Your Boat Profile

I was cruising through the RailMeets Boat Finder looking to see what was going on the sailing world as well as looking for interesting boat profiles. You can learn a lot about a boat and program by reading the profiles. I see lots of you have beer, cold, free, craft are all options you can find. Some boats list the skills they are looking for from beginner to advanced, there is a seat available. Some of you extol your racing accomplishments and others have a Dude like laid back cruising style. These are all great conversation starters with prospective crew.

One thing I did notice was there were a lot of boats that did not yet have the Motto spot filled in. Not filling in the Motto section is kind of like putting up an ad to sell a car and then leaving out the details. Creativity is good here but not all of us have Mad Men levels of it. So what do you put on your boats profile? Tell us a little about your boat, when you race, the attitude on board, types of crew or positions that you are looking for. If you need crew for Wet Wednesday or the Sunday Commodore’s Series, let us know. Keep it short, keep it tight and the crew will start contacting you.

RailMeets Releases New Cloud-based Scoring Solution

Chicago, IL (March 23, 2022)— RailMeets, the popular crew management and crew finder platform, has released a new, full-service, scoring system. The company has launched an integrated scoring solution to better meet the needs of Race Committees, Principal Race Officers, Skippers, and Crew.

John Madey, co-founder of RailMeets said, “Our scoring program is a very modern platform, utilizing newer technology than existing providers, to ensure maximum data safety and security. We designed it to integrate with all of our other software to create a comprehensive solution for users at all levels.”

The new cloud-based program has all the features of existing scoring systems. Race Committees will enjoy self-service regatta management, pricing, divisions, fleets, and race schedules. For Principal Race Officers there are privacy features designed to securely store all the necessary information about the regatta and the competitors.

You can read more here

Giving back to the sport

There is one conversation that we at RailMeets have had with people all over the world. How do we match experienced skippers with new skippers to get them started in sail racing? RailMeets is doing its part to match them up. Say you are an experienced skipper that wants to give back. You can now check a box on your profile that indicates that you are open to mentor. If you are a newbie skipper and want some help you can check a box on your boats profile to indicate that you would like some help getting started. This is searchable in our crew/boat finder. Thanks to the three people that have already made themselves available to mentor as well as one boat that is looking for a mentor. Can any of our eastern Michigan peeps help him out?

Eight Bells for Luiz Kahl

When a sailor has died he or she can be honored with the sounding of eight bells; meaning “end of the watch”. The term “eight bells” can also be used in an obituary, – Wikipedia

This past weekend the sailing community lost one of our giants, Luiz Kahl unexpectedly passed away on September 25. Luiz was the founder and developer of the popular software program YachtScoring. I had the pleasure of working with Luiz and his system to set up scoring for racing in the Chicago area. YachtScoring helped unify and connect the sport. Beercan racers to Grand Prix sailors used the system and the familiar interface has become the standard for the sport. Luiz will be missed.

YouTube Stars?

Probably not, but if you want to learn more about how to use RailMeets? We have added our own YouTube channel. We will be doing short, less than 5 minutes videos on using RailMeets starting with how to get an account and basic site navigation. We will be posting as we complete them probably one a week or so. Have a topic you want to see covered? Drop us a note info@railmeets.com


As they say on YouTube “Like, Share and Subscribe”

https://www.youtube.com/channel/UC7Sd2xWZdtMLrSp53y_g5_A

24 hours a day…

We made a little tweak this week. Some of you were requesting to list the time for events in a 24 hr format. So we added this option. To access go to your profile (upper right corner click on your silhouette), select My Info. Then Update Account Settings, in Time Format select Display time in 24hr format. Don’t forget to hit submit.
All your events will now show the time in 24hr format

Safety at Sea

If you have taken a Safety at Sea course we have added greater refinement to the course options available. In addition to the US Sailing 1/2 day, 1 day and 2 day courses we have added Storm Trysail Foundation Junior and for those of you outside the US, the World Sailing Offshore (1 day) and World Sailing International Offshore (2 day with hands on). To change your selection Click on the Silhouette (or your picture) in the upper right corner, select My Info. Scroll down to Crew Finder Profile and select Update Profile. Scroll down a bit for the Safety at Sea Course and select the course that you have taken. While you are at it update the date that you took the course. Don’t forget to hit Update when you are done.

Making lemonade…

Lemons – First the COVID-19 statement. All RailMeets personnel are currently happy and healthy. We are Chicago based but we do work with vendors around the globe. Everyone is currently working from home and we are working hard. All of our suppliers have shared with us and assured us with their business continuity plans. RailMeets is in great shape, ready for use now and when this is over.


Lemonade – What are we working on? A healthy refresh of the site, you may have noticed some changes in the crew and boat finders, the signup pages, and general readability of the site, you will notice a cleaner crisper look. We are also freshening up the crew confirmation pages and most aspects of the mobile interface. This should make RailMeets faster and easier to use. We will be rolling out the new pages over the next 30 days.

Wondering how to do something in RailMeets? See our help pages (bottom of every page) or contact us at info@RailMeets.com
Pic by PhotoMIX

The Road to Ensenada

RailMeets is proud to announce that we have been selected as the official crew and boat finder for the 73rd annual Newport to Ensenada race on April 24-28 2020. This is the 73rd running of the 125 mile classic that starts in Newport Beach California. The Race continues south along the coast to the finish at Ensenada in Baja Mexico.

In the coming days we will be posting more on the race and how to find crew or a boat on all the destination races that we are featuring. For more information about the race or to enter please visit https://nosa.org/