One identity, professional role
Your Skipper workspace is part of your Malaka identity — not a separate account.
01 About
About these Professional Terms
These Skipper Professional Terms describe how the professional Skipper role works within Malaka: how the role is activated, how a professional profile and credentials are presented, how Experiences, Departures, Offers, Bookings and Trips relate to one another, and how payments, reviews and professional status are handled.
This document is informational and product-oriented. It explains how the interface and product architecture are intended to work. It does not by itself create, confirm or complete any professional relationship, approval or transaction.
In plain language
This page shows how being a Skipper fits into Malaka as a product. The parts that carry binding professional or legal obligations are marked and still need approved wording before publication.
02 Framework
Relationship with Malaka’s General Terms
Two documents work together for anyone acting as a Skipper.
General Terms
Apply to use of Malaka generally — to every person using the platform, in any role.
Skipper Professional Terms
Contain the additional terms relevant when a Malaka user operates in the professional Skipper role. This is that document.
Professional / legal copy required
[Relationship and precedence between these documents to be legally defined.]
Final wording must be supplied or approved before publication. Document precedence is not assumed in this prototype.
03 Activation
Activating the Skipper role
A Skipper is not necessarily a separate account. One Malaka identity may also act as a Traveller, Crew member, Booking Owner or Group Leader. Professional activation is a role and workspace context on top of your existing identity, not a new sign-in.
The activation flow moves through a series of product steps:
- Basic Skipper setup
- Professional profile
- Experience & sailing areas
- Services & availability
- Identity verification
- Licences & credentials
- Additional documents, if contextually requested
- Payout & billing
- Public profile preview
- Application review
Application status is separate from component verification status. The progress of your overall application is tracked independently from the status of each individual credential or document within it.
Application status
Your professional application moves through known product states:
Application states
Draft
Submitted
Under review
Action required
Approved
Not approved
Submitted≠Approved
Submitting an application does not itself mean it has been approved.
04 Profile
Professional profile
At a product level, Skipper profile information should accurately represent the Skipper’s experience and services. A profile may include fields such as:
- Photo
- Display name
- Headline
- Home base
- Years of experience
- Sea miles
- Bio
- Sailing areas
- Languages
- Yacht types
- Hosting style
- Service modes
Professional / legal copy required
Final contractual accuracy obligations: [To be provided.]
What is public, what is private
A Skipper profile has a clear boundary between the public professional presentation and the private evidence behind it.
May be public
- Name / display identity
- Photo
- Bio & sailing experience
- Sailing areas & languages
- Public verification indicator
- Experiences & reviews
Must not be exposed
- Raw identity documents
- Licence numbers & scans
- Bank / payout data
- Private calendar detail
- Internal review notes
05 Verification
Identity & credential verification
Identity verification is conceptually separate from professional qualification. Confirming who someone is does not, on its own, assess their competence, licensing or fitness for a particular Boat or jurisdiction.
Identity verified≠Professionally qualified
Component verification status
Each credential or document has its own canonical status:
Component states
Required
Missing
Uploaded
Under review
Verified
Rejected
Expiring soon
Expired
Uploaded≠Verified
Licences & credentials
A credential record may capture: credential type, issuer or jurisdiction, issue and expiry dates, a masked identifier, the document itself, and a review status. Malaka does not impose a single universal licence requirement across all contexts.
Credential equivalence
Professional / legal copy required
[Credential requirements and equivalence rules must be defined by applicable context and qualified legal / professional review.]
This prototype does not claim that any one credential equals another, that any certificate is mandatory everywhere, or that any credential is valid worldwide.
What verification does not guarantee
Where Malaka shows a verification indicator, it reflects a completed platform check of specific information — not a guarantee of competence, safety, legal compliance, future validity, or fitness for every Boat or jurisdiction.
Expiring & expired credentials
A credential may later become Expiring soon, Expired, or move a component into Action required. Operational review may be needed in these cases.
Professional / legal copy required
Final consequences of an expired credential: [To be defined.] This prototype does not automatically state that all future Trips are cancelled or that an account is terminated.
Additional documents
Additional documents are contextual, not universal. Each request should carry a reason, its context, the document type and a status. Blanket requirements are not assumed.
Professional / legal copy required
Identity-verification legal and privacy details, including any processing methods or providers: [To be provided.] No biometric processing, government lookup or specific provider is described here.
06 Status
Professional status
Professional status describes whether, and how, a Skipper is currently offering services — and is distinct from application status.
Professional states
Not active
Active
Paused
Inactive
Approved≠Globally available
Active≠Available for every date / area / service
Legal eligibility
Professional / legal copy required
[Professional eligibility requirements to be provided based on applicable law and Malaka’s final operating model.]
Minimum age, nationality, residency, work authorization and professional licence category are not defined in this prototype.
Professional relationship
Professional / legal copy required
[Legal characterization of the relationship between Malaka and Skippers to be provided.]
This prototype does not describe Skippers as employees, independent contractors, agents, suppliers or partners. That characterization awaits final legal analysis.
07 Service modes
Service modes
Malaka supports three professional work modes. A Skipper may use one or several.
Mode 01
Hosted Experiences
The Skipper creates reusable sailing Experiences and publishes dated Departures for travellers to book.
Mode 02
Skipper Only
The Skipper responds to customer Skipper Requests with Offers, without needing an Experience or Departure.
Mode 03
Private / External
The Skipper may use Malaka operational tools for relevant private or external work, where supported.
Professional / legal copy required
Legal and commercial applicability to each mode: [To be defined.]
08 Experiences
Hosted Experiences
An Experience is a reusable product — the story of a sailing holiday rather than a specific dated instance. It may contain a story, region, duration concept, route, itinerary, style, guest fit, yacht fit, booking modes, inclusions, exclusions, practical information, a gallery and an FAQ.
Exact dates, Boat, price and inventory do not live on the Experience — they belong to a Departure.
A Published Experience is not automatically bookable. It becomes bookable only when an appropriate future available Departure exists. This is a product architecture rule.
Professional / legal copy required
Experience-content obligations — including accuracy, photos, descriptions, inclusions, safety claims and third-party rights: [To be provided.]
09 Departures
Departures
A Departure is the dated, bookable instance of an Experience. It owns the exact dates, Boat, Skipper, booking mode, price, capacity and inventory, availability, and embark / disembark logistics. Legal text should not confuse a Departure with the Experience it belongs to.
Departure inventory
A Departure can be sold in different ways, and inventory must avoid double-selling:
Whole Yacht
The entire boat is booked by one party.
Cabin Booking
Individual cabins are sold within the same Departure.
Individual Berth
Single berths are sold to individual travellers.
Whole-yacht, cabin and berth relationships are operational product rules designed to prevent selling the same space twice.
Professional / legal copy required
Final contractual inventory obligations: [To be provided.]
Capacity
Professional / legal copy required
Capacity derives from the Boat and its configuration. [Applicable capacity / safety requirements remain subject to Boat, jurisdiction and professional obligations.] No legal passenger limits or certification are invented here.
Material Departure changes
Changes to a Departure’s date, Boat, Skipper, price, capacity or booking mode may affect existing Bookings. Recorded Booking terms are not silently rewritten.
Professional / legal copy required
Final rights and obligations when a Departure changes after Bookings exist: [To be provided.]
10 Find a Skipper
Find a Skipper opportunities
In the Skipper Only mode, customers post a Skipper Request and Skippers can respond. The flow does not require an Experience or Departure:
- Customer posts a Skipper Request
- Skipper discovers the opportunity
- Skipper submits an Offer
- Customer compares Offers
- Customer may accept an Offer
- A Skipper-only Booking is created
- A Trip follows
This is not an auction. Find a Skipper is not described as bidding, a reverse auction, or “lowest price wins.” There is no professional obligation to undercut another Skipper.
11 Offers
Offers
An Offer is a Skipper’s proposal in response to a Skipper Request. It may include a fee, dates, travel costs, accommodation assumptions, onboard expenses, inclusions, exclusions, conditions, a message and a validity period if one is explicitly set. Malaka does not impose a mandatory format or fee.
Offer versioning
A revised Offer should preserve its previous versions, and an accepted Booking retains the exact accepted Offer version. Accepted terms are not silently rewritten.
Acceptance is not payment
Offer accepted≠Payment processed
A customer accepting an Offer does not itself mean payment has been processed. Acceptance, Booking and payment remain distinct states.
Professional / legal copy required
Final obligations around offer accuracy, availability, validity, withdrawal, revision and acceptance: [To be provided.]
12 Bookings
Bookings
A Booking is the canonical commercial record. It stores the recorded commercial terms and is reached by two routes:
Hosted route
Experience → Departure → Booking.
Skipper-only route
Request → Accepted Offer → Booking.
The Booking snapshot
Recorded terms are preserved
The Booking captures a snapshot of the terms as they stood when it was made.
SourceExperience / Departure or Offer
Booking snapshotRecorded commercial terms
Later changes to the Experience, Departure or Offer must not silently rewrite an existing Booking. The recorded terms stay with the Booking.
13 Trips
Trips & operational responsibilities
A Trip is the operational layer. It may contain a route, Boat, Crew, documents, a payments summary, messages, a checklist and a meeting point. The Trip is where a booked holiday is prepared and run — it is not the transaction record.
Trip (operations)≠Booking (commercial record)
Operational responsibilities
The Trip organises the operational context a Skipper works within, including:
- Pre-trip preparation
- Boat readiness
- Crew briefing
- Route planning
- Meeting point
- Communication
- Safety judgment
- Document readiness
- Applicable maritime obligations
Professional / legal copy required
Final legal and professional operational duties: [To be provided.]
Route flexibility
Sailing routes may change because of weather, sea conditions, port availability, safety or operational judgment. Malaka does not guarantee a fixed itinerary, and this prototype does not invent financial consequences for route changes. Where relevant, refer to the Cancellation Policy — Page 100 .
14 Boats
Boats
A Boat on a Trip has a source type. These are operational relationship labels, not legal ownership conclusions:
My Boat
A Boat the Skipper presents as their own.
Charter Boat
A Boat obtained through a charter arrangement.
Customer Boat
A Boat provided by the customer.
External Boat
A Boat sourced from an external relationship.
Boat information & documents
Boat records may hold make and model, capacity, cabins, a gallery, documents and assignments. As with credentials, uploaded is not the same as verified, and external or customer-provided evidence is not automatically Malaka-verified. A Boat is not labelled “compliant” as a blanket status.
Professional / legal copy required
Final Skipper responsibilities regarding ownership, charter permission, insurance, registration and seaworthiness: [To be legally defined.]
15 Crew
Crew & traveller information
Crew members complete their own traveller information. A Skipper should only access the information that is operationally necessary, according to permissions and context — not unrestricted sensitive data.
A Group Leader sees readiness rather than unrestricted Crew sensitive data. These Terms operate alongside the Privacy Policy — Page 98 .
Sensitive traveller data is protected. Passport or ID scans, full document numbers, emergency contacts, accessibility or practical details, health-related information and payment data must not be exposed beyond an authorized operational need.
Malaka may support generating or checking the readiness of a Crew manifest. This prototype does not state that any manifest is legally sufficient or follows a universal required format.
Professional / legal copy required
Final professional confidentiality and data-use obligations: [To be provided.]
16 Calendar
Availability & calendar
A unified Skipper calendar can bring together published Departures, confirmed Trips, Skipper Jobs, Private Trips, External Charters and Unavailable blocks. A professional should keep availability accurate where applicable.
An empty calendar does not mean available. A Skipper is not treated as legally or operationally available merely because no calendar event exists for a given date.
iCal and Google integrations may be future capabilities. This prototype does not promise calendar synchronization.
Professional / legal copy required
Final availability obligations: [To be provided.]
17 Communications
Communications
Messaging happens in several contexts: a Trip Group, a private Booking conversation, a Skipper Request / Offer thread, direct customer contact, and Support.
Keep commercial detail out of shared spaces. Customer payment terms, refund details and private Booking discussions should not be placed into shared Trip Group messages.
Professional / legal copy required
Professional communication conduct rules: [To be provided.] See also the Community & Review Guidelines — Page 102 .
18 Payments
Payments, earnings & payouts
Three financial concepts are kept distinct and should not be conflated:
Customer Payment
What the customer pays.
Skipper Earning
What is recorded as earned by the Skipper.
Skipper Payout
What is transferred to the Skipper’s payout destination.
Earning & payout status
Earning states
Expected
Pending
Available
Adjusted
Cancelled
Payout states
Not scheduled
Pending
Processing
Paid
Failed
Action required
This prototype does not invent when earnings become available, nor a weekly payout, a 7-day release, a minimum balance or a reserve.
Provider, fees & billing identity
Professional / legal copy required
[Payment / payout provider and processing terms to be provided.] Malaka remains provider-neutral in this prototype.
[Malaka fees, commissions and any applicable taxes to be provided in the approved commercial terms.]
Malaka may support an Individual or Business billing / payout profile. This prototype does not infer any legal business status from that choice. Professional payout and bank data is private and is never shown in public examples.
19 Cancellations
Cancellations & changes
Cancellation handling is governed primarily by the Cancellation Policy — Page 100 . This prototype does not duplicate or invent cancellation penalties, refund percentages, Skipper compensation or replacement obligations.
Professional / legal copy required
Skipper-specific cancellation obligations and remedies: [To be provided.]
Skipper unavailability
If a Skipper can no longer perform a committed Trip, operational escalation may be required. This prototype does not promise a replacement, a refund, a penalty or automatic suspension.
Professional / legal copy required
Final rules for Skipper unavailability: [To be provided.]
20 Reviews
Reviews & professional reputation
Public reviews can be linked to completed Malaka activity. Private feedback is separate, and a Skipper may have public response functionality. Reviews are governed by the Community & Review Guidelines — Page 102 .
No manipulation. As a matter of professional conduct, there should be no harassment, retaliation or manipulation around reviews.
Professional / legal copy required
Final contractual review wording and any consequences: [To be provided.] No penalty schedule is invented here.
21 Integrity
Marketplace integrity & conduct
Marketplace integrity covers areas such as:
- Accurate information
- No impersonation
- No spam or scam
- No misleading Experience or Offer
- Respecting platform workflows
- Appropriate communication
This prototype does not invent non-circumvention penalties.
Professional / legal copy required
Off-platform activity: [Any restrictions or obligations concerning off-platform transactions or communications to be provided by legal counsel.] No fee-recovery assumptions are made.
22 Trust & Safety
Safety & Trust
Malaka may operate controlled Trust & Safety review processes. Reports and allegations are not automatically findings, and no guilt is presumed.
Professional / legal copy required
Final professional obligations and any possible account actions: [To be provided.]
Safety responsibilities
Malaka does not promise or guarantee safety. Professional safety responsibilities must be defined by qualified legal and professional review.
Professional / legal copy required
[Applicable skipper safety, navigation and maritime responsibilities to be provided.]
Emergencies. Malaka is not an emergency-response service. In an immediate danger or medical emergency, appropriate local emergency services should be contacted.
23 Regulatory
Taxes, insurance & regulatory responsibilities
These areas depend heavily on jurisdiction and on Malaka’s final operating model, and are not settled in this prototype. Malaka does not provide tax or legal advice.
Professional / legal copy required
Tax: [Skipper tax / VAT / invoicing responsibilities to be provided based on legal / commercial model and applicable jurisdictions.]
Insurance: [Insurance requirements, if any, to be provided.]
Regulatory: [Applicable professional, maritime, charter, immigration, licensing and local regulatory responsibilities to be identified for the operating model / jurisdictions.]
24 Deactivation
Suspension / professional deactivation
Professional status can move between platform states such as Active, Paused and Inactive. Application or verification issues may require review. This prototype does not invent automatic suspension rules; consequential professional actions should be controlled and human-reviewed.
Professional / legal copy required
Final grounds, notice, appeal / review and effects of restriction or deactivation: [To be provided.]
Active commitments are not silently erased. A professional status change should not silently remove future Bookings, Trips, payment records or review history.
Professional / legal copy required
Operational handling of active commitments during a status change: [To be defined.]
Data & account deletion
Professional account or role deletion may interact with historical, commercial and legal records, and is handled through Data & Account Requests — Page 104 . This prototype does not promise instant deletion.
Intellectual property & content
Professional / legal copy required
[Professional content / IP provisions to be provided.] This prototype does not assume Malaka owns Skipper content, nor grant any licence over photos or Experience content.
Liability & indemnity
Professional / legal copy required
[Professional liability, indemnity, limitation-of-liability and mandatory legal protections must be drafted by qualified legal counsel.]
25 Changes
Changes to these Terms
These Professional Terms may be updated over time.
Professional / legal copy required
Change and notice process: [To be provided.] No notice period is invented here.
26 Law
Governing law / disputes
Professional / legal copy required
Governing law: [To be provided]
Jurisdiction / dispute process: [To be provided]
No governing law or jurisdiction is inferred in this prototype.
27 Contact
Contact
Professional support
[To be provided]
Legal
[To be provided]
No contact addresses are fabricated in this prototype.
28 Related
Related policies
This document sits within Malaka’s wider set of terms and policies.
★ Reference
What record controls what?
A quick map of Malaka’s core professional records and what each one is responsible for.
Experience
Reusable product content
The story, route concept and inclusions — reused across many dated instances.
Departure
Dated hosted offer / inventory
Exact dates, Boat, price, capacity and availability for one instance.
Offer
Skipper-only proposal
A Skipper’s proposed terms in response to a Skipper Request.
Booking
Commercial terms
The canonical record of the agreed commercial terms, preserved as a snapshot.
Trip
Operations
Route, Crew, Boat, documents and checklist — how the booked holiday is run.
Calendar
Availability / commitments
Departures, Trips, Jobs and blocks that show when a Skipper is committed.
Documents
Evidence / status
Credentials and Boat documents, each with its own verification status.
Earnings / Payouts
Financial records
What is earned and what is transferred — kept distinct from customer payment.
★ Overview
The professional journey
How the professional role fits together, from applying through to earnings and reviews.
1
Apply
Set up the Skipper role and submit an application.
2
Verify
Identity and credentials are reviewed in context.
3
Activate
The professional profile becomes active.
4
Publish / discover
Publish an Experience, or discover Skipper Requests.
5
Departure / Offer
Create a Departure, or send an Offer.
6
Booking
A commercial record is created and preserved.
7
Trip
The booked holiday is prepared and run.
8
Earnings / Reviews
Earnings are recorded and reviews may follow.
Product journey — not a legal guarantee of approval or earnings.