Savvy Navvy turns digital charts into teaching tools for boating instructors

Marine technology firm Savvy Navvy has introduced an industry-first interactive chart annotation tool to give boating instructors a digital-first alternative to paper-based plotting. 

The new feature enables instructors to draw, mark up, save and share customised digital charts directly within the Savvy Navvy app. Aiming to be the ‘Google Maps for boats,’ the Savvy Navvy app provides a navigation solution for smart routing. 

David Cusworth, head of partnerships and innovation at Savvy Navvy, explains: “They can map out scenarios, highlight hazards, and adapt lessons quickly. As more instructors embrace a digital-first approach to navigation, our goal is to provide the technology they need to make boating more accessible, safer, and intuitive than ever.”

He emphasises that chart annotations on electronic charts result in a more “dynamic teaching tool, making lessons clearer, safer and more memorable.”

The launch marks the first in a series of instructor-specific features developed by Savvy Navvy to complement the ‘digital first’ campaign, first introduced by the RYA in 2023. Around one in four RYA instructors are now using the Savvy Navvy app in their training, with the company delivering dedicated webinars to instructors in the UK, USA, Australia and New Zealand this year. 

“I am surprised at how much we use Savvy Navvy’s chart annotations. When we can draw our own ‘no-go’ line around a shallow spot for our actual training boat, or drop a pin on a great little anchorage we’ve just visited with notes about what makes it great, the theory just clicks, and Savvy Navvy becomes our shared playbook for the day. You see that lightbulb moment for students, and they leave with a chart full of their own notes and memories, which is just brilliant,” says David Killpack, principal at Sunshine Sailing Australia.

Earlier this year, Savvy Navvy partnered up with Avikus to provide a new functionality to the autonomous navigation technology developer’s Neuboat Dock II.

The chart annotations tool will go live to Savvy Navvy users on 22 September 2025. Qualified instructors can register for a Savvy Navvy professional edition account. 

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