Be honest now! Do you really keep an hourly log of position etc.?

[sailorman]

my old plotter does as does Open CPN on the lappi

My last plotter used to have the feature of recording the position every half-hour. This was very handy if wanting to keep a record at the exact time but not conscientious about remembering. My latest E7 no longer does this.

Every hour when offshore but not coasting. In forty odd years I have never yet had reason to make use of it though. Touch wood.

 

[maby]

We do on passages out of our home waters - but I do tend to regard it as more a case of keeping a diary for posterity rather than an aid to navigation.

P.S. I don't think that relying on the track log in your plotter or laptop counts - the point of the exercise is to protect against the failure of both!

 

[Chalker]

Around the Solent No
Coastal and Cross Channel. Yes every hour
Mid Atlantic. Every 3 hours

 

[prv]

P.S. I don't think that relying on the track log in your plotter or laptop counts - the point of the exercise is to protect against the failure of both!

I did see an old-style paper-printing Navtex which had the capability to accept NMEA (position, speed, log reading, depth, wind, etc) and automatically print it on an hourly or half-hourly schedule. An interesting solution for someone determined to automate, but I think I'll keep marking the plot on the chart

Pete

 

[Champagne Murphy]

Ditto.
So, voted 'never'.

Ha-ha!
Tend to write up at the end of journey. CP keeps a track and I have a back up battery powered GPS which just generates a lat and long.

 

[jbweston]

Yes, but not on local trips

+ 1 more

On local trips I still fill in the standard log with departure and arrival times and log readings, baro pressure, wind strength and engine hours as I want a record for eg engine oil changes and to watch how weather is developing for tomorrow/later in the week.

I suppose it depends on where and how you sail, but I'm sure it's prudent to have a note of where you were and when that is separate from your plotter / GPS in case your battery dies (or GPS is jammed, or you hit it by mistake with a winch handle) and you want to know what course to steer to get to somewhere you want to be! Although I suppose you could just head Southeast and aim to hit the European land mass somewhere . . .

 

[Kelpie]

On short sails, or when things are busy, then log keeping tends to fall by the wayside. So our logbook usually is missing a few entries on final approach to a new harbour, for example.
On longer trips and/or out of sight of prominent landmarks, the plot goes in hourly, but we usually don't plot on the chart.
However the chart is to hand, for 'big picture' view (plotter is only a 5" screen).
Last year I started using Open CPN as well, liked having another chart's perspective especially on anchorages etc.

 

[prv]

Other time though too much water sloshing around inside boat.

+1 - halfway through my Dazed Kipper course we had a major flood, up to saloon bunk level, which took out all the electronics boxes mounted under the chart table. Not just GPS, but log and depth too (and wind, but that hardly matters). No cheating on the nav by looking at the GPS for the remainder of that course

Pete

 

[ditchcrawler]

I keep an hourly log for every trip but the hour tends to be flexible when daysailing and more accurate for longer passages.It may be less than an hour for course changes or dropping sails etc.
It has become a habit and I like to read the log in the winter to see what we had for lunch.

 

[jamesjermain]

Very seldom hourly but I always run a log when away from home port (ie Plymouth Sound and Tamar River). When we sailed in the Solent I never kept a log for sailing from Hamble to, say, Lymington but I would to Poole. Well offshore and clear of shipping lanes the log will be filled in at the change of the watch. On coastal passages two hourly or when an 'event' happens - change of course, passing whale, weather forecast, change of weather. I also log engine hours, damage or breakages etc

It very seldom turns out to be necessary after the event but, as I run a narrative log as well, they are interesting to refer back to. The engine log is used for servicing.

 

[jamesjermain]

I'm surprised so few people have mentioned the pleasure of re-reading old log books. Perhaps its just me - sad old git living in the past.

 

[silver-fox]

I'm surprised so few people have mentioned the pleasure of re-reading old log books. Perhaps its just me - sad old git living in the past.

+1
Also terrified of losing all electrics. You've not lived until you have had to approach a rocky anchorage in the dark, in driving rain, with just a torch shining on a very wet compass to assist.

Having recently had 10 stitches in a head wound as a result of a sailing accident, I think it also pretty important SWMBO or anyone else on board could get on the VHF and give our position without having to mess with any electrickery.

 

[puddock]

To be perfectly honest, not usually on coasal trips in familiar water in daylight and good visibility BUT always when out of sight of land, darkness and poor (or threatening poor) visibilty and always in unfamiliar locations - which is rarer than I'd wish

 

[PhillM]

All the time. I dont usually get time to plot position on the chart - but I am only in the Solent and usually at weekends. So time below is limited.

I usually get my crew to fill in the log and find it helps to keep them interested in where we are and what is happening around us, clouds, baro, speed, etc.

I too like to re-read old passages in Winter. I find the log helps to build a picture of how long it took to get to the same place in different conditions.

We also record mistakes, lessons learned, etc and also any improvements we could to do to the boat and skills we think we need to polish up - so its a really useful diary.

 

[whiteshythe]

I only bother to plot my position under the following circumstances:-
When out of sight of land due to distance or poor visibility.
The frequency of my plots are dependent on the proximity of any likely dangers, eg rocks, shipping lanes, restricted areas etc.
So in practice I only keep a plot when I know that I will be going out of sight of land, or if I think that I may get caught in fog.
Even then, I only plot at hourly intervals if I judge that I might get close to a hazzard, eg within a distance of one hours sailing, I suggest about 5miles.
Mid Atlantic, a single daily plot is quite sufficient.

Regards,

Steve.

 

[Uricanejack]

Didn't vote my answere doesn't fit any of the options.
Day sailing no.
If I go a bit further. Sometimes depending on my mood and weather.
I carry chart, compass, rule and pencil. My log is a waterproof note book.
If I wander out of my usual haunts. absoultly.

 

[johnalison]

?

Surely forty years ago there was no other way of knowing where you were?

Pete

I suppose that's true, though we used to write the EP on the chart hourly and I first used Decca in 1988 which was well over half the forty years I optimistically claimed.

 

[Plomong]

Yes, but not on local trips

+1

 

[LadyInBed]

I normally put in a log entry every 3 hours on X channel / longish trips.
On coastal trips I put in an entry at significant points such as rounding headlands.

As for 'the pleasure of re-reading old log books', on something like a summer cruse I write a narrative, often the next day or on a rest day.

 

[prv]

I suppose that's true, though we used to write the EP on the chart hourly

Ah, I see what you mean - having worked it out directly on the chart, you never needed to go back and re-compute it from the numbers carefully entered in the log for that purpose. That makes sense.

Pete