Shore briefs and arrival notices

Shore briefs are the calm, AI-written passage updates WatchKeeper emails to the people ashore who worry about you. They're generated on the server, so they keep going out even while you're offline — built from whatever data last synced.

The schedule

All times UTC, while a passage is Underway:

Plan	Scheduled briefs per day
Coastal	1 (06:00)
Offshore	2 (06:00 and 18:00)
Bluewater	3 (06:00, 12:00, 18:00) + on-demand from the passage page

Every plan gets the morning brief — Coastal sends it to 1 shore contact; paid plans are unlimited. Any plan can also switch to a once-daily brief and pick the slot (06:00, 12:00 or 18:00 UTC) from vessel settings. Everyone also gets the arrival and anchor notices (below), and you can share the live passage link with anyone.

The Shore Updates page in the app shows your cadence, the countdown to the next brief, recipients, and the full history of what was sent.

Who receives them

Recipients are the passage's emergency contacts marked to receive briefs:

1. Add people to your vessel's Contacts (or use "Add to passage" from the address book).
2. On the passage, tick who gets briefs. Coastal sends to 1 shore contact; Offshore and Bluewater are unlimited.
3. Every brief includes an unsubscribe link — a worried-but-busy in-law can opt out without you doing anything.

On Bluewater, shore crew can also get SMS alerts.

The arrival notice

The moment you flip the passage to Arrived, a one-shot arrival notice is emailed to your shore contacts automatically. You don't have to remember anything at the dock — it's fired by the status change itself (at most once per day, in case you toggle by accident).

Anchor notices

When a log entry marks the boat anchored, shore contacts get a short "she's anchored" email with the position. When the next entry has her underway again, they get a "she's moving" note. Briefs keep going out while you're at anchor, so nobody ashore is left guessing.

Shore Chat

Since September 2026 the brief emails also carry a secure link to Shore Chat, a message thread between the boat and your shore contacts with photos and the live track. Shore contacts read and reply without an account. See Shore Chat.

The float plan is separate

Before departure, you can email the AI Pilotage Plan to selected contacts from the passage page ("Email the passage plan"). That's a pre-departure float plan; shore briefs are the en-route updates. Contacts receive it as a revocable link, not a stale attachment.

If briefs aren't arriving

1. Is the passage actually Underway? Planned passages don't brief.
2. Check the recipient is ticked to receive briefs on this passage (not just in the address book).
3. Ask them to check spam for mail from watchkeeper.me, and to allowlist it.
4. Check status — if brief generation has an incident, it'll be listed.
5. Still off? Contact us with the passage ID (it's in the passage page URL).