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Marine navigation app

Boating navigation that keeps you in safe water.

Arrive in any harbor like you’ve been there before. Pathr gives you the local knowledge you haven’t earned yet, even with no signal.

Download on the App Store
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Free to download · Offline charts · Two months of Premium free

Pathr's chart of San Diego Bay with a route planned from Shelter Island up the channel and along the downtown waterfront, under the Coronado Bridge
Pathr’s chart of San Diego Bay, with a route Pathr planned across the bay

“Aviation-level navigation tools” for boaters.San Diego Business Journal

As featured inSan Diego Business JournalThe Log

Why Pathr

You don’t fear the water. You fear what’s under it.

Running aground is the second most common reason boaters call for a tow, about 1 in 8 tow calls, according to BoatUS. Pathr shows you the depth before you get there, with the traffic and the weather on the same chart.

Pathr planning a route across San Diego Bay: 6.6 nautical miles, 23 minutes, Route Safety 100, excellent

Depth-aware routing

Premium

Planned around your boat’s draft. Plan it with a connection, follow it with none.

Pathr chart of Shelter Island and San Diego Bay with depth soundings, buoys and your position

Nautical charts

Soundings, contours and buoys from official NOAA chart data. The charts work offline.

Pathr showing AIS vessels in San Pedro Bay, with details for the tanker Ligurian Sea at anchor

AIS traffic

Premium

See the ships around you with their name, speed and heading, plus collision details.

Pathr anchor watch history: the anchor held, with 0 feet of drift inside a 50 foot watch radius

Anchor watch

Set a watch radius when you anchor. If the anchor drags, Pathr sounds an alarm.

Pathr marine forecast for San Diego: 74 degrees, wind 7 mph, waves 3.9 feet, with hourly and 7-day forecasts

Marine weather

Premium radar

Wind, waves and radar on the chart, plus a marine forecast for the week ahead.

Premium features are free for your first two months.

Get started

On the water in three taps.

No hardware to install. It runs on the phone you already carry.

  1. Pathr app icon

    Step 1: Download Pathr

    Get it from the App Store or Google Play. The chart, your position and the anchor alarm are free.

  2. Pathr's chart of the Shelter Island yacht basin, with the blue dot of your position

    Step 2: See where you are

    Your live position on official NOAA chart data, with the depths, buoys and marinas around you.

  3. A route Pathr planned across San Diego Bay, from Shelter Island to CoronadoRoute Safety 100

    Step 3: Plan your routePremium

    Tap where you want to go and Pathr plans a route in water deep enough for your boat. Plan it with a connection, follow it with none.

Download on the App Store
Get it on Google Play

Free to download · Two months of Premium for new users

The Pathr family

From your phone to your whole fleet.

It starts with the free app. Each product is marked with exactly where it stands.

  • Pathr Navigation showing live AIS traffic around San Pedro Bay.

    Pathr Navigation

    Live

    For boaters. Free on iPhone and Android. Premium plans your routes.

    Get the app
  • HelmLink

    HelmLink

    In beta testing

    For your boat. A small hardware bridge from the app to your boat’s NMEA 2000 network. Steering in testing.

    About HelmLink
  • The Pathr Fleet chart from the demo, with simulated boats under way in San Diego Bay.Demo

    Pathr Fleet

    Pilot program

    For fleets. Every boat in a rental, charter, club or school fleet on one chart.

    Explore Pathr Fleet
  • Sample briefing

    “Wind picks up after 2 PM. Head back by 1:30.”

    Co-Captain

    In development

    For Pathr boaters. An AI co-pilot that will read your boat and the conditions.

    What it will do
Pathr FleetFleet operations

Your whole fleet, on one chart.

From the office, see where every boat is, who is running late and what needs attention. A HelmLink on each boat reads its position, engines, fuel and batteries. Made for boat rentals, charters, boat clubs and sailing schools.

The Pathr Fleet chart in the interactive demo, with a simulated fleet: Halcyon and Sea Lark under way off Coronado, and Tern, a rental at anchor, overdue by 25 minutes.
Pathr Fleet alert: Tern is overdue by 25 minutes. Alvarez party of 5, rental, due 3:15 PM, stopped 3.5 nm out.

Demo, simulated fleet

Explore Pathr FleetTry the demo

60-day pilot, up to five boats

The team

Built by sailors who got tired of “good enough.”

Three founders: aviation-grade safety discipline, commercial-scale engineering and award-winning product development, on the same boat.

Lucas Wright

Founder & CEO, SmartSail

  • Leads SmartSail as CEO: the company's vision, product and go-to-market
  • Flight test engineer on safety-critical autonomous systems
  • National Test Pilot School graduate
  • Named Startup San Diego's Member of the Month, July 2026
  • Sailor since childhood; competed nationally in junior sailing

“I’ve been sailing since I was a kid. I’ve also spent my career as a flight test engineer on safety-critical autonomous systems. We built Pathr because the boating app I wanted didn’t exist. I test it on my own Catalina 38 every weekend I can.”

Lucas Wright, Founder & CEO

  • Chris Netten

    Co-founder

    Software, Systems, Scale

    • Founding engineer at an automation startup acquired by a $1B+ technology company
    • Full-stack geospatial engineer and IoT systems architect
    • Built remote-control hardware and cloud systems at commercial scale

  • Will Gwinn

    Co-founder

    Hardware, Strategy, User experience

    • Award-winning product developer, from concept to commercialization
    • Rapid and frugal prototyping expert
    • Pre-Series startup experience

Talk to the founders:team@smartsail.ai

Co-Captain · In development

Meet your co-captain.

We’re building an AI co-pilot that will read your boat and the conditions, and tell you what a sharp first mate would. It will reason on the data Pathr already runs: the routing engine, the charts, AIS traffic, the weather and your vessel profile.

Not ChatGPT for boating.Co-pilot, not autopilot. You’re still the captain.

Read the full visionGet early access with the Founding Crew

Pathr Co-CaptainSample

Pre-trip briefing · Friday, 8:42 PM

“Wind looks 10 to 14 knots from the WNW most of Saturday. Your Beneteau has handled this profile fine on the last three runs, averaging 4h 20m. One thing to watch: fog offshore until about 10 AM, so I’d push departure to 9:30. Want me to update the plan?”
Drawn from
  • Forecast
  • Last 3 runs
  • Your boat

  1. The night before

    Will brief you before you cast off.

    The forecast read against your boat, your route and your experience: the departure window, what to pack, what could change.

  2. Underway

    Will watch the things you can’t.

    AIS traffic closing from your blind side. Wind backing 20° over the next hour. A shoaling tide near your planned turn.

  3. Back at the slip

    Will help keep the boat shipshape.

    Engine hours, oil changes and batteries, with what’s due flagged before it becomes a problem on the water.

PATHR
Founding Crew
Rank
Commodore
2 years Premium · Permanent badge
EST. 2026FOUNDING$500

Founding Crew · Numbered for life

Come aboard at the founding.

Pathr is free to download. Back what comes next with one payment: months of Premium and a permanent founding number, issued in the order you come aboard.

First Mate$253 months
of PremiumBest valueCaptain$10012 months
of PremiumCommodore$5002 years
of PremiumOnly 25

  • Every rank

    Permanent badge and founding numberPrivate Founding Crew communityBehind-the-scenes updates

  • Captain and up

    Early access to Co-CaptainA vote on the roadmap

  • Commodore

    5 gift passes1:1 onboardingFounder channel

Claim your seatfrom $25

One time · No auto-renew · 3 to 24 months of Premium

The free download is still the fastest way to start

News

Latest from the team.

All updates

Pathr Navigation

Take Pathr out this weekend.

Free on iPhone and Android. Download your charts once and they work with no signal.

Download on the App Store
Get it on Google Play

Two months of Premium for new users

Get product updates and a heads-up when Co-Captain is ready.

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