Preparing to cast-off!

It’s been five months of meticulous planning and development, but plainsailing.com is finally online, and we’re ready to start making waves!  If you’re reading this blog, it means that you are one of the lucky first few people on the site.  We are still working on some of the content, but hopefully you get an idea of the potential for this site – and if you have any feedback, then please DO get in touch!

What is plainsailing.com?  For sailors, it is primarily an online booking portal which will (in coming months) allow bookings to be made and confirmed in real-time;  It’s also partly a price comparison site, because multiple charter companies offer their best prices for their boats here;  On top of that, it’s partly a review site, with our sailors able to rate the yacht charter companies and the boats they charter;  And finally, it is also a portal where sailors, charter companies, boat enthusiasts and tourists can come together, and which we hope can one day become their first port of call.

We started this site from scratch and, being sailors ourselves, have tried to make it as functional and practical as we can.  The site can be used on any internet-connected device (Go on!  Try it on your mobile and see!).  As well as easing the booking process with innovations - like real-time availability and being able to scan in your RYA license to speed-up the ‘check-in’ process - we’ve also tried to make chartering a yacht as pain-free as possible: you can now order food and drink to be on-board when you arrive!  Food and drink!  (Plus all the usuals of bedding, clothing and special equipment).

In addition, the destination guides offer a wealth of useful information on the marina’s and towns we currently serve: local attractions, the best places to eat, the facilities and prices in-marina, and even the best time of year to visit, or the day of the pub quiz!

By making it as convenient and straightforward as possible for the customer, we think that more people will charter yachts more regularly, and we are breaking down the barriers for new or would-be sailors to charter a yacht.

We are piloting the site in Western Scotland, with the plan being to continue to develop and hone the site here before we take it further afield – so we would really appreciate any feedback you can give us, and any suggestions or ideas that you have…  We have tried to think outside the box, but I am sure we could do more to ensure that chartering a yacht is plain sailing (.com!).