Building sailing routes
Draw a sailing itinerary on the map, plan it day by day, and share it or turn it into a bookable trip — all from My Routes in your profile.
What is a route?
A route is a sailing itinerary you build on a map: a chain of waypoints, anchorages and marinas, with the sea distance, timing and a day-by-day plan worked out for you. Keep it private while you plan, share it with a link, publish it for travelers to discover, or attach it to an activity so guests see exactly where they'll sail. You build and manage routes from the My Routes tab in your profile.
How to build a route
From a blank map to a shareable itinerary in a few steps.
Open the route builder
In your profile, open My Routes and tap New route to start from a blank map — or Import route to begin from a GPX or KML file you already have.
Drop your waypoints
Turn on Add points and tap the map to drop stops in order (or long-press the map any time). The first point is your Start, the last is your Finish, and SailsSearch draws the sea route between them, keeping it off the land. Drag any pin to move it.
Name and classify each stop
Tap a point to name it and set its type — waypoint, anchorage, marina or point of interest — and add notes on holding, shelter or pilotage. Reorder points by dragging them in the list, or remove any you don't need.
Mark your overnight stops
Switch on Overnight stop for the places you sleep aboard. Each overnight closes a sailing day, so SailsSearch can split the trip into a day-by-day plan with distance and time for each day.
Add a cover and photos
By default your cover is a live map of the route. Upload your own cover photo and gallery images to bring it to life. (Photos attach once the route is saved, so add a title and at least two waypoints first.)
Set visibility and save
Choose who can see the route, then Save. Your totals — distance, time and days — update live as you edit, and a map preview is generated automatically.
Real anchorages and marinas on the map
Plan around safe, real stops — not just coordinates. The builder can show anchorages, marinas and other seamarks right on the map.
How to use it
- Turn on Anchorages & marinas (OSM) for spots from OpenStreetMap, or Our anchorages for the community-curated layer. Zoom in to load them.
- Tap a place and add it to your route to snap a waypoint onto it — the point keeps that spot's name and details.
- Spotted a good anchorage that's missing? Open a waypoint and choose Create a place from this point to add it to the shared library. Our team reviews it before it appears for other captains.
A colour-coded legend shows which pins are anchorages, marinas, fuel, water and more — only for the types currently on the map, so it stays easy to read.
Plan the trip day by day
Overnight stops become days
Mark where you spend the night and each overnight ends a sailing day. Your waypoints group into Day 1, Day 2 and so on, each shown in its own colour on the map and in the list.
Distance and time per day
Set your cruising speed in knots and every leg gets a realistic time. You'll see the total distance and hours for the whole route plus a breakdown for each day — so no single day ends up too long.
Import and export (GPX & KML)
Already have your route in a chart-plotter or another app? Bring it in — or take a SailsSearch route with you.
How it works
- Import a GPX or KML file from My Routes. Its waypoints open as a draft you can review, adjust and save.
- Export any route with two or more points as GPX or KML, from the builder's Export menu or the route's menu in My Routes.
- Files are read right in your browser — nothing is uploaded or saved until you hit Save.
GPX and KML are the standard formats used by most chart-plotters, Navionics, Google Earth and other tools, so your routes travel with you.
Share it — or make it bookable
You decide who can see each route, and you can turn a route into a bookable trip in one step.
Choose a visibility
- Private — only you can see it. The default while you're still planning.
- Unlisted — anyone with the link can open it, but it won't appear in search or the public routes list.
- Public — listed on SailsSearch and open to everyone, so travelers can discover your itinerary.
From a saved route with at least two points, use Create an activity to start a bookable trip pre-filled from the route — travelers then see the whole itinerary right on your listing.