Boatbuilder launches free app to make sailing feel accessible

A free app built by boatbuilder Gaia Brojanigo is trying to do something the sailing world talks about a lot and rarely packages well: make small-boat cruising feel less like a marina-only luxury and more like a weekend habit. Rodi is aimed at sailors who want to sleep aboard, anchor out, and keep costs down without needing a big yacht or a polished berth address.

Brojanigo’s pitch is blunt. In her view, the barrier is not the water itself, but the way boating is perceived, with the word “marine” still conjuring yachts, expense, and exclusivity. She grew up boat camping with her family, remembers summer trips sleeping under the stars, and says the experience is closer to biking than camper travel because it can dodge fuel, parking, and highway tolls. That makes the app a practical tool as much as a cultural one, built around the kind of self-sufficient cruising that appeals to trailer-sailers, home-built boats, and other modest craft.

Rodi’s own website says it is designed to help users find boat-camping spots in Italy, including bivouacs, moorings, service points, and boat ramps shared by the community. Public app listings describe it as a free Android app, and the download numbers are still very early, which gives it the feel of a new grassroots platform rather than a finished mainstream product. For first-timers planning an overnight, that matters. A simple map of where to stop, where to land, and where to top up makes the difference between an idea that stays on the dock and a trip that actually happens.

The timing also fits a tighter market. British Marine’s UK Marina & Moorings Market Report 2025 points to capacity and occupancy pressures, waiting lists, marina expansion plans, and berth demand, while British Marine said in January 2026 that the market was “stable but softening” under economic headwinds and capacity constraints. The Canal & River Trust has also flagged small sailboats and sailing yachts as the most commonly abandoned vessels at UK marinas, tied in part to the large number of GRP boats built in the 1970s that are now aging out. Access is not just about enthusiasm. It is about whether ordinary sailors can still afford to keep these boats in use.

Brojanigo, originally from Milan and now 29, worked as a deckhand on yachts in the Caribbean at 18 before returning to boatbuilding and wooden-boat content. Her profile as a builder, creator, and advocate, including her role in bringing an Italian version of Women in Boatbuilding to life, gives Rodi a different kind of credibility. It does not promise to solve every barrier, but it does give small-boat sailors something the sport often lacks: a clearer, cheaper path to the first night aboard.