Terms of Service

1. Acceptance of Terms

These Terms of Service ("Terms") govern your access to and use of HELM™ Sea Conditions and all related services, websites, and applications (collectively, the "Service") operated by Vaughn Venture LLC ("Company", "we", "us", or "our").

By accessing or using the Service, you agree to be bound by these Terms. If you do not agree, you may not use the Service. If you are using the Service on behalf of an organization, you represent that you have authority to bind that organization to these Terms.

2. Description of Service

HELM™ Sea Conditions is a suite of progressive web applications designed for offshore anglers, providing:

• Sea Conditions & Weather Forecasting: Aggregated data from multiple weather models including NOAA, StormGlass, DWD/ICON, GFS, Open-Meteo, and WaveWatch III, presented through a proprietary Go/No-Go confidence engine.
• Captain's Log: GPS trip tracking, fishing stop detection, route planning, and trip recording.
• HELM™ Intelligence: Automated aggregation and curation of publicly available fishing tournaments, catches, records, and news from around the web.
• HELM™ Catch: Catch logging and sharing platform.
• HELM™ Tournaments: Tournament registration and management platform.

3. Accounts & Registration

To access certain features of the Service, you must create an account. When creating an account, you agree to:

• Provide accurate, current, and complete information
• Maintain the security of your password and account
• Promptly update your information if it changes
• Accept responsibility for all activity that occurs under your account
• Notify us immediately of any unauthorized use of your account

You must be at least 13 years of age (or 16 in the EEA) to create an account. We reserve the right to suspend or terminate accounts that violate these Terms.

4. Subscriptions & Payments

Plans & Pricing

The Service offers free and paid subscription tiers. Current pricing is displayed at helmseaconditions.com and may be updated from time to time. Paid plans include HELM™ Pro and HELM™ Captain, available as monthly or annual subscriptions.

Founding Member Pricing

Founding Member annual pricing is available to the first 500 subscribers and is locked in for the life of your subscription as long as it remains active.

Free Trial

New subscribers may be eligible for a 14-day free trial. No credit card is required to start a trial. At the end of the trial period, you will be prompted to select a paid plan to continue accessing premium features.

Billing & Cancellation

• All payments are processed securely by Stripe, Inc.
• Subscriptions automatically renew at the end of each billing period unless you cancel before the renewal date.
• You may cancel your subscription at any time through your account settings. Cancellation takes effect at the end of the current billing period.
• We do not offer refunds for partial billing periods, except as required by applicable law.

5. Acceptable Use

You agree not to use the Service to:

• Violate any applicable law, regulation, or ordinance
• Infringe upon the rights of others, including intellectual property rights
• Transmit malicious code, viruses, or any harmful software
• Attempt to gain unauthorized access to any part of the Service, other accounts, or systems
• Scrape, crawl, or extract data from the Service through automated means without prior written consent
• Interfere with or disrupt the integrity or performance of the Service
• Use the Service for any commercial purpose not expressly permitted by these Terms
• Create multiple accounts to circumvent restrictions or abuse free trials
• Share your account credentials with others or allow unauthorized access
• Post false, misleading, or fraudulent content (including fake catch reports or tournament results)

We reserve the right to suspend or terminate your access for violation of these rules, at our sole discretion.

6. User Content and Data

6.1 Your Content

When you submit, upload, or generate content through the Service — including but not limited to fishing spots, GPS coordinates, catch logs, trip data, photographs, environmental observations, feedback, and any other information entered into or collected by the platform ("User Content") — you grant Vaughn Venture LLC a perpetual, irrevocable, worldwide, royalty-free, transferable, sublicensable license to use, reproduce, modify, adapt, aggregate, analyze, and create derivative works from such User Content for any purpose related to operating, improving, and developing the Service and related products and services.

6.2 Ownership of Data and Derivative Works

As between you and Vaughn Venture LLC, all data, databases, compilations, analytics, aggregations, models, algorithms, insights, and derivative works generated from or informed by User Content — whether individually or in combination with data from other users or third-party sources — are and shall remain the sole and exclusive property of Vaughn Venture LLC. This includes, without limitation, any predictive models, pattern analyses, environmental correlations, species distribution data, and statistical outputs derived from User Content.

6.3 Aggregated and Anonymized Data

Vaughn Venture LLC may create aggregated, anonymized, or de-identified datasets from User Content. Such datasets do not identify individual users and may be used, shared, published, or commercialized by Vaughn Venture LLC without restriction. You acknowledge that once User Content has been incorporated into aggregated or anonymized datasets, it cannot be individually extracted or deleted from those datasets, even if you delete your account or individual records.

6.4 Your Right to Delete

You may delete your individual User Content (such as saved spots and catch logs) through the Service at any time. Upon deletion, your individually identifiable data will be removed from active databases within a reasonable timeframe. However, aggregated, anonymized, or de-identified derivatives of that data may persist as described in Section 6.3.

6.5 No Expectation of Confidentiality

While Vaughn Venture LLC takes reasonable measures to protect your data, you acknowledge that fishing spot locations, coordinates, and related information submitted to the Service are not treated as trade secrets or confidential information. By submitting such data, you accept that it may be incorporated into community features, shared datasets, or analytical products offered by Vaughn Venture LLC.

6.6 Content Representations

You represent and warrant that you have the right to submit all User Content you provide, and that your User Content does not infringe the intellectual property rights or privacy rights of any third party.

6.7 Content Moderation

We reserve the right to review, moderate, and remove User Content that violates these Terms, is inaccurate, or is otherwise objectionable. We are not obligated to monitor all User Content but may do so at our discretion.

6.8 Discovery Engine Content

The HELM™ Discovery Engine aggregates publicly available content from websites, RSS feeds, and public social media posts. All aggregated content is displayed with source attribution and links to the original source. If you are a content owner and wish to have your content removed from HELM™ Intelligence, please contact us.

7. Intellectual Property

The Service, including its design, code, features, branding, logos, text, graphics, and proprietary algorithms (including the Go/No-Go confidence engine, wind correction algorithm, and swell decomposition algorithm), is owned by Vaughn Venture LLC and protected by United States and international intellectual property laws.

• HELM™ is a trademark of Vaughn Venture LLC (USPTO SN 99668030).
• The HELM™ source code and associated materials are protected by copyright (Case #1-15106408851).
• You may not copy, modify, distribute, sell, or create derivative works based on any part of the Service without prior written consent.

8. Weather Disclaimer & Assumption of Risk

The weather data, Go/No-Go assessments, confidence scores, and sea condition forecasts provided by HELM™ are aggregated from third-party sources and processed through proprietary algorithms. While we strive for accuracy, weather conditions are inherently unpredictable and can change rapidly.

By using the Service, you acknowledge and agree that:

• You assume all risk associated with offshore fishing, boating, and water activities
• You will not rely solely on HELM™ for safety-critical decisions
• You will always verify conditions through official NOAA marine forecasts, VHF weather radio, and your own observation
• Vaughn Venture LLC is not responsible for any injury, loss of life, property damage, or other harm resulting from decisions made based on HELM™ data
• A "Go" assessment does not guarantee safe conditions; a "No-Go" assessment does not mean conditions are dangerous in all areas

9. Limitation of Liability

TO THE MAXIMUM EXTENT PERMITTED BY APPLICABLE LAW, VAUGHN VENTURE LLC AND ITS OFFICERS, DIRECTORS, MEMBERS, EMPLOYEES, AND AGENTS SHALL NOT BE LIABLE FOR ANY INDIRECT, INCIDENTAL, SPECIAL, CONSEQUENTIAL, OR PUNITIVE DAMAGES, INCLUDING BUT NOT LIMITED TO LOSS OF PROFITS, DATA, USE, GOODWILL, OR OTHER INTANGIBLE LOSSES, RESULTING FROM:

• Your access to, use of, or inability to access or use the Service
• Any conduct or content of any third party on the Service
• Weather data, forecasts, or Go/No-Go assessments provided by the Service
• Unauthorized access, use, or alteration of your transmissions or content

IN NO EVENT SHALL OUR TOTAL LIABILITY TO YOU FOR ALL CLAIMS EXCEED THE AMOUNT YOU HAVE PAID TO US IN THE TWELVE (12) MONTHS PRECEDING THE CLAIM, OR ONE HUNDRED DOLLARS ($100), WHICHEVER IS GREATER.

THE SERVICE IS PROVIDED ON AN "AS IS" AND "AS AVAILABLE" BASIS WITHOUT WARRANTIES OF ANY KIND, EITHER EXPRESS OR IMPLIED, INCLUDING BUT NOT LIMITED TO IMPLIED WARRANTIES OF MERCHANTABILITY, FITNESS FOR A PARTICULAR PURPOSE, AND NON-INFRINGEMENT.

10. Indemnification

You agree to indemnify, defend, and hold harmless Vaughn Venture LLC and its officers, directors, members, employees, and agents from and against any and all claims, damages, obligations, losses, liabilities, costs, and expenses (including attorney's fees) arising from your use of the Service, your violation of these Terms, or your violation of any rights of a third party.

11. Third-Party Services

The Service integrates with and relies upon third-party services, including:

• Weather Providers: NOAA, StormGlass, DWD/ICON, GFS, Open-Meteo, WaveWatch III
• Infrastructure: Supabase (database/auth), Netlify (hosting), Stripe (payments)
• Discovery: Brave Search API, RSS feeds from third-party fishing publications
• Social Media: Facebook/Meta, Instagram, Twitter/X
• Maps: Leaflet, NOAA nautical chart tiles

We are not responsible for the availability, accuracy, or content of third-party services. Your use of third-party services is governed by their respective terms of service and privacy policies.

12. Termination

We may suspend or terminate your access to the Service at any time, with or without cause, with or without notice. Upon termination:

• Your right to use the Service ceases immediately
• We may delete your account data after a reasonable retention period (typically 30 days)
• Provisions that by their nature should survive termination (including Sections 7, 8, 9, 10, and 13) will survive

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

13. Governing Law

These Terms shall be governed by and construed in accordance with the laws of the State of Alabama, United States, without regard to its conflict of law provisions. Any legal action or proceeding arising under these Terms shall be brought exclusively in the state or federal courts located in Baldwin County, Alabama, and you consent to the personal jurisdiction of such courts.

14. Changes to Terms

We reserve the right to modify these Terms at any time. We will provide notice of material changes by posting the updated Terms on this page with a revised effective date. Changes to pricing will be communicated at least 30 days in advance for existing subscribers. Your continued use of the Service after changes are posted constitutes acceptance of the revised Terms.

15. Contact Us

If you have questions about these Terms, contact us at: