# Friends, fleets and messages Follow other boats by MMSI, see who is following you, run a fleet map for a group, and message the boaters you know. Saillogger has three social features: **Friends** puts other boats on your map, a **fleet** puts a group of boats on one shared map, and **messages** connects boats through their follows and fleets. Friends and fleets use MMSI, the number broadcast over AIS, so an AIS-equipped boat can appear even when its owner does not use Saillogger. | You want to | Use | | --- | --- | | See a friend's boat on your own map | **Friends** | | Be told when a particular boat leaves and arrives | **Friends** | | Put a rally, a club or a family of boats on one map | A **fleet** | | Write to a boater you already follow or sail with | **Messages** | | Let people ashore follow you | Neither: see [For family and friends without Saillogger](https://saillogger.com/docs/follow-without-saillogger.md) | ## Follow another boat You have two views of the same list of boats: - the map, [https://saillogger.com/friends/](https://saillogger.com/friends/) - the list, [https://saillogger.com/friends/list/](https://saillogger.com/friends/list/), with each boat's status, last update and distance from you To add one: 1. Open either page and press the **+** button. 2. The **Follow a boat** window opens, with one field, **MMSI** (it shows an example, `e.g. 366123456`). 3. Type the boat's MMSI and press **Follow**. 4. The boat appears in your list and on your map. On the map version you can paste several MMSIs at once, separated by commas, which is the quick way to set up after a rally briefing. If the boat belongs to a Saillogger user who has set an access password, you are asked for it as part of following: a **Profile password** field appears, and the follow completes once you enter the right one. Ask the owner for it, the same password they give anyone opening their link. You can follow up to **100** boats. ### If a follow cannot be added - **"This boat is not publicly viewable."** The owner has not enabled the required sharing settings. Ask them whether they want to make the boat available and point them to [Sharing settings](https://saillogger.com/docs/share-your-boat.md). - **"This vessel is not in our network yet, please try again later."** The MMSI is valid but no AIS receiver has heard that boat yet. Try again once they are underway near a receiver. - **"Invalid MMSI."** Check the number. An MMSI is nine digits. - **The maximum of 100.** Remove a boat you no longer follow before adding another. ### Boats that are not on Saillogger You are not limited to other Saillogger users. A vessel broadcasting AIS can be followed by MMSI, using positions available from the AIS network rather than private Saillogger records. AIS availability and coverage vary, and local rules still apply. The trade is that an AIS-only boat shows you what AIS carries (where it is, where it is heading) and nothing of the owner's own logbook or journal. ### What you get from a boat you follow You get an e-mail when a boat you follow **departs**, and another when it **arrives**, so you can receive updates without keeping the map open. To stop those e-mails, turn off the **Friends** row on the notifications settings, which also covers new-follower e-mails. See [Alerts and notifications](https://saillogger.com/docs/alerts-and-notifications.md). ### Stop following a boat Open the boat on the friends list or tap it on the map, and choose **Remove friend**. You are asked to confirm, and the boat leaves your map and your list. It frees one of your 100 slots, and you can follow the same boat again later. ## Who is following you When someone starts following your boat, you get an e-mail about it. Your list of followers is at [https://saillogger.com/friends/followers/](https://saillogger.com/friends/followers/). Each row has an action: - **Follow back**, when their boat is publicly viewable, so you can add them to your own map with one tap. - **Ask to follow**, when it is not. That sends them an e-mail asking them to make their boat viewable so you can follow them back. You can only ask the same person again after a while, so a second tap tells you that you already asked them recently. > [!IMPORTANT] > There is no per-person block. To cut off one follower: turn off **Live Tracking & Monitoring** in [Sharing settings](https://saillogger.com/docs/share-your-boat.md), then set or change the access password and send the new one only to the people you want. Write to info@saillogger.com if harassment or safety is involved. ## Fleets A fleet is a shared map for a group of boats: a rally, a club, a family with two boats, a charter operation. ### Create one 1. Go to [https://saillogger.com/fleets/new/](https://saillogger.com/fleets/new/). 2. Fill in **Name** and **Description**. 3. Decide **Public fleet**: on, and anyone with the link can see the fleet map; off, and it is for members. 4. Create it. You land on the fleet map. You can own up to **5** fleets, and a fleet can hold up to **100** boats. ### Add boats Owners add boats from the fleet's **Manage** screen, reached from the fleet map. Add a member by MMSI, one at a time. Both kinds of boat can be members: a Saillogger boat, and a boat that only shows up on AIS. A Saillogger boat can only be added if its owner has made it public: **Sharing** on, **Live Tracking & Monitoring** on, and no access password. This respects the owner's current sharing choice because fleet membership shows the boat's live position to every member. If the boat cannot be added, ask the owner to check their [Sharing settings](https://saillogger.com/docs/share-your-boat.md). There is no self-service fleet join or fleet directory. Ask the fleet owner to add you and give them your MMSI, shown in **Sharing** settings and under **Settings** > **Boat**. The boat must have **Sharing** and **Live Tracking & Monitoring** on with no access password before it can be added. ### If you are a member rather than the owner Members get their own **Settings** screen for the fleet, with two things on it: - **Add to favorites**, which pins the fleet into your own navigation so you can reach it in one tap. - **Leave fleet**, which removes you and your boat from that map. ### Fleet chat Every fleet map has a **Fleet chat** button: a group conversation available only to current members, including when the fleet map itself is public. ## Messages Direct messages live at [https://saillogger.com/messages/](https://saillogger.com/messages/). You can start a conversation with a boater whose boat: - you follow, or - follows you, or - is in one of your fleets. A follow in either direction is enough to allow a conversation, as is sharing a fleet. This means someone who follows a publicly shared boat may be able to write to its owner. Conversations are titled by **boat name**, and your e-mail address is not shown to the other boater. ### What to expect | Limit | Value | | --- | --- | | Messages are kept for | 30 days | | Longest message | 2000 characters | | Photos per message | 3, up to 10 MB each | Messages older than 30 days are removed for everyone, along with their photos. If something matters, keep it somewhere else: a message thread is not an archive. Rate limits apply to sending messages. If you reach one, wait before trying again. Each message you send results in an e-mail to the other person (and a push notification, if they have set one up), so a conversation works even when neither of you is looking at the site. Your own side of that is the **Direct Messages** and **Fleet Messages** rows on the notification settings: see [Alerts and notifications](https://saillogger.com/docs/alerts-and-notifications.md). Deleting a conversation clears **your** copy. It does not remove the other participant's copy from their inbox. ## If your friends do not use Saillogger Friends, fleets and messages are for boaters with an account. To let family ashore follow you, send them your link or point them at AIS Fleet: [For family and friends without Saillogger](https://saillogger.com/docs/follow-without-saillogger.md) is written for exactly that, and is safe to forward. > [!NEXT] > The page to send to whoever wants to follow you: [For family and friends without Saillogger](https://saillogger.com/docs/follow-without-saillogger.md).