Listen to this articleBelow is our recent interview with John O’Keefe, the Founder at YachtWave:
Q: Could you provide our readers with a brief introduction to YachtWave?
A: The boat ownership market has experienced extraordinary growth in 2021and 2022 led to the second highest ranked year in boat sales in nearly two decades and this growth in new retail boat sales is expected to continue through 2023. This momentum comes from a post COVID pandemic demand as many demonstrate an ongoing prioritization of a life well-lived, spent enjoying outdoor experiences with family and friends. The result is more boat owners worldwide than ever before, many experiencing boat ownership for the first time.
In response to the growth, YachtWave (www.yachtwave.com), a Yacht Management Software App, was created in response to the growing need of boat owners (typically of vessels from 25 ft to 80 ft) to better manage the large and complex amount of information and data pertaining to the maintenance and ownership of their boats. Historically, boat owners resorted to spreadsheets or expensive Yacht Management software platforms.
YachtWave is designed to give boat owners and operators a free, mobile alternative to spreadsheets that delivers the features and functionality of the expensive “Yacht Management Software” platforms.
Q: Can you give us more insights into your features?
A: YachtWave delivers boat owners with Information management and tools needed to better manage their boats. This includes logbook, inventory, documents, checklists, tasks and alerts all coupled with offline access when not within reach of the internet. With our debut at the Fort Lauderdale International boat show (FLIBS) in October, we will be announcing “data sharing” so that boat owners can share their boat information, logs and checklists with family, crew members and boat services.
Q: Any highlights on your latest announcement?
A: YachtWave utilizes “passwordless login”, a more modern approach to securely accessing apps and data, where a text code sent to the user’s mobile phone for login. Initially YachtWave was released in the United States and Canada and supported mobile logins from only those 2 geographies. We intended to strategically release YachtWave in additional geographies overtime. However, the response from international boat owners was much greater than expected. So, we added support for international geographies and mobile numbers much sooner than expected in our latest release that adds international geographic support for popular boating locations around the globe, including the Caribbean, UK, Italy, and many other countries in the European Union.
Q: What can we expect from YachtWave in next 6 months? What are your plans?
A: Over the next six months we anticipate adding more exciting features based on user feedback. Additionally in 2024, we will be delivering features to better service the needs of Marinas, Yacht Management Service and Marine Repair businesses. There is a tremendous need and a large gap in availability of solutions that enables better information sharing between boat owners and the various boat service industries.
Q: What is the best thing about YachtWave that people might not know about?
A: Since other Boat and Yacht Management Software apps have monthly or yearly fees, I believe the initial assumption is that there are fees involved to use YachtWave. However, YachtWave is and will continue to always be free for boat owner usage. Additionally, there is no advertising in the YachtWave, so it is an advertisement and subscription fee free app. This coupled with our large investment in the security and reliability of the data, which is something you rarely find in “free” apps, let alone boat and yacht management software.
A Work from the Founder
“It’s been two years of intense development efforts before our initial “soft release” at the Suncoast Boat Show in Sarasota, FL earlier this year. I am really excited with the initial response we have received for YachtWave.” stated John O’Keefe, YachtWave’s founder. “What we didn’t expect was the large international response we received. Therefore, I am excited that we were able to accelerate international support so that YachtWave can be utilized by boat owners worldwide and in time for our major debut at the 2023 Fort Lauderdale International Boat show this October.
