Use this sailing calculation for planning or education when the vessel, units, reference directions, environmental conditions, and assumptions are explicitly known.

Boat speed (kt)

Required number in kt. Boat speed through the water.

Bearing offset (°)

Required number in °. Angle between the heading and the bearing to the waypoint.

The cited overview of Navigation supplies background for the terminology and domain context used by this tool.^[1]

Compute the velocity made good toward a waypoint given a heading offset. Inputs are interpreted exactly in the displayed units and the calculation returns the following fields without presentation rounding.

VMG (kt)

Returned number in kt. Component of boat speed directed at the waypoint.

• Vessel design and loading, sea state, wind, current, tide datum, weather, chart accuracy, equipment, crew, and safety margins can make real conditions differ from a simplified result.
• Boat speed must be at least 0.
• Bearing offset must be at least -180.
• Bearing offset must be no greater than 180.
• Use finite inputs in the displayed units, preserve source measurements and assumptions, and independently verify consequential decisions.

Cross-check current charts, tide and weather services, instrument data, vessel manuals, and applicable navigation rules, and retain a conservative alternative plan.

• Downwind VMG Calculator

  Compute downwind velocity made good as target boat speed times the absolute cosine of the true wind angle.

• Upwind VMG Calculator

  Compute upwind velocity made good as target boat speed times the cosine of the true wind angle.

• VMG to Leeward Calculator

  Compute velocity made good to leeward from boat speed and true wind angle on a run.