Seven steps, about an hour, and you'll have a boat in the system, crew aboard, shore contacts standing by, and your first log entry written. Do them in order — each one leans on the last.
Do this at the dock, on a real connection. Everything after step 3 works offline; getting in does not.
1 · Create your account and add the boat
5 minutes. Go to app.watchkeeper.me/login and take a magic link — no password to remember. Verify the email, then enter your vessel name. That's the only required field; call sign, MMSI and home port can wait, though they end up on exports and ship's papers later.
You land on the Dashboard with a welcome checklist. That checklist is roughly this page.
→ Create your account and first vessel
2 · Know which log is which
2 minutes, and it saves an hour of confusion. Two things share the word "log":
- Log Book — where you write. Entries, positions, weather, watch notes.
- Ship's Log — where everything reads back. A timeline that aggregates the log book plus VHF calls, fish, service records and incidents.
You write in one and read the other. Get this straight now.
3 · Set up your shore crew
10 minutes — the step people skip, and the reason Watchkeeper exists. Add the people ashore who should know where you are: name, email, relationship. Then attach them to a passage so they receive shore briefs automatically.
Give them the float plan before you slip lines. If your messages ever stop, they hold what a rescue coordinator would actually ask for.
4 · Add crew and set the watch
10 minutes. Invite anyone sailing with you — each gets a seat and a role. Then pick a watch system (or build your own rotation) so handovers, hours and souls-aboard stay honest without anyone doing arithmetic at 0300.
Sailing alone? Skip the invites, but still set a watch pattern. It shapes the passage timeline.
5 · Plan your first passage
10 minutes. Create the passage: from, to, planned departure. It moves through a lifecycle — PLANNED → UNDERWAY → ARRIVED — and most of the app keys off which state you're in.
Add start and finish coordinates if you have them; the distance stat and your shore briefs get sharper for it.
6 · Post your first log entry
2 minutes. From the Dashboard, hit Post log. Position, speed, mode, a line about the sea state. That's it — you've started the permanent record.
Set the mode (sailing, motoring, motor-sailing, anchored) when it changes. Mode is sticky: engine hours and passage stats come out of that discipline.
→ Passage Mode and engine hours
7 · Two optional wins
5 minutes each, worth doing before a long trip.
- Teach Skipper AI your manuals. Upload the boat's PDFs once; ask it questions at 0300 instead of hunting a binder. → Teach Skipper AI your boat's manuals
- Start the ship's blog. Name it, pick a look, write the first post. Family reads it without you sending anything. → Start your ship's blog
Before you slip lines
The two-minute drill, every time:
- Sign in while you still have signal. Sign-in needs a live connection; logging does not.
- Warm the cache — Settings → Offline access → Set up offline access, on the boat's network.
- Check the passage is UNDERWAY, not still PLANNED.
- Confirm your shore contacts are attached to that passage.
- Send the float plan.
→ Logging offline — how it actually works
Where to go next
- The full operating rhythm, phase by phase → the Watchkeeper runbook
- Everything, on one saveable page → Offshore Manual
- One printed page for the chart table → emergency card
- Something not working? → Is it your connection or us?
Stuck on any step, write to a human. Every message is read.