Who is your service aimed at? Although termed Yachtplot, and primarily aimed at voyaging yacht skippers and crew, our service is aimed at any voyager capable of defining their position by using latitude and longitude co-ordinates. This covers all kinds of marine and water-borne traveller, including those on Europe's inland waterways.

Why can't I just telephone/email/text everybody? There will be times when email is not available to you, and you can only telephone or text someone. That's fine, but calling even a few people on your list to keep them up to date may be expensive, particularly from another country. With our system, a single update, by any of a wide range of means, serves to keep everybody informed.

What does it cost? We have aimed at the lowest possible cost for our service. You are responsible for the charges involved in contacting us (if any), so all we have to do is update and maintain the web site. For more details, see our  Membership page.

What happens when my subscription runs out? Your position reporting, mini messaging, Yachtpix, Fleetplot and any other included services are discontinued. Your Friends and Family can continue to see your entries up to the date at which your subscription expired. Your registration will lie dormant for 2 years unless reactivated. Thereafter, we will delete your account - if you re-join, you will also have to re-register.

How do I submit a position report ? If you have access to the internet, you can log in to your own secure area of our web site, and fill in the details on a simple form. Alternatively, we provide you with a form of words which you MUST use to submit a position report by email, text, fax or any other written or printed means.

Why do I have to format my written report in a special way? We need to know that the information being provided is coming from you. If you use our standard format, then you are probably a yachtplot.com member. If you include your callsign and password, then we can check your status before posting your information

Is my information secure? Yes. Only those people you give the access details to will be able to log in to your personal web site and see your current situation. You can change their password at any time via the Internet. We do not accept password changes by any written or emailed method, which can be intercepted.

How many position reports can I submit? We have a limit of 1 manual update per day. If you are accessing yachtplot.com via the Internet, you can make as many changes as you like.

How quickly will my site be updated? If you provide your own information via the Internet, immediately. If your report is submitted by any other method, we guarantee that it will be updated within 24 hours of receipt. Normally it is much faster, and often happens within 15 minutes of your report reaching us, but most of any delay is likely to be in your email reaching us.

How and where is my position shown? Your mini web site provides a link to Google Maps so that your visitors can see your whereabouts shown graphically, either as a map or, where available, as a photograph. Your position reports are also available as a list so that visitors can see your historical information and your visitors can see your last 5 positions on the same map to gain a visual and easily understood record of your progress.

Why do the dates look funny? Different nationalities represent the date in different ways, so we use year-month-date which is unusual, but instantly recognisable by most people.

Can I have continuous tracking ? Not from Yachtplot. Such systems exist, but require expensive dedicated hardware and costly subscriptions to the relevant open access or dedicated web sites. yachtplot.com is designed for sailors at large who just want to give their family and friends some peace of mind and entertainment for the lowest possible cost.

Isn't there a free service which does the same thing? Not quite. Free services generally track your position but publish it to the world at large. Some also require more information from you (weather reporting, wildlife tracking) which justifies the cost of their free service. They may also not offer the additional services (manual updating, photo albums, fleet plotting, etc) that we do. See our links pages for some examples.

Is yachtplot.com suitable for SAR purposes? NO - absolutely not!. As a responsible skipper you should notify the relevant authorities of your ports of departure and arrival and intended route and duration. yachtplot.com is for social reporting and entertainment only.

What if people want to email me? We have devised a simple system which we call 'mini messaging'. Any of your authorised visitors can click on a link in your mini site and send you a message which can be forwarded immediately to your on-board email system. You can also review all of your mini-messages whenever you have direct access to the internet.

Why is mini messaging better than emails? They are simple text messages of limited length suitable for slow speed connections via SSB or Inmarsat. They do not permit attachments in any form and are therefore invulnerable to viruses and worms.

Can I use mini messaging after I have returned home? Yes, if you continue with your membership subscription.

Do I need any specialised knowledge or equipment? No. Having your own computer or mobile phone would be helpful, because it means you will understand a little more of the technology. However, at its most basic, you can use yachtplot.com by sending us faxes, and that's possible from virtually anywhere in the world (in our experience....)

Why can't I just call you or leave a message on an answering machine? Although the cost of calls is decreasing in Europe and the USA, it's by no means universal. The other problem is with garbled messages - by insisting on written messages in a simple to understand format, we avoid confusion and errors.

Can I put photographs on my Yachtplot site? Yes. We provide the facility for you to create an unlimited number of photo albums and for you to upload photographs of your journey to them. Our system is not primarily an online photo album, so the facilities are somewhat limited compared with those which are.

Are there any other services available? At this stage, no, but we are already considering other features and facilities to expand the scope of our offerings. Our priority was to launch with the lowest possible cost and most effective service that we could. If you think there is something that we might usefully offer, please email us and let us know.

Why don't you show any phone numbers on your web site? yachtplot.com is a small scale Internet service which is operated by a very limited number of people, which is how we keep the cost per member down. The service operates 24 hours a day, 7 days a week, and we simply don't have the resources to talk to any number of our members at all hours of day and night.

The following is a selection of links to useful web sites - click on the name to visit the web site.

For cruising sailors	Publications and periodicals
Blue Water Rallies : Organisers of rallies worldwide for cruising sailors	Yachting Monthly Major UK magazine
Noonsite Information web site for long distance cruising sailors	Passagemaker.com Magazine and web site for long distance cruisers.
Ship to Shore A valuable service for cruising sailors to manage mail and act as a forwarding agent for parcels and spares.
Weather services
UK Met Office Shipping Forecast The Grand-daddy of them all!
Passageweather.com Wind and Wave Forecasts for Sailors and Adventurers
National Marine Weather Forecast US Government site
Australian Bureau of Meteorology Marine Weather forecasts