WhatsApp messaging for information about Sailing on Freyja during 2022

Join our WhatsApp Group to help you keep track of Freyja over this season.

Its main purpose is to facilitate rapid sharing of important information about Freyja and its whereabouts during the Sailing season.

WhatsApp allows any member of the group to send and receive encrypted messages via their smartphone. We expect it to be used principally by the Yacht Secretary, the Crewing Bureau, some Committee members, and of course Skippers, but any other member of the group can use it to make reports about Freyja.

Only members of the group will be able to read the messages. It works via your data roaming allowance and via your home, or any other, wi-fi connection.

Skippers might like to encourage crew members to join so that any urgent news sent out that is relevant to their leg is also seen by them at the same time. Any Skipper who does not use a smartphone might like to encourage a crew member who does to join, so that they can send and receive messages during their leg.

Messages within the group are seen by everybody in it, so any personal, or sensitive, information that may need to be kept to a smaller group should be sent some other way.

Any ECYD member using WhatsApp will of course be able to exchange one-to-one messages with any other WhatsApp member they have already exchanged mobile numbers with, regardless of whether they join the group or not.  The WhatsApp software will identify anybody in your contacts list on your mobile who is already a WhatsApp member. One to one video calls, and video conference calls [up to four participants] can also be made on WhatsApp. (Conference calls will not work for this group – we already have more than 4 members!).

Please give it a go. If people join before they sail on Freyja this year so that they can be kept  informed, but drop out afterwards, that is fine. You can always rejoin next year if this experiment works well for ECYD. Our Facebook Page would still of course be the best place to post sailing stories and photos.

HOW TO JOIN

It varies a little bit according to your choice of mobile phone. Using iPhone as an example, go the App Store, type WhatsApp in the search box, select and download the App, and then follow the on-screen instructions.

To join the WhatsApp Group email Martin Hugo at webmaster@ecyd.org.uk

We will need your first name, surname, and mobile number in order to add you. If you already have one of our mobile numbers for other reasons, simply send us a text saying you want to be added to the Group.  For your security do not try to provide your mobile number by sharing it on the ECYD Facebook Group