How many times have you stepped off a boat without having a signed sea service testimonial in hand? If you have your plans in order, hopefully never! But as all of us who work in the industry know, it doesn't always happen like that. Itineraries change, flights get cancelled, harbourmasters kick you out, it's all happened before and is never guaranteed to not happen next time. What's the best way forward if we want to make sure our service record can stay with us no matter where we go?

Well, it's to go digital. It's nothing new and we have already been doing it for ages, filling out those excel log books. From a deckhand's perspective, this never really sat right with me. Too many days where you get swept away in 14 hours of chaos will stop you pretty quickly from filling out that nice excel sheet you set up while you were in yard pre-season. Expecting your officers to fill it out for you? Just another thing they can hold over you!

So, we developed Sea Service, a simple way to keep your digital sea service record with you no matter where you go. It's about building a service record that is centred around you and your progression, not 3 different logbooks that are in different formats from each one of your boats.

Reason 1: Being able to track towards a defined goal.

Whether your next ticket is your Yachtmaster or your Officer of the Watch, you need to know how many days to go until you get there. Even better, you need to be able to plan against your boat's itinerary to know if you will make it in time for when you need to book in courses. Having your service record in one place, means that all your lifetime days are counted up together towards your goals, whatever that may be. Sea Service has the ability to track Standby, Watchkeeping and Yard days, all helping you get to your next ticket faster.

Reason 2: The effort taken to record a day has never been easier.

We get it, using phones on deck has always been complicated. But the reality is, we all still walk around with them. So why not take advantage of that and give you the platform to record your digital sea service record in less than 30 seconds a day. Sounds like a tea time activity to me. You can record the day specific data like being at sea or in port and then add extra details, like the exact location or anchorage.

Reason 3: Reports and summaries right at your fingertips.

Maybe you're really attached to that sea days spreadsheet you've been running since 2017, that's understandable. That doesn't mean you don't have to make the recording process easier. Once the season is over, just export your CSV from Sea Service and append it to your existing spreadsheet.

If you're getting ready to sign off, you can view your total days needed for your Sea Service Testimonials and fill out the form with ease for whichever union or maritime body you're with. Your boat probably already has a template with all the vessel specific details on there, all you need is your own sea days on your app.

There you go, maintaining a digital sea service record has never been easier with a ton of benefits on the side. Give Sea Service a go today by downloading on the iOS or Google Play store, we offer a 7-day free trial and regular double figure discounts for annual plans.