INTRODUCTION:

Any non-professional member of the Charter Party 14 and older may Rate Their Experience using the proprietary Rate Your Experience Survey System on the YCA web site. The first step is to visit the Charter Survey Gateway and check if your Charter Survey is already in our system. If it is, you're on your way. If not, Create your custom Charter Survey for you and your Charter Party. 

The Charter Surveys consist of
3 Survey Methods and 7 Charter Parts:

1. Condition
   1. Charter Yacht - Topside, Below Decks, Systems
      
2. Environment
   1. Charter Marina - Comforts, Culture, Facilities, Safety
3. Service Quality - Reliability, Responsiveness, Assurance, Empathy
   1. Charter Broker
   2. Charter Company / Boating School
   3. Charter Captain
   4. Boating Instructor
   5. Charter Chef
      

1. Quick and Easy - Be finished in 5 minutes by Rating your Yacht Condition and the Service Quality of one (1) Charter Pro. Ready-Set-Go!
   
2. Slow and Steady - Get a cuppa joe, take your time and save as you go. Charter Sailors and Charter Pros want your best work and YCA lets you paint the whole picture. You can Rate the Yacht Condition and Service Quality of ALL Charter Pros you came in contact with. Then complete the optional Reviews with Text, Photos and Videos. Save your survey anytime to complete another day after reminiscing with your Charter Party. Slluurrpp.

Registering and Logging on to the YCA web site:

YCA site registration asks for only minimal information to verify your email address. When the YCA email is received click on the embedded link and you will be taken to the YCA Member Account page. Here, if you wish to participate in the YCA surveys, you will complete 2 parts of your registration; personal information and surveyor information. You may also choose to participate in the YCA Crew Finder by providing that information

Locating Your Charter Survey: The Charter Survey ID - is generated when someone from a Charter Party creates a Charter Survey. The ID is visible on the Charter Survey Verification page and emailed to the Charter Survey Creator with an embedded link that will return you to the verification page. The creator is asked to forward this email to the remaining Charter Party and invite them to take the customized survey.

Searching for a Charter Survey - is recommended prior to creating a new survey. This will save time and frustration by easily locating your Charter Survey if one has been created for your charter but you did not yet receive the Charter ID.

An automatic check for duplicate charter arrangements is performed when you create a new Charter Survey. This functionality is intended to protect the YCA database and not for searching for open surveys.

Creating a Charter Survey:

First - Define your charter arrangements: Number

• Departure and Return Date - Day, month and year

Taking Your Charter Survey:

The 'Spirit' of the YCA surveys is to provide the Charter Community with enough factual information on your charter experience to be able to make an informed decision when planning their next charter. YCA hopes that each survey will include; firm but fair ratings, text reviews that acknowledge accomplishments and encourage improvements, and plenty of photos!

The survey context is based on your actual charter experience; exceptional, good, bad or ugly. In some cases the entire Charter Party will share a similar experience like a yacht malfunction and subsequest recovery of the issue, with or without the assistance of a Charter Provider. It's your personal perception of the experience that is important to the Charter Community. If the yacht malfunction was caused by the engine and you were topside sipping a drink, your experience would be significantly different than another member of your Charter Party who participated in the repair. Don't try to anticipate the survey of the other Charter Guests, while they may have had a different experience its only for them to say.

The Sum of All Charter Surveys in the YCA database can be added up hundreds of different ways. For example, the Research Filters can be used to see only the experiences of women between the ages of 33 and 46 with little to no charter experience. YCA is a very powerful tool for planning your next charter!

Verify the Charter Arrangements and Charter Providers to confirm you were aboard the Charter for the Survey you want to take and the information is correct. If there is a question about the charter arrangements please contact the Charter Survey creator to make any necessary changes.

Give Your Survey a Short Title like "great location, great yacht, simply the best", or "Fantastic yacht, unforseen lousy weather!".

Taking the Survey is a fun and easy step-by-step process. For each Survey Part simply complete the Ratings and optional Review and Photo upload. Review the Survey Summary and submit for approval.

Submit Your Survey for Review after reviewing the Survey Summary Page. The YCA staff will review the survey for appropriate language and photos.

Survey anonymity:YCA takes reasonable measures to keep the surveys anonymous however YOU are the principle participant in your own anonymity. The YCA Charter Provider Performance Reports are available to Charter Clients and Charter providers as well as the general public. The reports provide rating, text and photo information provided by you about your charter experience . If you choose, The text and photo data can be submitted in such a way so as not to make you easily identifiable. For example keep the text review generic and diplomatic, do not make reference to specific events and do not submit photos of folks in your party. For more information see the YCA FAQ.

Fraudulent survey activities:In the unlikely event our delousing protocols turn up a bogus survey we remove the record from the database, place it in quarantine and notify the parties involved. The member and conspirators may be permanently removed from the site - not worth it. Charter Providers and Professional Crew implicated in a bogus survey scandal may be highlighted as Pirates in the reports! For more information see the YCA FAQ.

Exceptions to the survey guidelines:There are always exceptions. The YCA staff is here to make judgement calls on exception conditions to the surveys. We anticipate that there will be requests to modify a survey rating, text review or photo upload. At present the YCA policy is to allow only the permanent removal of the Client Survey.

YCA survey email notifications:Those involved with the YCA surveys can expect to receive the following email notifications from the YCA email server: + YCA members - + New member sign up verification New Member welcome+Newsletter signup (optional)+Charter Survey creators - Charter Survey created - email with Charter Survey ID linked for easy access for your Charter Party +Charter Survey closed - email with summary report of the Charter Survey+Charter Survey takers - +Charter Survey submitted +Charter Survey approved+Charter Providers - +Charter Survey approved - notification to the Charter Provider that a customer satisfaction survey has been completed on their goods and/or services. YCA members ID's or names are not provided to the Charter Provider. Read more about your anonymity.

Charter Survey architecture:Each Charter Survey has between 3 and 7 parts depending on your charter arrangements. The Survey Parts are delivered in the same order each time and provide up to 3 ways to convey your experience. Only two parts are necessary to complete and one part must be the Yacht. Your survey progress is tracked on the survey pages. If you begin the survey and need to step away the system will log you out after 15 minutes and remember where you were - no worries! The 7 Survey Parts are divided into Goods (2 parts) and Services (5 parts):