Marine tech company savvy navvy launches a free version for US boaters
by Isabel Johnston 9 Mar 2022 07:22 PST
Jelte Liebrand - savvy navvy founder © savvy navvy
savvy navvy was created by former Google software engineer and avid sailor Jelte Liebrand who wanted to bring an all-in-one navigation solution to the market, enabling more boaters to confidently and safely enjoy their time out on the water.
With more than 415,000 first-time boat users entering the US market every year[1] there is a growing opportunity and potential need to provide new boaters with increased confidence to get out on the water safely.
Furthermore, a huge amount of time and effort is spent on navigation, with some of savvy navvy's initial findings showing a third of boaters typically using multiple apps and spending up to two hours on navigation each day during their trip. Experiencing this complexity himself mid-Pacific during the Clipper Round the World Yacht Race, is what gave Jelte Liebrand the idea for the savvy navvy app, which he launched with co-founder Kevin O'Neill in 2017.
Confidence in the British marine tech company is clearly at an all-time high, having just raised more than $1.8M million through their crowdfunding campaign last month, showing huge interest in innovating the booming boating-market that continues to grow rapidly following the Covid pandemic.
So, what is savvy navvy?
Liebrand explains: "savvy navvy is an app based solution and really is as simple as 'Google Maps for boats'. Our vision from the outset has been for savvy navvy to be in every boater's pocket, supporting both new and experienced boaters on the water. But we've actually now gone beyond that, supporting kayakers, paddleboarders and jetskiers. Our designers built savvy charts™ from the ground up, using official NOAA hydrographic data, to show essential marine information with a clean and easy-to-view interface for safety and ease of use, enabling better and quicker navigation.
"Over the past five years we have worked hard to constantly develop our app with unique and user-friendly features. As part of our continuous growth, our new free plan will give anyone on the water, whether it's a paddleboarder, a kayaker or someone in a 50ft yacht access to our platform. This new free plan compliments our popular and more comprehensive premium option, which has grown twenty-fold in the past year alone."
Functionalities of the savvy navvy app
savvy navvy's brand-new free plan is available in the USA and enables free use of its USA charts. It also includes;
- weather forecasts
- automatic route planning with savvy routing™
- boat ramp information, ideal for anyone looking to launch their trailer boat
- savvy navvy's market-leading departure scheduler, which enables boaters at a glance to see the best time to depart based on their route, wind and tidal conditions
- Ability to record your GPS tracks
- And much more
savvy navvy's premium option includes global maps and enhanced access to other new integrated features such as tidal information, anchor alarms, satellite overlays, offline charts and greater planning functionalities for just $69 a year.
With more than a quarter of a million users in more than 100 countries globally, savvy navvy is growing rapidly as more people want one easily accessible app to confidently plan their routes on the water.
"savvy navvy is constantly evolving, changing and pushing new innovation based on user feedback, which drives everything we do. Understanding what the pain points are from our customers is absolutely critical and one of the reasons why we're so open, so transparent, so direct. If there's something that's not quite working for someone, then we want to know about it, so we can address it. I think that's one of the biggest things that sets us apart from others is that we listen. We really want to hear the views from our hundreds of thousands of users and ultimately together make a better product and a better boating experience for anybody out on the water," says Jelte Liebrand.
To find out more about savvy navvy or download the app visit www.savvy-navvy.com.
[1]2020 figure. Source: National Marine Manufacturers Association