  We consider a triality between the Zermelo navigation problem, the geodesic
flow on a Finslerian geometry of Randers type, and spacetimes in one dimension
higher admitting a timelike conformal Killing vector field. From the latter
viewpoint, the data of the Zermelo problem are encoded in a (conformally)
Painleve-Gullstrand form of the spacetime metric, whereas the data of the
Randers problem are encoded in a stationary generalisation of the usual optical
metric. We discuss how the spacetime viewpoint gives a simple and physical
perspective on various issues, including how Finsler geometries with constant
flag curvature always map to conformally flat spacetimes and that the Finsler
condition maps to either a causality condition or it breaks down at an
ergo-surface in the spacetime picture. The gauge equivalence in this network of
relations is considered as well as the connection to analogue models and the
viewpoint of magnetic flows. We provide a variety of examples.
