Telltale

sailing · sailing knowledge

Telltale on Apple Watch: conditions, instruments, the start and heart rate

Telltale on Apple Watch follows the day: the wind at your spots before you leave, the race-day outlook, then the boat’s instruments, the start and the recorder once you are aboard.

Get it on the App Store

  1. Install Telltale on your iPhone from the App Store, then its watch app on the Apple Watch. Get the app
  2. Sign in on the phone and choose your boat.
  3. Open Telltale on the watch, and allow Health access if you want heart rate saved with the sail.
  4. Aboard, join the boat Wi-Fi with the phone so the watch gets the instruments.

Before you sail

The wind where you sail, at a glance from the dock or the office.

Before you are aboard, the watch shows the conditions rather than the boat. The digest puts today in a sentence, Spots lists the places you saved with their latest wind, and a spot opens to the station’s reading and the hours ahead. On a race day, the watch says when the race is and what the models expect.

  • The Telltale digest on an Apple Watch: today in English Bay, calm morning, sea breeze may fill 12:00–15:00 at 6–8 kn, low confidence.

    Today

    The day in a sentence for your waters, with how sure it is and when it was saved.

  • Telltale Spots on an Apple Watch: Jericho 11–13 kn two minutes ago, and a race area 5–7 kn from HRRR.

    Spots

    Your saved spots with the latest wind and how old it is.

  • A Telltale spot on an Apple Watch: Jericho, 11–13 kn from the west, measured two minutes ago, hourly bars for the next hours and slack at 15:28.

    A spot

    What the station measures now, the hours ahead and the next slack.

  • Telltale race day on an Apple Watch: race at 04:06 in English Bay, 2–4 kn, only HRRR builds it to 6 by 12:00, and a Start timer button.

    Race day

    The race time, the expected wind and the model that builds it, with the start timer one tap away.

On the water

The boat’s numbers, a page for each job.

Aboard, the watch shows what the recorder reads: from the phone, or straight from the recorder over the boat Wi-Fi when the phone is asleep. The top line keeps the start countdown, your heart rate and the time.

  • The Telltale Station page on an Apple Watch: TWA 42 starboard, TWS 12.4 kn, boat speed 6.2 kn, depth 18.2 ft.

    Station

    True wind angle and speed, boat speed and depth.

  • The Telltale Rose page on an Apple Watch: heading 173, true wind angle 42°, TWS 12.4 kn, boat speed 6.2 kn.

    Rose

    Heading and the true wind round the boat, with wind and boat speed.

  • The Telltale Tack page on an Apple Watch: boat speed 6.2 kn, TWA 42, VMG 4.6 kn, heading 173.

    Tack

    Boat speed, wind angle, VMG and heading for sailing to windward.

  • The Telltale Numbers page on an Apple Watch: heading 173, COG 176, AWA 28, AWS 15.1 kn, depth 18.2 ft, SOG 6.5 kn.

    Numbers

    Heading, COG, apparent wind, depth and SOG.

  • The Telltale next mark page on an Apple Watch: QA to port, leg 1 of 3, bearing 261°, 4.24 NM, starboard lifts 8°.

    Next mark

    The side to leave it, bearing and distance, the leg, and whether the beat lifts.

  • The Telltale Systems page on an Apple Watch: house battery 84 % at 12.83 V with 3 h 24 min left, shore unplugged, fuel 70 %, water low 42 %, black 10 %.

    Systems

    House battery, shore power and the tanks, with low levels marked.

The start

Ping the line from the wrist and start on an exact clock.

The line page pings the pin and the boat end, then shows the distance to the line, the time to it at speed and the seconds to burn. The timer is the boat’s: sync it at the signal from your wrist and every phone and watch aboard follows, with a tap on each cue. After the gun it keeps the race clock.

  • The Telltale line page on an Apple Watch: 4:29 to the gun, no line yet, with Ping pin and Ping boat.

    Line

    Ping pin and Ping boat, with the countdown above.

  • The Telltale timer on an Apple Watch: 4:31 to the gun, Sync to 5:00 and pause, with to line, at speed and burn.

    Timer

    Sync to the minute, pause, and read the line figures below the count.

  • The Telltale timer on an Apple Watch: 12:37 since the gun, with Start and Stop.

    After the gun

    The time since the gun, to Stop at the finish.

Racing with Telltale

Heart rate and recording

Your effort, saved with the sail.

With Health access, the watch records heart rate as a Sailing workout and saves it with the sail, where it can be added as a lane beside boat speed and wind. Heart rate is visible only to you unless you change it. The recorder page starts and finishes the recording, and a complication puts it on the watch face.

  • The Telltale recorder on an Apple Watch: recording on phone for 1:11:40, 164 signals, 118 bpm, the last 15 minutes of SOG, and Finish.

    Recorder

    Recording on the phone for 1:11:40, the signals coming in, heart rate and the last 15 min of SOG, with Finish.

  • Telltale complications on an Apple Watch face: recording on phone for 1:11:44.

    Watch face

    Complications for the recording time, the countdown or the wind at a spot.

The Telltale heart rate page on an Apple Watch: 118 bpm, the last 15 minutes charted, average 115 and max 136.
In TelltaleHeart rate on the wrist. Beats per minute now, the last 15 minutes, and the average and peak. Heart rate in the replay
Sources and review

Official references checked on 2026-10-11. Product details and schedules change; the provider’s page is the current word.

Take it to the water

Check the stations before you leave, then record the sail for the debrief.

Open ConditionsRecord a sail