I joined the sailing community in 2019, first as a photographer and then as a sailor. Having met members of the community on social media before meeting them in real life, I was pleasantly surprised at how welcoming the community was. As in-person events returned, the crew I was sailing with was astounded by how many people I had come to know in so short a time, but I was even more astounded by how few people they actually knew after so many years.
As my participation in the community grew, here are some of my other realizations:
- New sailors come out of sailing schools with no real sense of what to do next, the opportunities that exist, and ways to participate in the community.
- Yacht clubs present opportunities to their members, but many sailors cannot afford a membership.
- Many yacht clubs and other sailing organizations have crew boards but not all are easily accessible or public, thus excluding a large population of the sailing community looking to participate.
- For those wanting to race, there are multiple race management companies, which makes finding information about races a hunting expedition.
- Not all boat owners are willing to take on sailors they don’t know, regardless of who made the recommendation because knowing a person has 5 years experience doesn’t mean much without knowing what that experience really was.
- There are a good number of sailors who do not participate on social media, so clubs and organizations that only promote their events via this medium are missing a good portion of the community.
- Many events have someone capturing the action, by photo and/or video, but without proper promotion, many racers don’t know they exist or how to find them.
- Racing and cruising crews don’t necessarily have a clear method of communication. They use email, text, voicemail, word of mouth, google docs, etc., making it hard to keep track of everything.
These realizations were the light bulb for this website. There is so much information out there but no condensed way to get it to the community. That’s where Live The Sail Life comes in. The goal is to bring information from all the various sources to one central location, never taking away from other sites but rather drawing people to them. I want our community to work smarter, not harder by bringing you the information available on the web without having to do all the legwork.
The website aims to provide the following:
- Sailing Profile - a way for sailors and boat owners to provide their sailing experience in one place
- Crew Board - a place for sailors and boat owners to connect about sailing opportunities as well as assistance
- Crew Management - a centralized place for boat managers to organize their crew, publicly or privately
- Groups - discover new groups and organizations in your area or an area you may find yourself in
- Education - education in the areas of racing, cruising, junior sailing, new sailors, diversity and inclusion as well as protecting the environment
- Events - quickly connect to events like races, cruises, classes, and harbor clean ups with direct links to the information necessary to participate
- Email/Messages - an internal system that will allow safe and effective communication with other members
Initial rollout of the website is slated for mid 2024 in North American regions only (US specifically with Canada, Mexico, the Caribbean to follow). Based on the success of the platform, the intention is to rollout internationally, specific regions to be determined.
Site wise, my intention is to rollout the Crew Management, Profile/Crew Board, Events and messaging sections during the beta testing. Education and Group sections will follow as soon as possible after the initial launch.
I have lofty goals for Live the Sail Life, one of which is to provide this website free of charge to all members, but to do that I need your help. Your donation will help offset the cost of building the website to help make this a reality.
Early website costs include:
$35K - website design and development
$10K - marketing
$10K - legal
I believe it takes a village but I wouldn’t ask of you what I wouldn’t do for myself. To date, I’ve personally invested $8K into the initial launch of the website. As I said, every donation received will directly fund this website and provide upgrades based on your feedback. The intention is to make this site work for your needs so I will be sending out surveys to get your input and will do my best to incorporate as much as I can in to the launch and future updates.
I thank you for your consideration and look forward to bringing you a top of the line website in the coming months.
EDUCATION: New Sailors being coached
RACING: Junior sailors participating in regattas
RACING: California Yacht Club's Sunset Series
EDUCATION: NEW SAILORS / RACING / CRUISING / DIVERSITY & INCLUSION / ENVIRONMENT: 2021 Women's Boating Event hosted by SCYA offered various classes over 2 days including knot tying and charting. Students could also register to earn their Safety-At-Sea certification. (Southern California Yachting Association)
EDUCATION: DIVERSITY & INCLUSION / RACING: 2023 WOW-WAH Regatta (Women on the Water - Women at the Helm) hosted by WSA-SMB (Women's Sailing Association of Santa Monica Bay).
CRUISING: Catalina Harbor, Catalina
CRUISING: Sunset cruising
