Last updated: October 29, 2026
Who we are
First Mate is a service of Harborfolk LLC, 82 County Rd, PMB #57, Mattapoisett, MA 02739, which is responsible for the information described in this policy. First Mate provides websites and booking tools for fishing charters and guides ("captains"). This policy covers the First Mate platform: our marketing site, the captain dashboard, and the charter websites we host.
Information we collect
- Captain accounts: name, email address, password (stored as a secure hash), phone, and billing details when you subscribe to a paid plan.
- Charter content: the business information, photos, trips, reviews, and other content captains add to build their sites.
- Visitor submissions on charter sites: when an angler submits a trip request, booking, or review on a captain's site, we store that submission (name, contact details, party size, dates, message) on the captain's behalf. The captain is responsible for how they use it; their site's own privacy policy applies too.
- Website chats on charter sites: when a captain turns on website chat, the messages an angler sends, and any name, email or phone they choose to leave, are stored so the captain can read and answer them.
- Calls and messages to our phone line: your phone number, the time of the call, and what you tell us (see "Phone calls" and "Text messages" below).
- Technical data: server logs, IP addresses, and browser information collected by our hosting providers to operate and secure the service.
How we use information
- To provide, maintain, and improve the platform.
- To deliver trip requests, booking confirmations, and reminders to the people captains serve.
- To bill subscriptions and prevent abuse.
- To respond when you contact us for support, including calls and messages to our phone line.
We do not sell personal information. We do not use angler submissions for our own marketing.
Service providers
We rely on established providers to run the platform, including cloud hosting and content delivery, database and authentication services, payment processing, transactional email delivery, phone and voice services, and mapping/business-listing data. These providers process data only to provide their services to us.
AI answers in website chat
Captains can add an optional AI assistant to their website chat. When it is on, an angler's chat messages and the content of that captain's own site (trips, prices, species, boat, FAQs and pages) are sent to our AI provider to write a reply. Its answers are marked as automated, it only answers from what is on the captain's site, and it hands anything else (such as dates and availability) to the captain, who sees every chat. Our AI provider processes this data only to produce the reply and does not use it to train its models. Angler chats are not used for our own marketing.
Phone calls
When you call First Mate at (774) 425-7527 and we can't pick up, an automated voice assistant answers. It tells you at the start of the call that the call may be recorded. Calls to this line, including calls the assistant answers, may be recorded and transcribed, and the assistant may write a short summary of the call. We use recordings, transcripts and summaries only to answer your question, follow up on messages you leave, and keep a record of support requests. They are handled by our phone and voice service providers on our behalf. If you would rather not be recorded, hang up and email us at support@firstmatesite.com instead. To ask us to delete a recording of your call, email support@firstmatesite.com with the number you called from and the date of the call.
Text messages
If you text our business line, or tick a "Text me" box on one of our forms, we may reply by text about your inquiry, listing or account. Message frequency varies. Message and data rates may apply. Reply STOP to opt out or HELP for help. We do not send marketing texts. Mobile numbers and text-messaging consent are not shared with or sold to third parties or affiliates for marketing or promotional purposes; Twilio delivers our texts. We do not sell or share your SMS opt-in data or personal information with third parties for marketing purposes.
Data retention and deletion
Captain accounts and charter content are kept while an account is active, including on the free plan after a paid plan ends. Captains can delete their content at any time, and can download a copy of it from Backup & export in the dashboard.
A captain can delete their whole account from the Account page in the dashboard. Deletion is immediate and permanent: the charter sites and everything on them (content, photos, trip requests, bookings, mailing list, chats) and the login are removed right away, and we cannot restore them. Copies in our routine database backups are not used to restore deleted accounts and are overwritten as those backups age out. We keep billing records that payment and tax law require us to keep, and a short internal note that the account was deleted.
Unclaimed websites that we build for a business and send them a private link to are deleted automatically 30 days after they are built if nobody claims them.
Anglers who want a submission removed can contact the charter directly or email us at support@firstmatesite.com.
Cookies
We use cookies for signing in and keeping sessions secure. We do not run third-party advertising cookies on the platform.
Visit measurement
On First Mate's own pages (our homepage, sign-up, and the pages that build and claim a site) we count visits with Vercel Web Analytics to see which pages are useful. It sets no cookies and does not identify you personally; it records the page, the referring site, and general device, browser, and country information. It is not used on the captain dashboard or on the charter websites we host.
Children
The platform is not directed at children under 13, and we do not knowingly collect their information.
Changes
We will post any changes to this policy on this page with an updated date.
Contact
support@firstmatesite.com
Call or text: (774) 425-7527