Dockside Privacy Policy

Last Updated: 3 November 2025

We've tried to make this page as easy to get through as possible. Your privacy is incredibly important to us, and you entrust us with your data. We take that responsibility seriously.

Our policy is fully compliant with GDPR, so you can always know what data we record and have control over it.

1. What Information We Collect

Information You Give Us: When you create an Account, you provide us with personal data like your name and email address. You might also provide details about your club, your boat, and your sail number when you use The Service.

Information We Collect Automatically: Like most online services, we collect anonymous data on how people use Dockside. This helps us figure out what's working, what isn't, and how to make The Service better. We also record anonymous error reports so our engineers can fix bugs.

2. How & Why We Use Your Information (Our Legal Basis)

We only use your data for specific, legitimate reasons:

a) To Make Dockside Work for You (Contractual Necessity)

We need your email address to create your account, your name to display on sign-on sheets, and your boat details to enter you into races. This is essential for providing The Service.

b) To Make Dockside Better (Legitimate Interest)

We analyse anonymous, aggregated usage data (e.g., how many users create a series vs. a single race) to improve our features. We also use error logs to find and fix problems.

c) To Create Sailing Insights (Legitimate Interest)

We may use anonymised and aggregated data to produce reports and insights about the sailing world. For example, we might create a public report on "Participation trends in dinghy racing" or provide commercial reports to industry partners. Your personal data is always removed, and the information is combined with that of many other users, making it impossible to identify you. This helps support the Dockside project and contributes to the wider sailing community.

d) To Communicate With You (Legitimate Interest)

We use your email to send you important service-related information, like sign-on confirmations or password reset links. You are in control of the notifications received, and can update these in your communication preferences page.

e) To Support Dockside with Advertising (With Your Consent)

To help keep the core features of Dockside free, we may show advertising on the site. With your explicit permission, we and our advertising partners may use cookies and similar technologies to show you ads that are relevant to your interests. For detailed information, please see our dedicated Cookie Policy.

3. Children's Data

We do not knowingly collect personal data from children under the age of 16 without parental consent. To use The Service, you must be at least 16 years old to create an account.

A parent or guardian may provide us with data about their child so that the child can participate in races. This information is provided and managed by the parent or guardian from within their own account. We process this data for the sole purpose of race and results management. If you believe we have collected information from a child under 16 without parental consent, please contact us immediately so we can take appropriate action.

4. Who We Share Your Data With (Our Third-Party Partners)

We do not sell your data. We only share it with trusted partners who are essential for providing The Service:

  • Vercel: Our hosting provider. They store the application data securely.
  • Brevo: Our email provider, used for sending essential service notifications.
  • Neon: We use a secure, professional database provider to store your account and race data.

5. How Long We Keep Your Stuff (Data Retention)

We keep your data for as long as your account is active. If you choose to close your account, we will permanently delete all your personal data from our live systems within 90 days. Anonymised data may be retained in secure backups for longer for system integrity, as per our data retention policy.

6. Your Rights Over Your Data

You have full control over your personal information. Under GDPR, your rights include:

  • The Right to Access: You can ask for a copy of the data we hold about you.
  • The Right to Rectification: You can correct any inaccurate information in your profile.
  • The Right to Erasure: You can ask us to delete your account and all associated personal data.
  • The Right to Object: You can object to us processing your data for certain purposes (like analytics).

To exercise any of these rights, please contact us.

7. Security

We implement appropriate technical and organisational measures to protect your personal information against unauthorised access, alteration, disclosure, or destruction. This includes encryption, secure authentication, and access controls.

8. International Users

Dockside operates globally. By using our service, you consent to the transfer of your information to our servers and service providers (like Vercel, Neon, Brevo), which may be located in countries outside of your own. We ensure appropriate safeguards are in place for all international data transfers as required by law.

9. Changes to This Policy

We may update this Privacy Policy from time to time. We will notify you of significant changes by email or through a prominent notice on our website. Continued use of Dockside after changes constitutes acceptance of the updated policy.

10. Contact Us

If you have any questions at all about your privacy or this policy, please drop us a line.

Last updated: 3 November 2025