Sail: a racing instrument for your Garmin Edge.

1. Install on the Edge

Sail is installed by copying one file onto the Edge over USB ("sideloading"). It is not on the Connect IQ Store, so it does not appear in the Connect IQ phone app and is not updated automatically.

Mac

1. Download garmin-sail.prg above.
2. The Edge connects over MTP, which macOS Finder does not open. Install a free MTP client such as OpenMTP (or brew install --cask openmtp). Quit Android File Transfer if it is installed, since it holds the connection.
3. Connect the Edge to the Mac with its USB-C cable and turn it on.
4. In OpenMTP, open the Edge's storage, then the Garmin folder, then Apps. Drag garmin-sail.prg into Garmin/Apps.
5. Unplug the Edge. It installs the app as it disconnects; this can take a few seconds.

If your Edge appears in Finder as a drive called GARMIN instead, copy the file to GARMIN/Garmin/Apps/ and eject the drive before unplugging.

Windows

1. Download garmin-sail.prg above.
2. Connect the Edge with its USB-C cable. It appears in File Explorer under This PC under its model name (for example Edge 1040).
3. Open Internal Storage › Garmin › Apps and copy garmin-sail.prg into it.
4. Unplug the Edge.

Open the app

On the Edge, open the Connect IQ apps list (on the 1040, the IQ apps entry in the main menu or the widget/app glance list, depending on firmware) and choose Sail. To get back to it quickly, add it to a shortcut or keep it at the top of the IQ list.

Update or remove

To update, copy the new garmin-sail.prg over the old one in Garmin/Apps. Your line, reference angles, profiles and settings are kept. To remove the app, delete garmin-sail.prg from Garmin/Apps while the Edge is connected. The link above always serves the newest build; the versioned link keeps a known build you can go back to.

To check a download, compare its SHA-256 with the one above: shasum -a 256 garmin-sail.prg on a Mac, or certutil -hashfile garmin-sail.prg SHA256 on Windows.

2. First-time setup on the boat

Do this once per boat, at the dock or in flat water. On the 1040 each step is on the Mount (page 6) or Setup (page 5) page; swipe left from the start screen to reach them. On the 540 and 840 they are in the Menu (hold Enter), under Mount and compass and at the top level, and "tap" below means select.

1. Mount the Edge firmly on a bulkhead or the mast, screen vertical and facing aft (UPRIGHT), or flat on deck, screen up with the top toward the bow (PRONE). Choose the matching orientation on the Mount page. A bike mount on a tube or a flat adhesive mount both work; the unit must not be able to rotate.
2. ZERO: with the boat level and still at the dock, tap ZERO. Heel and trim are measured from this position.
3. AUTO SIDE: tap it and heel the Edge (or the boat) to port when asked. The app sets which way is port. You can also flip it by hand.
4. Compass offset: if the Edge does not face straight along the boat, adjust the offset in 1° steps until the heading matches a hand-bearing compass, or use ALIGN: motor or sail in a straight line at 3 knots or more for 20 seconds in still water, and the app sets the offset from the difference between COG and the compass. Current or leeway would be absorbed into the offset, so avoid them.
5. Variation: the Edge gives true headings. To read magnetic, enter your local variation in whole degrees east or west and switch to MAG. Every bearing the app shows follows this switch.
6. Bow offset (Setup page): measure from the Edge to the bow along the centreline and set it, in 0.5 m steps up to 15 m. Line distance and ETA are then measured from the bow whenever the compass is trusted. OFF measures from the Edge itself.
7. Countdown length (Setup page): 1 to 10 minutes, set while the timer is reset. Five minutes is the usual default.

Before the first race, open Diagnostics (page 8) and check that GPS shows a 3-D fix and the compass shows as trusted. Press the Edge's Start and Lap keys once each: the last key received appears there, which tells you whether your firmware passes those keys to the app.

3. Starting

Ping the line

1. Go to the Line page (page 4).
2. Put the Edge (not the bow) on the pin end's line and tap PING PORT. The app averages the fixes from the 5 seconds around the tap, carried forward to the moment you tapped.
3. Do the same at the committee boat with PING STBD. Replacing an end asks you to confirm.
4. Check the line length and bearing look right. If the prestart side is wrong (for a start with the line set the other way), tap FLIP PRESTART SIDE.

Ping while the boat is moving slowly past each end if you can. Pings need a 3-D GPS fix and are refused if GPS is stale or lost.

Run the sequence

• START starts the countdown at the gun or signal. The Edge's Start key does the same where the firmware passes it.
• SYNC snaps the countdown down to the next whole minute at a signal. Under a minute to go it snaps up to 1:00. The Lap key also syncs.
• +1 adds a minute (for a postponed or recalled sequence).
• RESET stops and returns to the full length.

Tones sound at each minute, at 30 and 20 seconds, at each of the last 10 seconds and a long tone at the gun, if sounds are on in Settings and the Edge's own tones are on. At each signal the countdown inverts so you can read it at a glance.

Read the start screen

• Distance to line, in metres: positive behind the line, red OVER on the course side. Its tag says where it is measured from: BOW, ANT (the Edge itself) or red NO HDG (a bow offset is set but the compass is not trusted, so it is the Edge's distance).
• ETA on your current course, and the distance past an end when you would cross outside the line.
• TTL (time to line): the distance divided by your learned upwind VMG. Until the app has learned one (30 seconds close-hauled, within 60° of the wind) it uses your speed as if sailing straight at the line and says TTL SOG.
• BURN: time to the gun minus TTL, the time you have to spare. Red LATE when negative.
• The LED strip under the info bar shows burn: one green cell per 5 seconds to spare, amber in the last 10 seconds, all red when late.

Tap the line block to switch to the graphical start: the line drawn course-side up with its ends, and the boat as an arrow on its heading, zoomed to fit. Tap again for numbers. The choice is remembered.

Rolling starts

For fleets started one after another, tap the COUNTDOWN label on the Setup page (while reset) to choose a rolling sequence. The countdown repeats every N minutes, captioned NEXT GUN · ROLLING, with the signals and tones each cycle. When your fleet's sequence is the one counting down, tap MY GUN (in place of +1); that gun then starts your race clock.

VMG and TTL need the wind direction. Before you have reference angles, the app takes the wind as square to the line, toward the course side, so ping the line first.

4. Racing after the gun

At the gun page 1 becomes the home screen, with the race time in the info bar. Its widgets are a preset chosen in Settings:

• HDG SOG COG (default): compass heading, speed over ground with its 10-second average and maximum, and course over ground.
• HDG SOG HEEL TRIM, with heel steadiness bars.
• HDG SOG SHIFT.
• SOG VMG SHIFT HEEL.

Tap the speed widget to reset its maximum. The LED strip now shows the shift: amber in the centre at zero, green cells to the right for a lift and red to the left for a header, one cell per 3°.

Tap END (and confirm) when you finish. The race time stops, the end is marked in the log, and the screen shows the race time, distance sailed since the gun, and average and maximum speed. RESET prepares the next race; the line is kept.

Tap the info bar on page 1 to switch between the start and home screens by hand. On any other page, tapping the info bar returns to page 1.

5. Shift tracking

The Shift page (page 2) shows your heading against a fixed reference angle for the current tack: positive and green for a lift, negative and red for a header. Below it are both references, the wind (their midpoint), the tacking angle, VMG and a 10-minute trend graph.

• Automatic: 20 seconds after each tack, the app averages your heading for 30 seconds and uses it as that tack's reference.
• Manual: sail at your normal upwind angle and tap SET STBD or SET PORT. Do this in the pre-start on each tack for the best start-line bias.
• AUTO (confirmed) clears both so they are learned again. References are kept across restarts until you set or clear them.

Heading comes from the compass when it is trusted, otherwise from GPS COG above 2 knots. The page says which. More than 90° off the wind (downwind) shows no shift; VMG then reads away from the wind.

With both references set, the Line page also shows the line bias, the favoured end and its advantage in metres upwind, and the square wind for which the line would be square.

6. Heel and trim

The Heel page (page 3) shows heel, with the side you lean to, and trim (bow up or down), in whole degrees from the ZERO you set. Five bars show how steady the heel has been over the last 10 seconds: five bars for under 1° of variation, then 2°, 3° and 5°.

Tap the LED strip to choose a target heel band (off, 5–15°, 10–20°, 15–25° or 20–30°). Cells fill with heel: amber below the band, green inside it, red above it.

7. Profiles, class mode and settings

Boat profiles (Setup page, BOAT 1–3, changed while the timer is reset) each keep the countdown, bow offset, mount and ZERO, compass offset, damping, home layout and sounds. A new profile starts as a copy of the current one. The line and reference angles belong to the day's course and are shared by all profiles.

Class mode (Setup page, confirmed, part of the profile): FULL, or COMPASS+TIMER for classes whose rules allow only a compass and a timer. It hides every GPS-derived aid (speed, COG, VMG, line distance and pings, TTL, BURN, bias, the line picture and race distance) and keeps the timer, compass heading, compass-only shift and heel. The info bar shows a "C". The log records the mode in force every second, so you can show compliance. Check your class rules before racing with any electronics.

Settings (page 7):

• Damping low, medium or high: heading over 1, 3 or 6 seconds, speed and COG off, 3 or 8 seconds, heel and trim over 1, 3 or 6 seconds.
• Sounds on or off for the countdown.
• Logging on or off.
• Backlight kept on while the app is open, or left to the Edge's own timeout.
• Night: a red-on-black palette.
• Home: the home screen preset.

8. Edge 540 and 840: buttons and big numbers

The 540 and 840 build is worked entirely with the Edge's buttons, as a dedicated racing instrument is, so it works with wet hands and gloves. The instruments and their behaviour are the same as on the 1040; only the controls and the layout differ. Its six pages are the start/home screen, Shift, Heel, Line, Big numbers and Diagnostics.

Up / Down

Previous and next page.

Start

Start, pause or resume the countdown; after the gun, END (with a confirmation).

Lap

Sync to the minute before the gun; after it, a lap in the log.

Enter

The page's action. Start screen: +1 minute (MY GUN in a rolling sequence); after the gun, switch between the start and home screens. Shift: set the starboard or port angle, or AUTO. Heel: next target band. Line: ping the port or starboard end, or flip the prestart side. Big numbers: change the top number.

Back

On the start screen, reset the timer (with a confirmation while it runs). On any other page, back to the start screen, like a Home button. Back never closes the app, so a hurried press in a start cannot end it.

Hold Enter (Menu)

Every setting the 1040 keeps on its Setup, Mount and Settings pages: countdown and sequence, bow offset, metres or feet, boat profile, class mode, mount and compass (ZERO, AUTO SIDE, compass offset, ALIGN, variation), damping, display, sounds, logging, and Exit. Numbers change with Up and Down; Enter or Back finishes.

Big numbers shows two numbers, top and bottom, each filling half the screen, for an Edge mounted where the crew read it from across the boat, or as a second display beside another Edge. Choose each in Menu › Display (countdown, line distance, burn, heading, speed, COG, shift, heel or VMG; Enter on the page steps the top one), and set Menu › Open on to Big numbers to start the app there.

Two Edges each run their own copy: ping the line and set the countdown on each, or start both on the same signal and sync each with Lap. They do not talk to each other.

9. Logging and analysis

With logging on (the default), the app records a sailing activity for the whole session: the Edge's GPS track and speed plus, every second, heading, heel, trim, distance to line, shift, VMG and class mode. Laps are added at the gun and at END, and the Lap key adds one after the gun. The activity is saved when you exit the app and appears in the Edge's history.

Copy the .fit file from Garmin/Activities over USB, or let it sync with the Edge's other activities. Any FIT tool that reads developer fields shows the sailing data.

10. Page reference

1 · Home / start

Countdown and line before the gun; your home widgets after it.

2 · Shift

Lift or header, trend, reference angles, wind, tacking angle and VMG.

3 · Heel

Heel, trim, steadiness bars and the target heel band.

4 · Line

Ping the ends, prestart side, length, square wind, bias and advantage.

5 · Setup

Countdown length, rolling sequence, bow offset, boat profile and class mode.

6 · Mount

Orientation, ZERO, heel side, compass offset, ALIGN and variation.

7 · Settings

Damping, sounds, logging, backlight, night palette and home layout.

8 · Diagnostics

GPS and compass health, sensor rates, version and the last key pressed.

The home, shift and heel pages hide the Edge's title bar, so a hurried tap cannot exit the app; their info bar shows the time and battery. To exit, go to any other page and use the back arrow in its title bar.

11. Limits and safety

• Not for navigation. Sail is a racing aid. Do not use it to avoid hazards or other vessels.
• Line distance depends on GPS accuracy (typically a few metres) and on how carefully the ends were pinged. Leave a margin, especially near the gun.
• Distances are from the bow only while the compass is trusted. It must have reported in the last 2 seconds, be steady, and have agreed with GPS COG within 35° at least once above 2 knots. Otherwise the app falls back to the Edge's own position and shows NO HDG.
• The Edge 1040, 840 and 540 are rated IPX7 but are not designed for salt water. Rinse it in fresh water after sailing, and use a secure mount and a lanyard.
• Sail is not a Garmin product and is not affiliated with or endorsed by Garmin. Garmin and Edge are trademarks of Garmin Ltd. Use it at your own risk.

12. Troubleshooting

The app does not appear after copying.

Check the file is in Garmin/Apps (not the device root), that you unplugged the Edge afterwards, and that you used the file for your model (1040, or 540/840). Other models reject it.

The Mac cannot see the Edge.

Use an MTP client such as OpenMTP, quit Android File Transfer, try another USB-C cable (some are charge-only) and make sure the Edge is switched on.

Pings are refused or the screen shows STALE / LOST.

The GPS fix is missing or old. Wait for a 3-D fix on the Diagnostics page; give the Edge a clear view of the sky.

The distance tag shows NO HDG.

The compass is not trusted yet. Sail in a straight line above 2 knots so it can be checked against COG, and check the compass offset on the Mount page.

Heel reads to the wrong side.

Run AUTO SIDE again on the Mount page, or flip the side by hand.

The Start or Lap key does nothing.

Some firmware keeps those keys for itself. Use the on-screen START and SYNC; the Diagnostics page shows which keys reach the app.

Questions or bugs: support@wxnavigator.com.