Use this sailing calculation as a planning or educational cross-check for navigation, wind and current, rig loads, stability, anchoring, tides, visibility, performance, or recovery under explicitly stated conditions.

Desired track (°)

Desired track over ground.

Current set (°)

Direction toward which the current flows.

Drift (kt)

Speed of the tidal stream.

Boat speed (kt)

Boat speed through the water.

Compute the heading to steer that compensates for a known tidal stream to achieve a desired track. The tool evaluates the supplied inputs together and returns the named outputs below; it does not infer omitted operating conditions or change the units shown.^[1]

CTS (°)

Heading to steer to compensate for current.

• Actual conditions change with vessel design and loading, sea state, wind, current, tide datum, weather, chart accuracy, equipment, crew, regulations, and safety margins. Simplified formulas do not replace seamanship, approved stability data, or current navigation information.
• Use finite inputs in the displayed units and preserve more precision than the final presentation requires. Independently verify safety-critical, financial, compliance, or production decisions.

Cross-check official charts, tide and weather services, instrument data, vessel manuals, and collision regulations; maintain conservative margins and a safe alternative plan.

• Ferry Glide Course

  Calculate the heading to steer so cross current lets the boat ferry glide onto the desired course, correcting by the arcsine of the current to boat speed ratio signed by the side the current comes from.

• Lee Bow Effect Calculator

  Project current onto the desired course as current speed times the cosine of the relative angle. This along-course proxy does not model the true lee-bow effect, which also depends on heading, boat speed, and apparent wind.

• Anderson Turn Course

  Calculate the return course reached by an Anderson turn, which rotates the heading two hundred forty degrees toward the chosen turn direction to bring the vessel back along its original track.