A vessel on approach is a known event. Almost nowhere does it become "who is on the dock."
Knownly turns an approaching boat and a slip assignment into a specific instruction for the dock crew, the launch, and the clubhouse before the member ties up.
You have minutes of warning and no way to use them.
A yacht club usually knows a member is inbound well before arrival: a hail, a slip reservation, a vessel on approach.
That warning rarely turns into action:
- The dock crew reacts when lines are already being thrown.
- The launch operator does not know a guest party is aboard.
- The clubhouse finds out about lunch for six when six people walk in.
The signal exists. What is missing is the handoff from signal to person.
Knownly in action
One real moment at a yacht club
Context assembles, then you complete your staff member's task.
Halcyon is fifteen minutes out, inbound to her slip.
What your systems already know
- AIS and dock logHalcyon inbound, 15 minutes out, slip B-12 assigned.
- Member recordOwner: the Marchettis, member 12 years, 48-foot sailing yacht.
- Dock historyPrefers a port-side tie; two dockhands on the last four arrivals.
Your rule, not ours
WhenA member vessel is inboundThenTell the dockmaster who is arriving and what they will need, and pass tonight's dining booking to the host
What your staff member gets, on their phone
Halcyon inbound, slip B-12
15 minutes out · Port-side tie · Dinner at 7:30
- Two hands on B-12 for a port-side tie; greet the Marchettis by name.
- Ice on the dock cart before they are alongside.
What the member experiences
“Welcome back, Mr. and Mrs. Marchetti. Port side as always, ice is on the cart, and your table is at 7:30.”
The dock log, the member record and the reservation book already held all of it, in three different places.
Knownly does not replace what you run
The service orchestration platform reads the systems you already run and turns what they know into action. Hover a system to see what it feeds.
Systems you already run
- Reads every system
- Applies your rules
- Dispatches the action
What your team does with it
- Staff task with instructionsReads: Dock and slip log, Member and vessel records, Staff schedule
- Greeting and talk trackReads: Member and vessel records, Reservation book
- Escalation to a managerReads: Launch and fuel logs, Member and vessel records
- Coordination across departmentsReads: Dock and slip log, Reservation book, Staff schedule
- Follow-up and recoveryReads: Yard schedule, Launch and fuel logs, Member and vessel records
Also read: Slip and mooring assignments · Vessel registry and member records · Launch and dockhand scheduling · Dining reservations · Fuel and point of sale
Where yacht clubs use Knownly
Approach to dock
A vessel on approach is a known event minutes ahead. Knownly turns it into who is standing on the dock to take the lines.
Fuel, ice, and provisions
Standing dockside orders are staged before the boat is tied off instead of radioed after.
From dock to dining
The club room is told the party is walking up, and how many.
What changes, depending on who you are
- Dockside recognition does not depend on which hand is on the float.
- Launch and dock failures escalate during the afternoon, not at the next board meeting.
- One record of what was promised and whether it happened.
- Inbound vessels arrive with owner, slip and preferences already in hand.
- Launch, fuel and provisioning load is visible against actual staffing.
- Vessels that stop moving surface before storage season closes.
- Every arrival comes with the tie preference and what they usually need.
- Race and event mornings arrive as one sequenced list.
- Guests aboard are known as guests, not as unknowns on the float.
- Dining bookings connect to who just came alongside.
- Regatta and event volume reaches the kitchen with the dock count.
- Members are greeted in the clubhouse by the same context they got on the dock.
Why this matters to the person running the floor
- Someone is on the dock when the vessel arrives, by design rather than by luck.
- Launch requests and slip assignments stop being relayed by radio guesswork.
- The clubhouse gets advance notice of a party stepping off, not a surprise at the door.
Built with operators, not in a vacuum
Before a line of code, we walked the same arrival with dozens of General Managers: what the club knows, where that context stops, who ends up guessing. Every part of the platform traces back to one of those conversations.
We are early, and we are shaping Knownly in the field with a small group of founding clubs.
Yacht Clubs
AI software for yacht clubs
Knownly is a service orchestration platform for yacht clubs: a system of action that turns an approaching vessel and a slip assignment into a specific instruction for the dock, the launch, and the clubhouse. A boat on approach is a known event minutes in advance. In most clubs, nothing downstream is told.
Knownly reads what your membership, dockmaster, and dining systems already hold, then decides who should act — line handlers at the right slip, fuel readiness, a table held for the crew coming ashore. Staff receive the task by text; there is no app to install and no system to replace.
For the General Manager, that means members are met by name at the dock instead of waiting for someone to notice them, seasonal dock staff hold the club's standard on day one, and every arrival, task, and outcome is logged.
Questions yacht clubs ask
- Do you track vessels yourselves?
- No. Knownly uses the approach, slip and reservation signals your club already has, and turns them into dock and clubhouse guidance.
- What about members who arrive by car instead?
- The same logic applies to the parking and front-door signals your club captures. The dock is simply the clearest example.
- Does dock staff need a new device?
- No. Guidance arrives on the phone they already carry, and completion is one tap.
See it against your own club
Not ready for a call?
Or send us the moment you would want handled.