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Crew Finder safety

Last updated Wed Sep 09 2026 00:00:00 GMT+0000 (Coordinated Universal Time)

If you are in danger, contact local police or coast guard first. Then tell us: safety@watchkeeper.me.

Crew Finder connects sailors and boats. Everyone on it is 18 or over. Watchkeeper is not a party to any crew arrangement you make; the arrangement is between you and the other person, at your own risk.

What we check, and what we don't

  • Tracked miles come from arrived passages with a GPS track or tracker fixes, on boats where you're accepted crew and someone marked you aboard. They show experience at sea. They are not a measure of competence, character or safety.
  • ID verified (coming soon) means a government ID was checked by Stripe. It is not a background check and says nothing about how someone behaves aboard.
  • Self-reported miles are typed in by the person and not checked.
  • We do not vet, screen or endorse any boat, skipper or crew member.

Money

The norm for crew is sharing actual voyage costs: food, fuel, marina fees, split fairly. Never pay a passage fee or a capital contribution, and never pay before you board. Anyone asking for money up front, or asking you to send money off the platform, is a reason to walk away and report.

Before you board

  • Video call first. Ask the questions you'd ask any employer or flatmate.
  • Ask for contactable references: previous crew, a marina, a club.
  • Share the boat name, the skipper's name and their ID status with someone ashore, and agree when you'll check in.
  • See the boat. Check safety gear, liferaft dates, comms. If something feels wrong, it is.
  • Never surrender your passport. A skipper may need to see it for clearance; you keep it.
  • Keep conversations in the Crew Finder chat until you've met. It's the record we can act on.

Report, block, unmatch

From any match: Unmatch closes the chat for both of you, quietly. Block means you never see each other again; the other person is not told. Report sends what happened to a person on the Watchkeeper team. A person reads every report, usually within a few days. You'll get an email when it's been reviewed; we won't tell you what we did about someone else, and we never tell them who reported.

If someone you matched with reports feeling unsafe, the reported account's Crew Finder profile and listings are paused while we review. The rest of Watchkeeper keeps working. A substantiated report of assault or serious harassment means a permanent ban from Crew Finder.

What we keep

Reports, the chat around them and related records are kept for three years after the report, even if an account is deleted, so we can respond to a lawful request from police or a court. Everything else follows the normal account deletion. Your data export includes reports you filed, not reports about you.

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