Yotspot Launches App: Yotspot Connect

With the restrictions of recent Covid-19 events finally easing, we’re slowly being reintroduced back into contact one another – albeit from a safe distance – to re-connect and catch up, in person!

What better time for superyacht crew recruiter Yotspot, to launch their new app, Yotspot Connect, specially designed for crew and yachting professionals working in the world of superyachts to find one another and do just that– Connect!

Designed to help crew, scattered far and wide, stay connected and find friends. You might have your first day off in a few weeks and find yourself wandering the streets of Antibes, pondering if anyone’s around for a chat, coffee or catch up but how do you locate them? With Yotspot Connect, it’s easy.

Yotspot Connect’s co-founder Steve Crawford, explained, “When I worked as deck crew, it was frustrating not knowing who was about. You might have been working onboard for 2, maybe 3 weeks straight, without a day off and suddenly you find yourself with a whole day free in a beautiful port, but you’re on your own, all your crewmates working back on the boat and you’ve no idea who’s around? Someone could be moored in the same dock, but you could easily miss them.  We wanted to create a platform that was specially designed for the yachting industry, that would help those within it stay connected.”

Whilst Facebook yachting communities are great for shout-outs, you can’t always guarantee you’ll get responses when you want and from whom you want them! Yotspot Connect utilises the address book you’ve populated within your smart phone and makes connections with those who’ve also downloaded and enabled the app and shows you who’s in town when you are, to within a mile’s proximity!

With just a few clicks, find out which of your friends is nearby, which vessels are in port, the status of the vessel and how far away it is.

Steve’s business partner Daryl Bradley explains more “it’s a really stylish intuitive app, super easy to use and specially designed for superyacht crew and professionals working in the superyacht industry. Unlike other yachting apps on the market, it’s not a directory, but a social networking platform where you’re free to login, set up your profile, log all your social media handles in one place, enable your vessel and location and access other friends and colleagues who have done the same. If you’ve ever arrived in a new location, port or at a networking event and wondered “who’s around?  Yotspot Connect will tell you who and if they’re in town!”

Here are some other features:

Keep Track of Vessels, so you’ll know when your friends arrive in Port.

With in-built AIS programming and the marinetraffic.com plug-in you simply input your MMSI (Maritime Mobile Service Identity) number and Vessel signature code and your vessel’s location will be transmitted to your contacts – as long as they’ve also enabled the app.  Type in any vessel’s MMSI and see where it is in the world, crew can tag themselves to that vessel and you’ll see who is onboard.

Connecting your Yachting Community.

By accessing your phonebook, the app enables you to stay connected with people you already know and want to stay in touch with, however far apart you think you might be!

Stay in contact with your Yacht Crew

By tagging yourself and other crew to your vessel you can find yacht crew you work with, whether they’re onboard or in port, so you can keep in contact when you need to. 

Organise Events

Organise private or public events anywhere in the world and invite contacts who are in your locality to come along.

Who’s Nearby?

It’s easy to set up ‘push notifications’ on the App, for friends, colleagues or professional contacts in your network so you’ll be informed if they’re nearby.

In those long, recent days of social distancing and the increasing issue of mental health awareness amongst yacht crew, often living far from their loved ones, trying to find their feet on a new vessel, in new surroundings with new crewmates, they need as much support and connectivity as possible. That’s why we’ve included a shortcut within the app for users to access ISWAN to quickly signpost them to a free, 24 hour multi-lingual helpline dedicated to seafarers and their families. 

By including limited advertising space within the app, users will be the first to hear about special discounts, offers, events and networking opportunities specific to the yachting industry and specific to a particular location. Great for business, great for the user.

Stay connected with friends and colleagues in the yachting industry by downloading the Yotspot Connect App today.
For more information simply contact Steve Crawford at steve@yotspot.com