Ranging from improved technical clothing, to tracking & measurement devices, to new ways for media to cover events, the sports industry has witnessed numerous breakthroughs over the last decade. In sailing, the technical gear available has also come a long way, improving comfort, warmth and weatherproofing. Leading sailing events such as the Volvo Ocean Race and America’s Cup have driven technical developments to reach new speeds and improve safety of the yachts. These days, tracking devices and analytics are also being used at every level of sailing, to better understand and improve the performance of both the boats as well as the sailors.
In addition, technologies are also being deployed in sailing as an effort to understand the environmental impacts of modern society on the ocean. The 2017-18 Volvo Ocean Race used the round-the-world voyage to collect information on levels of microplastics in the ocean.
The application of technologies is also extending the reach of sailing into the broader community. This includes media coverage and online ways of interacting with mega events that draw in public interest such as yacht trackers and onboard coverage. It also includes online communities that help sailors and people interested in sailing connect and discover new ways to get involved in the sport. One of the business entities dealing with such cutting-edge activities is MySail Pty Ltd, a crew finding and management platform for yacht racing.
Crafted to Untangle Customer Pain
Incepted by passionate sailor and entrepreneur Deborah Dalziel, MySail is an excellent tech solution to one of the biggest challenges in the yachting world—the availability and management of race crew. Having sailed her whole life and being involved in the sailing community in Sydney for almost 10 years now, Deborah identified the challenges that yacht owners or their designated crew managers faced in organizing their regular race crew, and hence decided to fabricate MySail to grapple those challenges.
The Founder and CEO of MySail is also passionate about growing this sport and bringing new people into sailing. Leveraging the MySail Connect platform, she does this by providing an easy way for new sailors to recognize the available opportunities and to connect with other sailors and yacht owners.
Looking at the progress since MySail’s launch in early 2017, she explains, “Since our early days, we’ve expanded our thinking from a platform to help ‘get your crew sorted’ to a platform that connects people across the sailing industry.” The team of the leading sports management solution provider is currently working on a number of new features to bring this vision to life.
An Ultimate Solution for Each Element of the Sailing Industry
MySail’s offerings are targeted towards two key user groups involved in yacht racing – skippers and crew. For skippers and managers of racing yachts, MySail provides an online solution to easily find, manage, and communicate with their sailing crews. For sailors, MySail renders an easy way to keep track of their busy sailing schedules and find their next – or first – crewing position on a race yacht.
The MySail platform has also proven to be advantageous for yacht clubs & associations. It provides a simple way to help club members to organize their race crew and connect with new sailors, as well as bring new sailors into the club, helping to grow the potential member base and freeing yacht club administrators to focus on managing their club.
Passion turned into Business
Deborah, CEO of MySail, is a life-long sailor, experienced business & marketing professional and tech enthusiast; she has amalgamated her passions and formed a tech start-up for the sailing industry.
As MySail’s team is still a small one, Deborah’s role is pretty broad and includes forming business strategies, customer engagement, product development, finances, administration, marketing etc. While explaining how she manages her responsibilities, Deborah says, “I am working on handing over jobs and stepping back in some areas as much as possible. Areas where I’m not strong such as technology development and accounting, I have people whom I trust and are experts in these fields to manage those areas.”
Although managing a start-up can be hectic, she really enjoys the variety and creativity of what she does, and this helps keep her going every day. One of the most satisfying things for her is to hear from MySail’s members about their success stories, “It’s so rewarding to hear about people who have been able to get out sailing or achieve their goals using our platform,” Deborah adds.
Massive and Undisclosed Plans in Pipeline
Massive and Undisclosed Plans in PipelineCurrently focused on the Australian and New Zealand markets with members across the globe that use its crew management service, MySail aims to be a global player. Achieving its aim would provide MySail’s members with opportunities to sail in different locations and help bring the global sailing community together.
Deborah believes there is a huge opportunity in the space MySail is dealing in and its team is taking quite a broad view of how they can help members in this niche space. Instead of creating a solution for ‘sports,’ with a solution-focused completely on sailing, MySail is growing steadily and has some big plans for the next 12-24 months.
