A summer roster your club can trust
SailHQ takes the pressure off the few volunteers carrying the sailing programme. Duty roles, qualifications, race series, boats, subs and club messages sit together. Members can swap appropriate duties without a trail of emails. It is live for Australian clubs now, and all features are free below 21 active members.
- Free under 20 active members
- Nothing to install
- One login for the whole club
What is sailing club management software?
Sailing club management software brings the club's racing work and member administration onto one current record. It builds duty rosters, limits safety jobs to qualified people, schedules a race series, records member boats, and handles subs. For an Australian Sailing club, it needs to follow a southern summer programme and make weather changes easy to publish. A normal membership package may collect money, but it does not necessarily understand why a missing safety boat crew can close the course or why three abandoned days affect one series.
The duty problems in one view
On the real SailHQ phone screen, the sailing secretary sees 26 future duty days and 14 unfilled positions. Swap reviews and roster tools sit underneath. That makes the unfinished work obvious during the southern summer. The view is built to answer which gaps need chasing, not simply display a month of dates.
- Unfilled positions are counted beside upcoming duty days, making the next weak roster easy to find.
- Requests to swap are handled inside the same screen as the assignments they will change.
- Role requirements stop a member without the right qualification from volunteering for safety cover.
SailHQ on a phone. Nothing to install.
What sailing asks for that generic club software does not do
Any club platform will hold your members and take your subs. These are the parts clubs end up running in a spreadsheet alongside it.
The roster keeps the clubhouse running
Racing relies on a race officer and safety crew, while the galley and bar need volunteers too. Empty positions are operational gaps. Showing them well ahead gives the committee a fair chance to fill the summer roster.
Safety cover needs the right ticket
First aid, powerboat certificates and race officer training matter at the point of assignment. Each duty should carry its requirement. Members without the necessary qualification cannot take it, while those who qualify can volunteer without asking the secretary.
Keep abandoned races inside the series
A series carries handicaps, discards and results across many race days. When summer weather removes a Sunday, the schedule needs to adjust without becoming disconnected events. That is where an ordinary calendar stops being useful.
List the member fleet properly
Sail numbers, class and handicap belong to privately owned boats as well as club craft. The club still needs to know what is afloat and who sails it. Ownership should not push that information into another spreadsheet.
Call off racing once
The weather can change the decision after people have started travelling. One notice must reach racers and duty crews quickly. A shared system gives everyone the final version instead of leaving several WhatsApp conversations open.
Keep routine swaps away from the secretary
Members cannot always make their allocated day. They should be able to exchange duties within the qualification rules. Once agreed, the roster changes for the whole club without another volunteer copying details between emails.
What SailHQ handles
The short version. SailHQ has its own site with the full detail, demos and pricing.
Qualified duty roster
Set role types, entry rules and points without chasing every volunteer.
Race season builder
Use series templates to schedule the complete season in minutes.
Boat register
List club and member boats with up-to-date availability together.
Member home
Members find their next duty, forecast and club notices after login.
Club weather
Pull wind and conditions straight from the club's own coordinates.
Season calendar
Put racing, training and social dates into one shared calendar.
Moving over without losing a season
The usual reason a committee stays on something that half works is the thought of moving. It is a smaller job than it looks, and you do not have to do it in one go.
What clubs come from
- A roster spreadsheet
- The clubhouse noticeboard calendar
- Chased bank transfer payments
- Secretary-managed email swaps
- Scoring files on one computer
Most clubs arrive with three or four of these running at once. That is normal.
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Send us what you already have
A membership spreadsheet, a CSV export, or the list your treasurer keeps. It does not need tidying up first. Messy is what we expect.
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We load it and check it with you
We import members, kit and your season, then sit with one person from the committee to check it looks like your club rather than a demo.
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Run both for as long as you want
Nothing forces you to switch everything on day one. Plenty of clubs run the old roster alongside for a few weeks until people trust the new one.
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Leave whenever you like
Your data exports in full, at any point, at no charge. A system you cannot walk away from is not one you should sign up to.
Not sure how much work your club's move would be? Send us what you have and we will tell you honestly.
Who is behind SailHQ
There is no published sailing case study yet, and we are not going to invent one. What we can point at is the engine underneath. RowHQ runs Oundle Town Rowing Club day to day, with real members, real money and real race entries going through it.
SailHQ is a different sport on the same foundation, built by the same people. It is live now, and early clubs get a direct line to the people writing it.
Questions about sailing club management software
What is sailing club management software in Australia?
It is one place for the duty roster, qualifications, race series, boat register, subs and member messages. An Australian Sailing club can replace the noticeboard calendar, roster sheet and email swap chains. The system understands that a race day needs qualified people in specific roles and that the summer schedule belongs to a connected series.
What does SailHQ cost in Australia?
Australian clubs pay nothing below 21 active members. The 21 to 30 member band is A$29 monthly excluding GST. Pricing reaches A$239 a month for the published 251 to 300 member band. Features are identical at every level. SailHQ takes no transaction fee, and member card payments go through Stripe into the club's own account.
Can we store Working with Children Check details?
Yes, relevant safeguarding information can be kept on the member record. Each Australian state and territory operates its own scheme and rules. Names include Working with Children Check, blue card, Registration to Work with Vulnerable People and Ochre Card. Your club applies the rules for its location, while SailHQ keeps the records committee members need to find.
Does SailHQ follow a southern summer programme?
Yes. Your club sets the season and series dates, so the roster and racing calendar can run roughly October to March. Abandoned days remain part of the same series rather than becoming stray events. Members see the relevant duties and changes regardless of how the season crosses two calendar years.
How do qualification gates work on duties?
The club attaches a requirement to each role. A safety boat job can require a powerboat ticket, while another duty remains open to everybody. SailHQ checks that rule when someone is assigned or volunteers. This keeps qualifications in the working roster instead of a folder nobody checks until race morning.
Can a sailing club get funding help with the cost?
Many Australian clubs cover costs like this through the Sporting Club Grants Program, a Local Sport Grant Program or tax deductible giving via the Australian Sports Foundation. The free band under 21 active members costs nothing at all, and annual billing runs at ten months, which keeps any grant application small.
Rather ask a person first?
Not everyone wants to sign up to find out whether something fits. Tell us how your club runs and we will tell you straight whether SailHQ suits you.
If it does not, we will say so.
The rest of the HQ family
One app per sport, sharing an engine underneath. Plenty of clubs run more than one.