart, add stops and legs with distances and times, and keep the planned route, the route you actually sailed and the recorded track apart. Print a passage plan and a float plan for the crew and for someone ashore.
Weather and tides against your own limits
Set the wind, gust and sea limits your boat and crew are comfortable with. Helm checks departure times against NOAA GFS and ECMWF forecasts, shows NOAA marine warnings and tidal gates from NOAA tide predictions in US waters, and says why a window fails rather than guessing.
The boat’s records in one place
Maintenance by date and by engine hours, with OEM service schedules to start from. Equipment, documents, expiry reminders for insurance and certificates, expenses and the boat’s log. Print a service history or export everything.
Crew, guests and the yard, each with a role
Invite a skipper, crew, guests or a service yard. Roles decide what each person sees: a guest sees the journeys you share and the log, nothing else. Share a trip page with people ashore only when you choose to.
Aware of the water around you
Helm’s chart shows NOAA charts in US waters, depth shaded at your safety depth, tide stations and live AIS traffic from Voydar. Link your boat to its public Voydar vessel page to see its own AIS track, or bring positions in from your phone, a Signal K server, an NMEA log or a satellite tracker.
Try it free, no sign-in
Voydar’s boating tools work on the public site, with no account.
- Sea distanceDistance and time between two ports by sea.
- Ship ETAWhen a ship should arrive, from its live position.
- Port conditionsWind, waves and tides at a port now.
- MarinasMarinas with their services, fuel and contact details.
- Passage plannerSketch a passage and see its distance and time.
- Is my boat visible?Check whether your boat’s AIS is being received.
Private by construction
- Your boats, journeys, tracks, documents and records are visible only to the members you add, with the role you give them.
- Nothing from Helm appears on the public Voydar site, in the Terminal, in the API or in our open datasets, and it is never sold.
- Linking your boat to a public vessel page is for reference only: it claims nothing and changes nothing on the public page.
- Delete your account and your boats go with it; the privacy policy has the details.
What Helm is not
- Helm is a planning and record-keeping aid. It is not a navigational chart, a watch, or distress equipment.
- Charts, tidal gates and NOAA weather text cover US waters today. Elsewhere you get the global forecast models, your own route and records, and AIS traffic.
- Forecasts and tides are shown with their source and time. When a source is unavailable, Helm shows nothing rather than a guess.
What it costs
Helm needs no paid plan to open. It works within the plan your Voydar account already has, and the limits below come from that plan. Crew you invite never need a paid plan.
| What it costs | Free$0 | PlusUS$7/month | ProUS$24/month |
|---|---|---|---|
| Boats you own | 1 | 3 | Unlimited |
| Crew and guests per boat | 3 | 10 | Unlimited |
| Journeys per boat (not archived) | 5 | Unlimited | Unlimited |
| Document storage per boat | 100 MB | 2 GB | 10 GB |
Plus and Pro also include everything else in those plans on Voydar, such as more follows and alerts, and the Terminal on Pro.
Part of Voydar
Helm shares one account with the rest of Voydar: free public pages for every ship, port and company, the Terminal for people who follow fleets, and the API and open datasets for your own tools.
Questions
- Do I need a paid plan to use Helm?
- No. Helm opens on a free Voydar account with 1 boat, 3 crew or guests per boat and 5 journeys per boat. Plus and Pro raise those limits.
- Who can see my boat and my journeys?
- Only the people you add to the boat, with the role you give them. Nothing from Helm is published on the public site, shown in the Terminal or sold. A trip page is shared only when you create one.
- Can I navigate with Helm?
- No. Helm is for planning, keeping records and coordinating crew. Use your boat’s chart plotter, official charts and a proper watch to navigate.
- Does it work outside the United States?
- Yes for planning, records, crew and the global forecast models. NOAA charts, tidal gates and NWS marine text cover US waters only for now.
- Do my crew need to pay?
- No. Invited crew, guests and service yards use their own free Voydar account. Limits count against the boat owner’s plan.
- Is there a phone app?
- Helm works in the browser on phones and computers. The Voydar app has a Helm section for accounts Helm is open to.
Start with your boat
Create a free Voydar account, add your boat and plan your next journey.
Helm Free: 1 boat, 3 crew or guests, 5 journeys. One Voydar account, no card.