About SailHQ

Founder-built sailing club software

Built for the work behind the sailing

I am Jason Burns. I grew up racing Optimists, Toppers and Lasers at Middle Nene Sailing Club. I have also spent 17 years building websites, software and digital systems.

SailHQ brings those two parts of my life together.

17 years building on the web 2014 SEO Moves founded 6 editions with local guidance

Founder record SHQ-001

Jason Burns, founder and product lead at SailHQ
Founder and product lead Jason Burns UK based
Why SailHQ exists

The race is visible. The work behind it is not.

At Middle Nene, every race depended on far more than boats and wind. Someone set the programme. Someone filled the safety crew. Someone kept member details, qualifications, renewals and notices in step.

Much of that work lived in spreadsheets, inboxes and the memory of one volunteer. When the record changed in one place, every other copy started going stale.

SailHQ is the system I wanted that club to have. One place for the committee. One login for members. Sailing terms left intact.

SailHQ

Founder and product lead

Jason Burns

Jason leads the product and works directly on it. Club conversations do not disappear into an account-management layer. They go back into the build.

Web and search
Since 2007
SEO Moves
Founded 2014
Product family
RowHQ and SailHQ
Registered company
HQ Software Ltd (17341989)
The founder

Built from two decades of practical work.

Sailing experience explains the problem. Building companies and software explains how SailHQ can solve it.
  1. On the water
    Optimists, Toppers and Lasers at Middle Nene

    The first lesson was simple. Club sailing only happens because volunteers make it happen.

  2. 2007
    First websites and search work

    Jason started building for the web and learning how people find, use and trust digital products.

  3. 2014
    Founded SEO Moves

    He grew the agency past £1m in revenue and a 12-person team while staying hands-on with technical websites and software.

  4. Then
    Built RowHQ for rowing clubs

    The same problem appeared in another sport: too many disconnected tools and too much volunteer knowledge trapped in inboxes.

  5. Now
    SailHQ is the sailing answer

    A working platform shaped around real club data, real committee jobs and the language sailors already use.

Want to help build it? The careers page explains how the team works and which skills will matter next.

What SailHQ is about

A club is one system. Its software should be too.

SailHQ is not a generic CRM with sailing words pasted over it. A record should exist once, then serve every place that needs it.
Product proof The product is real. You can inspect it. Explore the gallery
Under the waterline

A deliberately dependable stack.

Clubs need software that can be maintained for years. SailHQ uses mature, well-supported tools instead of betting club records on a passing trend.
LaravelApplication framework
PHPRuntime
MySQLClub records
RedisQueues and cache
Tailwind CSSClub themes
CloudflareNetwork edge
One codebase

Every club gets the same maintained product, with its own data and brand.

Tenant scoped

Club records stay inside the club context at model, job and test level.

Release gated

Formatting, static analysis and the full automated suite gate every core release.

Checked country guidance

Keep RYA and club records connected.

The RYA sets national sailing guidance. Each committee still owns its local rules, people and evidence. The Royal Yachting Association is the UK national governing body for sailing and boating. Affiliation gives clubs access to national prescriptions, training and club support.

Keep RYA affiliation details current.

The RYA is the UK national governing body for sailing and boating. Affiliated clubs can use its club support, training and technical guidance.

What the club record should hold.

Record the affiliation owner, renewal date and the RYA contact used for each club decision.

Open the official source

Use the RYA rules for UK racing.

UK events use the World Sailing Racing Rules of Sailing with the RYA National Prescriptions. The current rules cover 2025 to 2028.

What the club record should hold.

Store the rules edition, RYA prescriptions, notice of race and sailing instructions used for each series.

Open the official source

Set a clear safeguarding policy.

The RYA recommends an appropriate safeguarding policy for affiliated organisations with children, young people or adults at risk.

What the club record should hold.

Keep the policy owner, review date, welfare contact and training evidence beside the relevant club roles.

Open the official source

Meet UK data protection duties.

UK clubs must handle personal data under the UK GDPR and Data Protection Act 2018. The ICO has guidance for small clubs and membership organisations.

What the club record should hold.

Record the lawful purpose, access owner, retention decision and member request history for each data set.

Open the official source
Operating record

Trust is a practice, not a badge.

SailHQ keeps a written security and recovery record. Backups run away from the main server. Restores are tested. Club data is scoped by tenant. Product gaps are named plainly.
Read the security record
Primary infrastructure
London, UK
Backups
Nightly and off-server
Restore process
Tested August 2026
Regional editions
UK, US, Australia, Canada, New Zealand and Ireland

A two-sport product family

SailHQ shares its foundations with RowHQ.

RowHQ applies the same approach to rowing clubs: one maintained product, one club record and tools that use the sport's own language.

Visit RowHQ
Common questions

About SailHQ, answered

Jason Burns founded SailHQ and leads the product. He grew up racing Optimists, Toppers and Lasers at Middle Nene Sailing Club, then spent 17 years building websites, software and digital systems.

SailHQ was built to replace the disconnected spreadsheets, inboxes and single-purpose tools that make club work harder. It gives the committee one record for members, duty rota, events, boats, safety, documents and the public website.

It is a working product. The gallery shows real desktop and mobile screens from the application. Product demos use the live software, not a slide deck or a design prototype.

Yes. The UK edition uses local club terms and links to official sailing guidance for UK. The product keeps those regional rules separate rather than relabelling UK content.

The primary application, database and file storage run on infrastructure in London. Encrypted backups are kept off the main server and the restore process is tested.

Bring your club setup. I will show you the real product.

The demo uses your duty rota, membership structure and committee jobs. If SailHQ is not the right fit, I will say so.