1. Create your account
- Open the app and choose Register: username, email, password.
- You'll get a confirmation email – click the link to activate your account.
- Then log in. Tick Stay logged in to stay signed in on your device.
2. Connect your watch
- In the app's sidebar open ⌚ Connect watch · Garmin · Polar, right under My profile. Everything about watches is in that one place.
- Garmin: click Connect Garmin and confirm in your Garmin account. From then on every water session you record on your Garmin arrives by itself – with Garmin's own windsurf, kite, SUP or surf profile, or with our watch app. Only water sports are taken over; your runs and rides stay in Garmin.
- Polar: click Connect Polar, sign in at Polar Flow and confirm. Your Polar sessions are imported from there.
- Imported sessions are placed at the nearest known spot within 2 km; if there is none, a new spot is created from the location. They count in the rankings straight away.
- Any other watch: upload a FIT / GPX / TCX file – see section 14.
3. The Garmin watch app (optional)
- The free WaterSession app from the Connect IQ Store adds what a file cannot carry: live speed screens, the spot record as a ring on your wrist, and values counted second by second – glide time, avg 5×10, your gybes.
- Start a first session: the watch shows a short connect code. Enter it under ⌚ Connect watch in the app – once – and the watch is linked to your account.
- In Garmin Connect (phone) → Devices → your watch → Connect IQ Apps → WaterSession → Settings you can choose pages and units. Leave Spot empty to detect it automatically by GPS.
4. The watch screens
While recording, switch pages with UP/DOWN. Which pages appear depends on the sport, and each one can be switched off in the settings:
- Speed – current speed big, with time, best 2 s and max underneath.
- Jumps (wind sports & wakeboard) / Paddle (SUP) – count and the latest value.
- Total – distance, with average and best 2 s.
- Distance – large, with your distance record at this spot.
- Jump height & Airtime (wind sports & wakeboard) / Cadence & Strokes (SUP).
- Gybes (wind sports & wakeboard) – count, plus the slowest point and exit speed of the last one.
- Run (not SUP) – best 2 s, length and time of the run you are on, then of your last one. The ring fills against your fastest run of the session.
- Top 5 × 10 s (not surf) – your five best 10-second runs and their average, avg 5×10.
- Beat the Beach – the spot record and your own best as a double ring; the watch vibrates when you beat one.
On every page a ring shows how close you are to your best of the day, and a filled badge at the top shows that the watch is recording. Single pages with only km/h or only knots can be switched on in the settings.
5. Saving & sending
- Finish with START → Save and Send is preselected. Store and send later keeps it on the watch, Resume carries on, Discard sits apart.
- A phone with Garmin Connect must be nearby – the watch uploads through it.
- After sending, the watch shows all your results on one page, then each value on its own.
- No phone at the beach? Sessions wait on the watch and are sent later, oldest first – via Resend in the start menu.
6. Sports & rankings
- Switch sport at the top: Windsurf · Kitesurf · Wingsurf · SUP · Wakeboard · Surf. Each sport has the rankings that fit it, as chips you swipe through – Top 15, one best session per rider.
- Windsurf: top 2 s, best 30 s, 500 m, nautical mile, avg 5×10, Alpha 500, glide time and speed per wind. Wing: foiling turns and flight time. Kite: total airtime and highest jumps. SUP: best 1 km, 5 km, 10 km and hour as pace, plus distance per stroke. Wakeboard: airtime, landing rate and runs. Surf: top speed, longest ride and water time.
- Some rankings add up the selected period instead of picking one session: Days on the water, Total glide time and the Top-10 average – the mean of your ten best sessions, which rewards consistency over one lucky gust.
- Each row shows the weather of that session, a trust badge and a mini curve of the session's fastest run.
7. Filters & your saved start
- Open Filter in the sidebar: Group, Location (spot), Year, Month, Day and gear type.
- Advanced filters: max front wing (foil), max fin size and a weight range (compare similar riders).
- Save your selection as My start – it is preselected every time you open the app.
8. My Results – records, index & your rank
- My Results is its own tab. It greets you with where you are ahead – the ranking in which you place best.
- Your records per sport, and your rank overall or at a spot you pick in the filter.
- Performance Index = top 2 s ÷ (wind × sail size) × 100 – higher means you were fast with little wind and a small sail (a fair efficiency score for tracking progress).
- What your sport costs (private, opt-in): enter what your gear cost, the round trip to each spot and extra items like a mast or a wetsuit – you get the cost per session and per kilometre and a yearly overview. Nobody else sees it.
9. My Results – sessions & analysis
- Personal bests: your top-10 speed table, filterable by spot, year, board and max wind (e.g. how fast at ≤ 5 Bft?).
- Pick a session for the full analysis: a speed curve with your runs and the longest one highlighted, all speed results at a glance, the five 10-second runs behind avg 5×10, and a gybe analysis that splits each turn into phases.
- The map shows the whole track, only the fastest or only the longest run. Sea state, tide and weather are added automatically.
- Who else was out? – the others who logged a session at the same spot that day, with your place among them.
- Set spot, board and sail on a session at any time; a session counts in the rankings as soon as it has a spot.
10. Spots & weather forecast
- The Spots tab: filter by country + spot for a description, photo gallery, webcam and live weather.
- 3-day forecast with a “worth it” traffic light (green/amber/red) from wind strength & the spot's best wind directions.
- Open a day for the hourly view (wind bars + frosted gust bars); toggle the thermal / sea-breeze potential.
- Upload your own spot photo – the newest 5 are shown with the uploader's name.
👉 Browse the public spot guide & live rankings – a free page for every spot, with the top riders and conditions.
11. Spot-TV – the café / shop screen
- A full-screen live board for a café, shop or club. Open it from the Filter panel: pick a spot → Open Spot TV (then press F11 for full screen).
- Shows a leaderboard with medals and percentage bars (rank 1 = 100 %), the rider of the day, the current weather and the 3-day forecast.
- A QR code lets visitors join today's ranking, plus an optional sponsor logo & product deals.
12. Groups & community
- Create or join groups to compare within your crew; filter the rankings by group.
- Private groups need the owner's approval; the owner can invite/approve members.
- A news banner shows members' new records and top-3 results.
13. Share equipment
- Use the same boards/sails as family or friends? Share your equipment via a short code.
- Enter a mate's code under Import equipment to copy their gear list – no retyping.
14. Other watches / Apple Watch
- Any watch or phone app that exports a FIT, GPX or TCX file works – Apple Watch via HealthFit, Suunto, Fitbit, a Strava export and more.
- Use Add session in the sidebar and upload the file. The app suggests the spot from the track; weather is added automatically, and you get runs, map and the full speed analysis.
- Moving from another app? Import your whole history in one go.
COROS watches
- In the COROS app open the session → top-right menu → Export Data → .FIT, then upload it under Add session – you get runs, the GPS map and the full speed analysis, just like any other session.
- We have applied for direct COROS sync; until it is approved, the file upload takes a few seconds.
15. Trust, fair play & privacy
- Every session gets a trust score from GPS physics: max acceleration, course change at speed, GPS noise, point density and a comparison with the spot best.
- Watch sessions also get an on-water check and a device-verified baseline. Please keep it fair – obvious outliers lose trust.
- Privacy: your GPS track is stored but shown only to you. The ranking shows name, spot, speed, equipment and weather. You can delete your data or account anytime.
16. Frequently asked questions
Which sports does MyWaterSessions support?
Six: windsurfing, kitesurfing, wingfoiling, SUP, wakeboarding and surfing. Switch sport at the top of the app – each has its own rankings and records. Surfing is scored on top speed, longest ride and time in the water – no sail, no kite, no jumps.
Is MyWaterSessions free?
Yes. Creating an account, recording sessions, the rankings, the spot guide and the wind forecast are all free.
Which Garmin watches are supported?
All of them, through your Garmin account: connect it once and every water session arrives by itself. The optional WaterSession Connect IQ app for live screens runs on around 40 Garmin watches – Fenix, Epix, Forerunner, Instinct, Venu, vívoactive and more; you link it with a short code the watch shows.
How is my speed measured?
From GPS. The rankings use averages, not a single reading: your best 2-second peak, your best 30 seconds, and avg 5×10 – the average of your five best 10-second runs – so a single GPS spike can't fake a top speed. Every session also gets a trust score.
Can I use it without a Garmin watch (e.g. Apple Watch)?
Yes. Polar connects like Garmin, and any watch that exports a FIT, GPX or TCX file works – upload it under Add session and you get the same speed analysis, runs and map.
Can I use it with COROS?
Yes. Export a .FIT file from the COROS app and upload it under Add session – the same speed analysis, runs and map as any other watch. Direct COROS sync is applied for.
Does it track jumps and airtime for wakeboarding?
Yes. For wind sports and wakeboarding the watch detects each jump and shows jump height and airtime; SUP tracks strokes and cadence instead.
Is my GPS location private?
Your GPS track is stored but shown only to you. Others only see your name, spot, speed, equipment and the weather of the session.