In this section you will find detailed information about the input fields for creating a cruise or signing up, and learn what your inputs will be used for.
NOTE: In order to setup a cruise, you must be registered as a Cruise Skipper or Cruise Skipper Candidate on the website. If you are a Cruise Skipper but are not registered, contact the Webmaster. For giving access to Candidate Cruise Skippers click here. In order to edit a Cruise, you must be the skipper for that cruise or have been given edit permission by the Cruise Skipper.
Creating a Cruise
You can create a cruise by clicking the New Cruise button at the bottom of the Cruise List, or by clicking on a cruise and clicking Copy Cruise as New. The latter will copy the old cruise description, which you can then edit. When you click the New Cruise button, you then select whether the cruise is a keelboat or dinghy cruise. See below for how dinghy cruises are handled differently from keelboat cruises.
Fields for Creating a Cruise
Below you find the list of input fields to fill in if your are a cruising skipper creating a cruise. All fields not marked as optional have to be filled in.
| Destination | Short description of the location the cruise is going to. |
| Date | Enter the date of the cruise (month/day/year) here. Double-check the correct input. This is very important for your crew. Furthermore, the overview list on the cruise sign-up main page is sorted according to the cruise dates. |
| Meeting Place | Select whether the crew should meet at J-dock, at the clubhouse, or somewhere else. |
| Meet time, Estimated return | Specify the time for meeting the crew and your best-possible estimate of the return time. These inputs are only used for the cruise description, they are not processed in any other way. No problem to enter a return time on the next day for overnight cruises, or anything else that might fit in "we will be back about ...". You can check "Overnight", and this will be highlighted in the cruise heading and also in the cruise description. |
| Supervising Skipper | If the cruise is an evaluation, you can add a Supervising Skipper. Just specify the name. You can also add their email address, and they will then get any emails you send through the site to your crew. |
| End lottery, End sign-up | Enter the closing time of the lottery and the closing time of the sign-up here (like 2003-12-31 19:00). Please refer to section Phases of Sign-Up to learn about the effects of the times entered. This might be influenced by club rules, too. |
| Attributes | You can specify this cruise as Private by checking the box here. The cruise will be visible, but sign-ups are not allowed. When you create a cruise, you can disable "Allow Guest Signup", which is enabled by default. If you disable it (for example, for a dinghy cruise), members will only be able to signup themselves, not guests. |
| Specific information | Here you should enter any specific information about the cruise that is not covered be the inputs made above. This text block will be inserted at the bottom of the cruise info. |
Note that dates and times have drop-down calendars that make entry easier.
You can create a new cruise by copying basic information from another cruise. Click on the cruise you want to copy from in the Cruise List (Activities->Cruising->Cruise List). Then click "Copy Cruise as New". It will display the New Cruise form with values from the copied cruise filled in.
Hot Links in Your Cruise Description
If you want to reference web sites with additional information in your cruise descdription, you can insert hot links using the editor. A tutorial on how do to this is here.
Permission to Edit Cruise Info
By default, only the Cruise Skipper can edit cruise information. This includes adding or deleting boats, changing boat capacity, approving and removing sign-ups, etc. The Cruise Skipper can give permission to other Senior or Cruise Skippers to edit the cruise. To do so, click on the cruise to bring up the cruise info. At the bottom of the page, click on the Cruise Editors button, which will display a list of members who can edit the cruise. Click Add Permission to get a list of Senior and Cruise skippers, and select the one you want, and then click Submit.
Adding Boats
In the Cruse Add or Cruise Edit page, you can click on Add Boat. It will add a blank template for a boat, allowing you to specify Boat Name (required, and unique within the cruise), Skipper (optional, any name you want), and Crew Places (required). You can add multiple boats, and the system will add up all of the Crew Places you specify. For each skipper you specify, you can optionally specify an email address. You (or the boat skipper, if they have edit permission) can add the skipper's emergency contact info. Click on the cruise in the Cruise List (Activities->Cruising->Cruise List). Then click on Crew List. It will list all boats and skippers assigned by you to the cruise. Just below that list, click on Edit Contacts/Guests, which will bring up a form to allow you to enter or change Emergency Contact Name and Phone for skippers. Then click Submit Contact Info. If you do not enter emergency contact info for the skippers, the Printable Crew List will have space for you to enter it at the dock.
Skipper Guests
Club rules allow each skipper to bring a guest, which should not be counted in Crew Places for a boat. You can specify a guest and add their emergency contact information. Click on the cruise in the Cruise List (Activities->Cruising->Cruise List). Then click on Crew List. It will list all boats and skippers assigned by you to the cruise. Just below that list, click on Edit Contacts/Guests, which will bring up a form to allow you to add/delete/edit your guest and to enter or change Emergency Contact Name and Phone for guests. Then click Submit Contact Info. If you do not enter emergency contact info for the guests, the Printable Crew List will have space for you to enter it at the dock.
Editing Cruise or Boat Information
Click on the cruise in the Cruise List (Activities->Cruising->Cruise List). Click on the cruise. It will identify you as the Skipper. Click on Edit Cruise. You can change any of the information listed. You can also change the information for any boat you have added previously (boat name, crew places, and skipper name).
Removing People from the Cruise
This is normally done by the member who has signed up, who can login to the website and remove themselves or their guest. Occasionally it's useful for the skipper to do this. The skipper can select the cruise from the cruise list and click on the Crew List button. There is a Remove button on every signup entry. The skipper can remove a member and guest by clicking on the Remove button of the member's entry, or just the guest by clicking on the button of the guest's entry. An email will be sent to the member when this happens. Note that this is equivalent to a member's removing themself or their guest - if they are later reinstated, they will have their original lottery number.
Changing Things after Signup End
After signup end, members can no longer change any of their signup info, remove themselves from the cruise, etc. The idea is at that point, they should be communicating directly with the skipper, so the skipper doesn't have to check the web site constantly for changes. The skipper can still remove members from the cruise and update their information (such as contact and emergency contact). There are buttons to do this on the Crew List page for the cruise.
Posting Cruise Info on CSC Announce List
Click on the cruise in the Cruise List (Activities->Cruising->Cruise List). Click on the cruise. Click on Post to Club List. It will show an email form with the cruise announcement, which you can edit. You can also edit the email address, if you want the announcement posted to a different list than the Club Announcements. Click Submit. Note that the from address of the post will be csccruiselists@cal-sailing.org, and not the skipper's email address.
Emailing Sign-Ups from the Site
You can send email to cruise sign-ups from the website. Click on the cruise in the Cruise List (Activities->Cruising->Cruise List). Click on Crew List. It will show all boats, skippers, and all sign-ups for the cruise. Click on Email Signups. You will see separate lists of email addresses for signed-up, on-board, and not on-board. Each list also includes the email addresses of all skippers and supervising skippers. Click on Copy under the list you want, and then paste into the To field of your email program. Because of spam filtering by many ISPs, it is no longer possible for the website to send email under your email address.
Printing the Crew List for the Cruise
Just before the cruise, you can print out the crew list with emergency contacts to put with the other cruise paperwork in the dock box. Click on the cruise in the Cruise List (Activities->Cruising->Cruise List). Click on Crew List. This will show all sign-ups, on board or not. Click on Printable Skipper List. This will show only those on board and will not show all of the website stuff around it. You can print this using the print function of your browser. On some browsers (such as Mozilla) you will need to print it in Landscape mode to get all of the information onto the page. You may have to edit this list for last-minute changes (and for your own contact information).
This is printed as a Cruise Report Form. You need to fill in a few fields on the first page (depart time, estimated return time), and everything else is extracted from the Cruise description on the website. You leave this form in the dockbox (keelboat cruise) or in the clubhouse (dinghy cruise). After you return, fill in the return time and sign the form, then leave it in the Cruising Chair folder in the clubhouse.
Canceling a Cruise
If you need to cancel a cruise, while logged in to the site, go to Cruise List (Activities->Cruising->Cruise List) and click on the cruise. On the bottom of the page, there is a button to Cancel Cruise. Click on it. the Cancel cannot be undone. You should remember to email signups that the cruise has been cancelled.
Special Considerations for Dinghy Cruises
When you specify a dinghy cruise, it is handled differently as follows:
- Guest signup is disabled automatically and cannot be changed
- You specify cruise restrictions with a drop-down menu: Seniors+Approved, Seniors/Juniors+Approved, or Unrestricted. Once specified, this cannot be changed. When someone signs up for the cruise, they specify their rating. Based on the rating and the restrictions you entered, they may be flagged as "Approval Required'. This is shown on the Crew List.
- As for keelboats, you specify boats and skippers. They need not/should not be signed up for the cruise.
- You approve sign-ups by going to the Crew List and clicking on the Yes/No button under "Approved".
- When the lottery ends, only those whose rating matches your restrictions plus any others approved by you are in the lottery. Lottery for this group is based only on lottery number, with no consideration for rating (you've alreadyt specified the skippers outside of the lottery).
- Everything else works the same as for keelboat cruises.
Cruising Skipper Candidates
Normally, only Cruising Skippers are able to add or edit cruises, and only the skipper can edit a particular cruise. This is based on the member's rating in the CSC database. In order to allow a Cruising Skipper Candidate to set up and edit a cruise, a Cruising Skipper must mark the member as a Cruising Skipper Candidate. To do this, login to the webisite and go to Memberships->Record Tests. Select the member based on ID or name. In the form that comes up, click on Edit Attributes. Click on Cruising Skipper Candidate and then Submit. At that point, the candidate will be able to enter and edit cruises.
Private Cruises
If you have earned a private cruise, you can set it up here, basically as a notification to other skippers that you have a boat reserved that day for a private cruise. Most of the usual parameters for the cruise are not required for a private cruise, and they will disappear when you click the Private attribute for the cruise. You should also reserve the boat in the Keelboat Status system.