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

When would you keep a detailed written log?

  • Never

    Votes: 28 15.6%

  • On passages out of sight of land

    Votes: 79 43.9%

  • On passages longer than 24hours

    Votes: 21 11.7%

  • Always

    Votes: 52 28.9%
  • Total voters
    180
  • Poll closed .
Out of sight of land I do, but when I need to most, Im too busy swinging off the helm tackling a six or seven, because in thick fog or heavy weather, I cant leave the helm, and often Im getting thrown about too much to put pen to paper, and need one of the hands to hold on anyway.
 
Same as many others. Only when out of sight of land or at night/poor vis. But, I like to have the chart out ready with the course drawn on it for longer trips as it seems to give me a sense of perspective and overview that plotters (though great bits of kit) don't give - well, not on a 10" screen anyway.
 
Engine Log
Narative Log (ie:diary)
Position Log (on chage of watch 3hrs)
When on ocean passage all of the above, but every 24hrs.
 
I always maintain a log, an A6 spiral-bound pocket-book ruled into columns and kept within easy reach just inside the hatch:

TIME - LOG - ENG (on/off) - POSN/REM (for everything else)

Before any passage I note: tidal details, latest weather, crew details, etc.

On passage I note: boat speed, sails set, reefed or handed, weather obs, who was sick (and sometimes where), the berk who ignored colregs, fixes (on chart), etc.

When not underway I note: anchor bearings, depth and cable out, marina berth, code and cost, quantity and cost of fuel, anything important to do with boat systems or failures, and any visitors (but modesty forbids me to note down who got shagged, or didn't!).

Out of sight of land I note hourly: Course, weather, leeway, position (LAT-LONG or EP on chart), Baro, and any other remarks.

Its all a good habit which helps punctuate longer passages, and gives me a complete record to review or re-live.
 
When we sold up and went to the Caribbean, all our friends in the village gave us a really nice leather bound log book. I'm ashamed to say we never used it. When you can invariably see where you're going before you lose sight of where you've been and the sun is shining and you've got a chart plotter why bother. Last year on the ARC however we recorded a position and how many choccie biscuits we had stolen on every watch change.
 
Having only a small boat (22 foot) and a chart plotter that's not that reliable, I check my position hourly if possible, and write the lat and long in the logbook. Sometimes I'll go for longer than an hour, but I do record the details. Also, I have several Imray C10 charts of the Western Channel. The oldest of these I cut up and drew course lines, disected with 4 and 5 mile intervals, to places I might like to go. I fabloned this and found it really useful for plotting my course location every 1 or 2 hours in wax pencil, so I can easily use it over again, and if it got wet, well, no problems. Hopefully the picture will show OK.


DSCF3939.JPG


On the way home I wanted to be upwind of the Devon coast (just in case :D :D ) and set my course more to the West. This paid off as you will note from the blue dots to the left of the course line.

It's nice to see your progress, or lack of it.
 
Yes I always keep a record in the log, not necessarily every hour, on coastal trips it may be when passing headlands or past navigation buoys or just if conditions change. Trips away from land I always plot an EP. But then I don't have or use a plotter and rarely switch on the gps. Keep it simple works for me, and it saves running the engine to charge up the batteries. My boat is a sailing boat after all! Yes I like looking back at old logs. Find them helpful for planning too, a reminder of how long taken between various places in real time and conditions.
Looking at the comments from other skippers must say I am quite amazed at the lack of log keeping and total reliance on electronics. Makes me glad I sail single handed, certainly wouldn't like to be be crew on some boats represented here.
 
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jamesjermain said:
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.
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I love getting them out from time to time. It's fun to remember the encounters with whales, dolphins, basking shark, sunfish etc but these occurences have been much rarer in recent years - for me at least.
 
We always kept a log every two hours. It's not just about position we also added the barometer reading, course, current speed and at night what shipping had been seen and the direction they were going. This is so the next person on watch knew what to look out for.
 
I never do but my wife and daughter fill one in on passage for something to do. They then pretty it up in harbour with pressed flowers under sellotape, little drawings of animals (especially cats. Little red hearts and stuff like that. Proper log book too with hard cover and sailing notes like "wind increased, wore my bobby hat to stop tangled hair".
 
We only do coastal cruising, and are probably seldom out of sight of land. I have always kept a log, but don't plot positions every hour, but note time when passing significant points.
e.g. 1420, Cape Difficulty abeam. (Virtual prize for knowing where that is)
Each day is headed by the local time of tide, and the expected weather. Also record anything of interest. As others have said, interesting to look back on.
 
dansaskip said:
But then I don't have or use a plotter and rarely switch on the gps.
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Horses for courses, coast hopping in known waters a plotter isn't necessary but for longer trips and approaching unknown havens, a plotter frees you up to get on with other things, especially as a single hander.

Looking at the comments from other skippers must say I am quite amazed at the lack of log keeping and total reliance on electronics.
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It's the 21 century! Almost everything relies on electronics.
I wouldn't be able to single hand the distances I do without the autohelm, wind vane would be a bit OTT for up to 24hr passages and not as versatile as autohelm when preping to come into port.
 
dansaskip said:
Looking at the comments from other skippers must say I am quite amazed at the lack of log keeping and total reliance on electronics.
Click to expand...

Before setting off on a passage, I plot all my waypoints on a paper chart before I feed them into the GPS (both fixed and handheld).
Should the boat electrics ever die on me, I always have the handheld as backup.
Even if I did not have the handheld, as I keep a sharp eye on the GPS repeater I would always know distance and bearing from the next waypoint at the moment the electrics died and take it from there.

Looking at the comments of others, I am surprised by the number of people who have experienced (or live in fear of) a complete power failure.
Maybe time to overhaul your electrical systems. I would certainly think twice before setting out in a boat with such unreliable electrics. :rolleyes:

In in over a dozen years of pretty intensive sailing, we have experienced a complete power failure just once.
Of course in a storm and at night. Luckily it happened in one of the busiest bits of the Channel, so we just followed a ferry.
 
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