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Terms of Service

Effective Date: March 31, 2026

Operator: T & T Educational Support Services, LLC, a West Virginia limited liability company, doing business as Hey First Mate (“Hey First Mate,” “we,” “us,” or “our”).
Mailing Address: 252 Garnett Hill Drive, Urbanna, Virginia 23175
Email: ty@heyfirstmate.com
Phone: (703) 209-0921

1. Acceptance of Terms

These Terms of Service (“Terms”) are a legally binding agreement between you and Hey First Mate governing your access to and use of the Hey First Mate website, web application, mobile interfaces, and related services (collectively, the “Service”).

By creating an account, clicking to accept these Terms, accessing the Service, or using the Service, you agree to be bound by these Terms.

These Terms also incorporate by reference our Privacy Policy and our Medical & Maritime Safety Disclaimer, each as made available through the Service or our website at or before the time you accept these Terms. If you do not agree to these Terms, do not use the Service.

If you use the Service on behalf of a company, crew, organization, or other entity, you represent that you have authority to bind that entity, and “you” includes both you and that entity.

2. Eligibility

You must be at least 18 years old and legally capable of entering into a binding contract to use the Service.

The Service is intended primarily for users in the United States. If you access the Service from outside the United States, you do so at your own risk and are responsible for compliance with applicable local laws.

3. What Hey First Mate Is — and Is Not

Hey First Mate is an AI-powered maritime assistant designed to help users with general boating and sailing information, vessel data organization, logs, reminders, maintenance tracking, inventory tracking, troubleshooting support, and related informational functions.

Hey First Mate is not:

  • a certified navigation system;
  • an official charting service, ECDIS, AIS, radar, or emergency communications system;
  • a substitute for proper seamanship, direct observation, or onboard instruments;
  • a licensed marine technician, surveyor, mechanic, electrician, doctor, lawyer, or other professional;
  • a real-time emergency response service; or
  • a substitute for official regulations, manufacturer guidance, medical care, or qualified professional advice.

The Service may accept text, voice, image, and other inputs. It may store vessel data, logs, reminders, preferences, and conversation history to provide continuity and functionality.

4. Account Registration and Security

To access certain features, you must create an account and provide accurate, current, and complete information.

You are responsible for:

  • maintaining the confidentiality of your login credentials;
  • all activity occurring under your account;
  • promptly updating your account information; and
  • notifying us immediately if you suspect unauthorized access or misuse.

We may suspend or terminate accounts that violate these Terms, create legal or operational risk, or otherwise harm the Service or other users.

5. Subscription, Billing, Automatic Renewal, Cancellation, and Refunds

5.1 Subscription Plans

The Service is offered on a paid subscription basis. Unless otherwise stated in the Service, the current subscription price is US$49.99 per month, plus any applicable taxes.

5.2 Automatic Renewal

Your subscription will automatically renew at the end of each billing cycle unless you cancel before renewal.

By subscribing, you authorize us and our payment processor to charge your payment method on a recurring basis for the then-current subscription fee and any applicable taxes until you cancel.

5.3 Required Disclosures and Acknowledgment

Before your subscription is completed, we will present the material automatic-renewal terms, including recurring charges, billing frequency, and cancellation method, and we will obtain your affirmative consent as required by law.

We will provide a post-purchase acknowledgment that includes the renewal terms, cancellation information, and any other information required by applicable law.

5.4 Cancellation

You may cancel your subscription at any time through your account settings or by contacting us.

If you enrolled online, we will provide an online cancellation method where required by law.

Unless otherwise stated, cancellation takes effect at the end of the current paid billing period. You will retain access through that period, and no future recurring charges will be made after cancellation becomes effective.

5.5 Reminder Notices, Trial Notices, and Fee Change Notices

Where required by applicable law, we will send reminder notices and other subscription-related notices, including for automatic renewals, continuous-service plans, free or discounted trial periods, promotional pricing, and material fee changes.

Without limiting the foregoing, if you remain enrolled in an automatically renewing or continuous-service plan for 12 months or more, we may send an annual reminder identifying the service, the amount and frequency of charges, and how to cancel, if required by applicable law.

5.6 Refunds

Except as required by law, subscription fees are non-refundable and we do not provide prorated refunds for partial billing periods.

At our discretion, we may issue refunds, credits, or billing adjustments in cases of documented billing errors or significant service failures.

5.7 Price Changes

We may change pricing at any time. If we do, we will provide advance notice as required by law before the new price takes effect. If you do not agree to the new price, you must cancel before it becomes effective.

5.8 Payment Processing

Payments are processed by third-party payment processors. We do not store full payment card numbers on our own systems.

6. Acceptable Use

You may use the Service only for lawful purposes and only in accordance with these Terms.

You may not:

  • violate any law, regulation, or third-party right;
  • upload unlawful, infringing, fraudulent, harassing, or abusive content;
  • reverse engineer, decompile, copy, scrape, or exploit the Service or underlying models except as permitted by law;
  • interfere with the Service's operation, security, or availability;
  • use bots or automated means to extract data without permission;
  • use the Service to develop or improve a competing product;
  • use the Service in a way that could endanger any person, vessel, or property; or
  • rely on the Service as the sole or primary basis for navigation, emergency, medical, or other safety-critical decisions.

7. AI-Specific Limitations and Safety-Critical Restrictions

The Service uses artificial intelligence and third-party AI systems to generate responses. AI outputs are probabilistic and may be inaccurate, incomplete, outdated, misleading, or inappropriate.

You understand and agree that:

  • Hey First Mate does not guarantee the accuracy, completeness, reliability, timeliness, or suitability of any output;
  • outputs may vary across sessions or for similar prompts;
  • you must independently verify any information before relying on it; and
  • you must not rely on the Service as the sole or primary basis for navigation, collision avoidance, route selection, weather routing, emergency response, medical decisions, maintenance decisions affecting safety, or any decision risking vessel safety or human life.

In any maritime emergency, medical emergency, distress situation, or other urgent safety event, do not rely on Hey First Mate. Contact the Coast Guard, emergency responders, or other appropriate authorities immediately and use proper onboard emergency and navigation equipment.

7A. Environmental, Wildlife, and Protected Area Limitations

Hey First Mate is not an environmental monitoring service, regulatory compliance tool, or substitute for official environmental, wildlife, or fisheries authorities.

Hey First Mate has no real-time awareness of marine sanctuary boundaries, no-discharge zones, vessel speed restriction zones, seasonal wildlife closures, protected habitat areas, or other environmentally regulated areas. Any information the Service provides regarding environmental regulations, protected species, fishery rules, catch or size limits, discharge requirements, pump-out locations, or vessel emissions may be incomplete, outdated, generalized, or incorrect for your specific location and jurisdiction.

You are solely responsible for knowing and complying with all applicable environmental and wildlife protection laws, regulations, and local requirements, which may include, without limitation:

  • national marine sanctuary rules and restricted activity zones;
  • no-discharge zones (NDZs) and Marine Sanitation Device (MSD) requirements under the Clean Water Act and applicable state law;
  • seasonal and geographic speed restrictions, such as right whale slow zones or manatee protection zones;
  • protected species regulations under the Endangered Species Act, Marine Mammal Protection Act, or equivalent local law;
  • state and federal fisheries regulations, including catch limits, size limits, seasonal closures, and licensing requirements;
  • international discharge and pollution-prevention requirements under MARPOL Annex I–VI or equivalent regional conventions; and
  • any other environmental, conservation, or wildlife regulation applicable to your operating area.

You must obtain current, authoritative information from the relevant regulatory authorities before relying on any environmental or wildlife-related information from the Service.

8. User Content, Feedback, and AI Training

8.1 Ownership

You retain ownership of the content, data, images, vessel information, logs, reminders, chat messages, and other materials you submit to the Service (“User Content”).

8.2 License to Operate the Service

You grant us a limited, non-exclusive, worldwide, royalty-free license to host, store, process, reproduce, transmit, and display your User Content solely as reasonably necessary to provide, operate, secure, and maintain the Service; improve Service performance and functionality; comply with legal obligations; and enforce these Terms.

8.3 AI Training Restriction

We do not use your identifiable User Content to train or fine-tune third-party foundational AI models.

We may use de-identified and aggregated analytics, system performance data, error logs, and voluntary product feedback to maintain, analyze, secure, and improve the Service, provided such use does not reasonably identify you as an individual.

If we ever materially change our practices regarding AI model training or broader reuse of User Content, we will first update our Privacy Policy, provide any notice required by law, and obtain consent where required.

8.4 Your Responsibilities

You represent and warrant that you have all rights necessary to submit your User Content and that your User Content does not violate the law or infringe third-party rights.

8.5 Feedback

If you submit suggestions, feature ideas, ratings, thumbs up/down signals, correction notes, or other feedback about the Service or its outputs, you grant us a perpetual, irrevocable, worldwide, royalty-free license to use that feedback to operate, evaluate, improve, test, monitor, and refine the Service, including its safety, accuracy, reliability, and quality-review processes, without compensation to you. We may use such feedback in identifiable, de-identified, or aggregated form as permitted by applicable law. For clarity, this Section does not override Section 8.3's restrictions on using identifiable User Content to train or fine-tune third-party foundational AI models.

9. Privacy and Data Rights

Your use of the Service is also governed by our Privacy Policy.

Depending on where you live, you may have privacy rights under applicable law. For example:

  • California residents may have rights to know, access, correct, delete, and opt out of certain sale or sharing of personal information under California privacy law;
  • Virginia residents may have rights under the Virginia Consumer Data Protection Act if it applies to our processing activities; and
  • users in the EEA, UK, or Switzerland may have rights under GDPR, UK GDPR, or related data-protection law, including rights of access, rectification, erasure, portability, restriction, and objection.

International transfers of personal data, where applicable, will be handled as described in our Privacy Policy, including use of appropriate contractual or legal safeguards where required.

10. Third-Party Services and Providers

The Service relies on third-party providers and APIs, which may include providers for AI, speech-to-text, text-to-speech, image analysis, maps, hosting, databases, analytics, email, and payments.

These third-party services are governed by their own terms and privacy policies. We are not responsible for their independent acts, omissions, outages, or data practices.

Third-party failures may affect the Service, and we are not liable for harm caused by third-party service interruptions except as required by law.

For details about the specific analytics, cookie, and tracking technologies currently used in the Service, see the Privacy Policy.

11. Beta Features and Service Changes

The Service may include alpha, beta, MVP, experimental, early-access, or invite-only features. During Hey First Mate's early release phases, all features should be considered beta or experimental unless expressly stated otherwise in the live product.

These features may be incomplete, unstable, unavailable in some environments, or removed at any time. We may change, suspend, or discontinue any part of the Service at any time, including features, pricing, providers, or availability.

12. Disclaimers of Warranties

THE SERVICE IS PROVIDED “AS IS” AND “AS AVAILABLE.”

TO THE MAXIMUM EXTENT PERMITTED BY LAW, WE DISCLAIM ALL WARRANTIES, EXPRESS OR IMPLIED, INCLUDING WARRANTIES OF MERCHANTABILITY, FITNESS FOR A PARTICULAR PURPOSE, TITLE, NON-INFRINGEMENT, ACCURACY, RELIABILITY, AVAILABILITY, AND SECURITY.

WE DO NOT WARRANT THAT THE SERVICE WILL BE ERROR-FREE OR UNINTERRUPTED, THAT OUTPUTS WILL BE ACCURATE, COMPLETE, OR SAFE TO RELY ON, THAT DEFECTS WILL BE CORRECTED, OR THAT THE SERVICE WILL MEET YOUR EXPECTATIONS OR REQUIREMENTS.

13. Limitation of Liability

TO THE MAXIMUM EXTENT PERMITTED BY APPLICABLE LAW, INCLUDING ANY APPLICABLE FEDERAL ADMIRALTY OR MARITIME LAW, FIRST MATE AND ITS OWNERS, AFFILIATES, LICENSORS, CONTRACTORS, EMPLOYEES, AND AGENTS WILL NOT BE LIABLE FOR ANY INDIRECT, INCIDENTAL, SPECIAL, CONSEQUENTIAL, EXEMPLARY, OR PUNITIVE DAMAGES, OR FOR ANY LOSS OF PROFITS, REVENUE, DATA, GOODWILL, USE, VOYAGE, BUSINESS OPPORTUNITY, OR PROPERTY.

TO THE MAXIMUM EXTENT PERMITTED BY APPLICABLE LAW, WE WILL NOT BE LIABLE FOR ANY INJURY, DEATH, GROUNDING, COLLISION, FLOODING, FIRE, MEDICAL HARM, VESSEL DAMAGE, EQUIPMENT DAMAGE, PROPERTY DAMAGE, OR OTHER LOSS ARISING OUT OF OR RELATING TO YOUR USE OF OR INABILITY TO USE THE SERVICE; YOUR RELIANCE ON ANY OUTPUT; YOUR FAILURE TO VERIFY INFORMATION; THIRD-PARTY SERVICE FAILURES; NETWORK OR CONNECTIVITY FAILURES; OR ANY SAFETY-CRITICAL DECISION IN WHICH THE SERVICE WAS USED.

OUR TOTAL AGGREGATE LIABILITY FOR ANY CLAIM ARISING OUT OF OR RELATING TO THE SERVICE WILL NOT EXCEED THE GREATER OF: (1) THE TOTAL AMOUNT YOU PAID US FOR THE SERVICE IN THE 12 MONTHS BEFORE THE EVENT GIVING RISE TO THE CLAIM; OR (2) US$100.

NOTHING IN THESE TERMS EXCLUDES LIABILITY THAT CANNOT BE EXCLUDED OR LIMITED BY LAW.

14. Indemnification

You agree to defend, indemnify, and hold harmless Hey First Mate and its owners, affiliates, licensors, contractors, employees, and agents from and against any claims, losses, liabilities, damages, judgments, costs, and expenses, including reasonable attorneys' fees, arising out of or related to your misuse of the Service, your User Content, your violation of these Terms, your violation of applicable law, or your negligent, reckless, fraudulent, or wrongful conduct.

15. Termination and Suspension

You may stop using the Service at any time and may cancel your subscription as described above.

We may suspend or terminate your access immediately if you violate these Terms, your use creates risk to us, the Service, or other users, we suspect fraud, abuse, or unlawful conduct, or we discontinue the Service.

Upon termination, your right to use the Service ends immediately, amounts owed remain due, and the following provisions survive to the extent permitted by law: ownership, licenses, payment obligations, warranty disclaimers, liability limits, indemnification, export and sanctions compliance, force majeure, privacy-rights and data-handling provisions that by their nature survive, and dispute and venue provisions.

16. Governing Law, Maritime Law, Venue, and Disputes

16.1 Informal Resolution

Before filing a formal claim, you agree to contact us and attempt to resolve the dispute informally for at least 30 days.

16.2 Governing Law

These Terms are governed by the laws of the Commonwealth of Virginia, without regard to conflict-of-law principles, except to the extent superseded, preempted, or controlled by applicable federal law, including applicable admiralty or maritime law.

16.3 Venue

Any dispute not resolved informally and not brought in small claims court must be brought exclusively in the state courts located in Middlesex County, Virginia, or, if federal subject-matter jurisdiction exists, the United States District Court for the Eastern District of Virginia. You and Hey First Mate consent to the personal jurisdiction of those courts.

16.4 Small Claims

Either party may bring an individual claim in small claims court if the claim qualifies.

16.5 No Class Proceedings

To the maximum extent permitted by law, claims must be brought on an individual basis and not as a plaintiff or class member in any purported class, consolidated, or representative proceeding.

17. Export Controls and Sanctions Compliance

You may not use, access, export, re-export, release, or transfer the Service or any related software, data, or technical information in violation of applicable export-control, sanctions, or trade laws and regulations.

You represent and warrant that you are not located in, ordinarily resident in, or subject to the laws of a country or region subject to comprehensive U.S. embargo or sanctions, and that you are not listed on any U.S. government restricted-party list that would prohibit your use of the Service.

We may suspend or terminate access where we believe continued access could violate export-control or sanctions laws or create legal risk.

18. Force Majeure

We are not liable for any failure or delay in performance caused by events beyond our reasonable control, including acts of God, natural disasters, severe weather, fire, flood, war, terrorism, labor disputes, civil unrest, governmental action, power failure, internet or telecommunications outage, cloud or hosting failure, third-party API outage, supply-chain disruption, epidemic, pandemic, or similar events.

During any such event, we may suspend or limit the Service and will resume performance when reasonably practicable.

19. Changes to These Terms

We may revise these Terms from time to time. If we make material changes, we will provide notice by email, through the Service, or by other reasonable means before the revised Terms become effective.

Your continued use of the Service after the effective date of revised Terms constitutes acceptance of the revised Terms.

20. General Provisions

These Terms, together with the Privacy Policy and Medical & Maritime Safety Disclaimer, constitute the entire agreement between you and Hey First Mate regarding the Service.

If any provision is found unenforceable, the remaining provisions will remain in effect to the fullest extent permitted by law.

Our failure to enforce any provision is not a waiver.

You may not assign these Terms without our prior written consent. We may assign these Terms in connection with a merger, acquisition, financing, reorganization, or sale of assets.

21. Contact Information

T & T Educational Support Services, LLC d/b/a Hey First Mate
252 Garnett Hill Drive
Urbanna, Virginia 23175
Email: ty@heyfirstmate.com
Phone: (703) 209-0921