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Customer spotlight: the sailing club that books its dinghies by the tide
An estuary sailing club runs its fleet and safety boats through Tidewell, with booking windows that move with high water.
When we named the company Tidewell, we didn't expect a sailing club to take it quite so literally. A small club on the Essex coast now runs its whole fleet of dinghies and safety boats through Tidewell, and its booking windows move with the tide.
The club has 12 dinghies, two safety boats and about 180 members. On a tidal estuary you can only sail for a few hours either side of high water, so fixed booking slots never made sense for them.
How they set it up
- Each week a volunteer enters the high-water times, and that week's booking windows are built around them
- A dinghy can only go out if a safety boat is booked and crewed for the same window
- Members need the right sailing qualification, recorded as an induction, before they can book a boat solo
The rule linking dinghies to safety boats was the clever part. They built it with linked bookings, a feature we added after talking to them, and it means nobody launches without cover, even on a quiet Wednesday.
Their commodore's verdict after one season: fewer phone calls, nobody stuck on a mudbank waiting for the tide, and a booking system whose name the members actually remember.