5 Ways MySail Will Make Crew Management Easier This Season
by Deborah Dalziel 17 Oct 2024 21:09 BST
5 Ways MySail Will Make Crew Management Easier This Season © MySail
As the sailing season heats up, managing your crew effectively becomes paramount. Whether you’re prepping for local regattas or planning an offshore campaign, having a streamlined system in place can make all the difference.
MySail offers an intuitive platform designed to simplify crew management, allowing you to focus more on the thrill of sailing and less on the logistics. Here are five ways MySail will enhance your crew management experience this season.
1. Effortless Scheduling and Invitations
Creating and sharing your sailing schedule is a breeze with MySail. Skippers can quickly set up races, series, or regattas and selectively invite crew members. Crew will only see events they’re invited to, reducing confusion and helping you manage crew skills and experience across your various race programs.
Automated email invitations notify crew of upcoming races and direct them to their schedule page where they can confirm availability with just a click.
Skippers can also select races and regattas entered in MySail by partner clubs to pre-fill the dates and details in their yacht's schedule. This feature not only saves time but ensures everyone is on the same page with links to the race page for easy access to vital information such as the Notice of Race (NOR) and Sailing Instructions (SIs).
2. Automated Notifications for Smooth Communication
One of the standout features of MySail is its automated notification system. Crew receive email reminders for upcoming races, helping them keep race day at the forefront of their mind. If plans change, these reminders give crew a nudge to inform the skipper of the change to their availability, reducing last-minute dropouts and scrambles to find new crew.
The platform can also send notifications for new events, cancellations, or race changes, keeping everyone informed. By automating these tasks, skippers can focus on sailing rather than managing communication.
3. Easy Calendar Integration
Keeping track of races and events is crucial to avoiding conflicts with other work and life activities. MySail simplifies this with seamless calendar integration. Crew can easily add race dates to their external calendars through native Google Calendar integration or by downloading an iCal/.ics file which works with multiple digital calendar apps. Calendar entries use the designated boat call time as their start time to help crew arrive punctually.
Calendar integration helps prevent double-booking and confusion about when and where crew are supposed to turn up, making it easier for both skippers and crew to stay on top of their schedules.
4. Comprehensive Single View of Crew Availability
Communication tools like WhatsApp and email may serve skippers well, but they often lead to confusion and disorganisation as skippers must scroll back days and sometimes weeks to see who has said what. MySail provides a comprehensive view of crew availability and position assignments in one centralised location. It also provides a single point of information for crew to look up their upcoming sailing details.
While Google Sheets can offer a high-level overview, it lacks the specific controls necessary for effective crew management. MySail allows skippers to control what crew can view and crew can only update their own availability and cannot change position assignments. This system enhances accountability and makes it easier to plan positions, ensuring that skippers know exactly when they’ll be short crew or lack required skills on the boat.
5. Streamlined Crew Recruitment
Finding new crew members can be challenging, but MySail simplifies the process. The platform allows skippers to search for and connect with potential crew based on specific requirements.
You can advertise for crew for scheduled races and track responses all in one place, with crew response to these ads linked back to your race management page. When you find someone to join your crew you can add them to the race as a guest or invite them to join your yacht’s crew list.
Additionally, MySail allows skippers to access essential crew information, such as sailing qualifications and emergency contact details. This comprehensive view not only enhances safety but also helps build a well-rounded crew for the season.
Having the right tools in place for crew management can significantly ease the burden on skippers. MySail offers a range of features designed to streamline scheduling, improve communication, and enhance crew recruitment. By leveraging this platform, skippers can spend less time managing logistics and more time out on the water enjoying their sailing.
If you are a yacht owner or sailor and you want a simpler way to get out on the water and sail more in 2024, go to mysail.team to find out more or sign up at app.mysail.team.