Five Essential Digital Tools for Superyachts

Yachting is a fast-moving industry that prides itself on constant technological innovation that produces yachts at the cutting edge of modern technology. But captains, yacht owners and managing companies are often left far behind those gleaming masterpieces, still reliant on mounds of old-fashioned paperwork, piles of receipts, and outdated management styles. It’s time to change all of that.

Today it’s out with the lever-arch files and the dusty piles of paper, and in with the best digital experiences that the yachting industry has to offer. Get your web browser ready…things are about to get exciting.

Pinpoint Works

Pinpoint Works is a cloud-based collaboration solution for coordinating all unplanned maintenance, one-off jobs, special projects, warranty management, and refit work on board.

In a typical project management environment, communication is handled across a variety of forums and documents. It involves a number of different stakeholders, from captain and crew to contractors, service providers, and officials. This organised chaos makes it easy for documents to be lost, instructions to be missed and snags or other items to be left incomplete – mounting to wasted time and resources. 

Pinpoint Works solve these inefficiencies with its easy-to-use web and mobile apps connected to a yacht’s GA for pinpointing a precise location. It is specifically designed to bring all stakeholders, documents and communications into one single place where information is central, accessible and transparent. Nothing will slip through the cracks and information is updated in real-time

Pinpoint Works is created by yacht crew for the yachting industry but is also being used for land-based clients including construction, property management and hospitality. A limited free version is available, while pricing for more comprehensive functionality ranges from £20 to £32/user per month or custom pricing for unlimited users.

Visit www.pinpointworks.com for more information.

Charter Itinerary

Creating an itinerary for any charter was traditionally a time-consuming hassle. Destinations, anchorages, ports and sightseeing stops had to be researched, someone had to write up a description of each, a graphic designer had to pull it all together with graphics into a beautiful pdf, and the representative would then send it to the client.

If changes were requested, the whole process began again. It was a mess. And if we’re all honest, nobody enjoyed doing it.

Charter Itinerary is here to fix that by making charter planning fun, quick and easy.

Charter Itinerary is a cloud-based tool designed specifically for professionals in the yacht charter industry. It allows the user to quickly create a beautiful itinerary for a charter trip, and the only thing required from the user is to supply the trip’s proposed start and end date and locations.

Charter Itinerary’s exclusive software then pulls data automatically from its constantly updated database of marinas, anchorages, destinations and amenities to propose a route for the trip, complete with all of the information, pictures and other fun facts relevant to each stop.

The route can then be quickly shared with guests via simply sending a link. Changes can be made instantly, both before and even during the trip, for those unexpected last-minute demands.

Pricing for Charter Itinerary starts from €4.50 per itinerary.
For more information visit www.charteritinerary.com/

Voly

Voly is a cutting-edge, cloud-based accounting system that allows for easy financial management of yachts and other assets like private jets, helicopters and property.

It gives owners, managers, captains, pursers and any other stakeholders immediate, real-time financial data relating to the yacht or other asset. Transactions are recorded as they happen, resulting in an unprecedented level of financial oversight and transparency.

Voly even supplies its clients with its exclusive Voly Prepaid Mastercard. Any number of these cards can be issued to the yacht/stakeholders on another asset. The benefit of this card is that it is directly linked to the Voly platform for instant expense reporting, and since it is pre-loaded with funds that have to be pre-approved for use on the software, there is no risk of unauthorised expenditure or overspending.

Voly clients also enjoy lower foreign exchange banking fees thanks to the built in Payment Platform which can be used to make payments to service providers across 37 different currencies. Read more about that here.

Crucially, Voly even makes captains and crew more productive - up to 75 per cent - by reducing the amount of time they need to spend on expense-related paperwork admin.

With Voly already in use on over 600 yachts worldwide, there’s every reason it’ll work for your asset and there’s no reason to wait.

Visit Voly today for more info.

BRNKL

BRNKL (pronounced ‘Barnacle’) is a revolutionary cloud-based remote security and monitoring system for yachts and RVs.

Homeowners have, by now, long been accustomed to cloud-based security solutions such as Ring and Nest cameras and sensors. These systems have become popular for their simplicity, accessibility, convenience and - most of all - the peace of mind they deliver. BRNKL delivers that same experience but tailored for yachts and boats.

Featuring a range of discrete, stylish, cloud-connected sensors and cameras, BRNKL offers owners, captains or any other stakeholders the ability to check in on and track their boat, no matter where they or the boat may be.

Users can access information and receive automatic alerts ranging from real-time CCTV camera feeds on board, to bilge activity, shore power integrity, battery status and even the boat’s location.

BRNKL’s pricing ranges from $955 for a basic monitoring kit, to $2,385 for their full, premium system. Individual components are also available for purchase.

Visit BRNKL.io for more information.

Orca CoPilot

Orca is a chartplotter with a difference. It consists of the Orca app, as well as the Orca Core which is a navigational device, and the Orca Display which is a purpose-built, ruggedised tablet pc.

The Orca app is free to use and provides the user with beautiful marine navigational charts, routing information, satellite photo overlays, and AIS information.

The Orca Display uses the app to display combined information from the boat’s existing marine network, data from the Orca Core and data pulled from constantly updated cloud-based sources to deliver what it calls the Orca CoPilot experience. This allows the Orca app to not only provide navigational charts like typical chart plotters but also to display real-time routing information such as weather conditions at your destination and any hazards.

Orca also delivers a comprehensive AIS system, including the boat’s own AIS target, regardless of whether your boat has an AIS transceiver.

Orca CoPilot is ideal for any boat, but we can see it being especially useful on smaller vessels like yacht tenders where space and amenities might be more limited. The Orca Display is removable from its charging dock for complete peace of mind, and it means that skippers can take it with them and sit at home or in their cabin and plan routes for the next trip.

Orca ranges in price from the Orca app, which is free to use, to €449 for just the Orca Core and up to €1499 for the complete package of the Orca Core plus the Orca Display.

Visit Orca for more information and to place your order.

Conclusion

The digital marine landscape is evolving just as quickly as yacht design. In this article, we reviewed five of the digital tools that every yacht owner and captain must have to get the best out of their yachting experience both on and off the water!