Rainbow’s End Watch Bill

What it does

The rolling watchTwo on deck at all times. Every two hours the helm goes below, the lookout moves to the helm, and the next person comes on as lookout.
Five other systemsFixed teams in fours or threes, the Swedish 6-6-4-4-4, 4-4-4-3-3-3-3, or night watches only, each with an optional dog watch. The ⓘ lays them side by side with the hours each would give your crew.
The checkerWarns of an empty post, one person on two posts, a helm not marked as a helm, time off watch shorter than your least, and a swap without a reason. It never calls a plan safe.
The watch billHelm, Lookout and Off watch for every watch of the voyage. Swap a watch, with a reason. Print it for the chart table, with each person’s hours on deck and the wake-up procedure.
The nav stationLeave the Now tab open on an iPad at the chart table, or on your phone: who is on deck, the time to the next change, and twenty minutes before it, who to wake. Night view is red on black.
The handoverPosition, course and speed, the next mark or waypoint, traffic, wind and sea, sails, the boat, and the standing orders. Each part starts with what was said last time. The person coming on acknowledges each critical item.
Plans by codeEach crew phone scans the plan from your screen and shows a code you scan back, so you know whose phone has the latest version. No signal, Wi-Fi or Bluetooth.
AlarmsOn iOS 26, a wake call is a full-screen alarm that rings with the phone on Silent, once you allow alarms. On earlier iOS it comes as a notification, and the app says so.
When plans changeStart the watches when all hands ends. Stop them for a night at anchor and restart them where the rotation left off. The watches already stood stay as they were.
Works offlineNo account, no server of ours, nothing tracked. Nothing is sent anywhere.

We built it aboard our ketch Rainbow, for overnight races and offshore passages.

Watch Bill Crew, free for everyone aboard

Each person aboard carries their own watches on their own phone: when they are on, whether on the helm or as lookout, their time off watch, and an alarm before each watch. They scan the plan from the skipper’s screen, choose their name, and show a code the skipper scans back. The phone always says which version of the plan it holds; until it scans a new one, it follows the old one. Watch Bill Crew is free, and needs a plan made in Watch Bill.

What it won’t do

Navigate, avoid collisions, steer or call for help.
Promise anyone wakes. Alarms can be silenced, and phones go flat.
Reach a phone that has not scanned a changed plan. It follows the old one until it does, and the app tells you whose.
Send the plan by radio or the internet. Everyone scans the code in person.

Rainbow’s End Watch Bill is an aid to running the watch, not a substitute for the skipper’s judgment. The spoken wake-up and the printed watch bill are the backup, always.

On the App Store

Rainbow’s End Watch Bill is on the App Store for iPhone and iPad, $4.99, bought once. The free Watch Bill Crew app puts each person’s watches and alarms on their own phone. Nothing is sent to us; the plan travels only as a code on your screen.

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