Do You Keep a Written Log?

Habebty

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I have sailed some 4500 miles in the last two seasons and have never kept a written log. I have lots of tracks and positions/times marked on paper charts etc. but nothing actually in a log as such. Some people i know write up all their sailing even if going out for the day. One of my sailing pals is constantly nagging me to start a log but most of my sailing is singlehanded and I can't be arsed most of the time to combine writing a log with all the passage planning stuff I do.
The drawbacks are possibly in the event of an insurance claim or similar and missing out on reminiscing summer cruises etc.
But is it actually a legal requirement to keep a small craft written log for SOLAS or any other organisation.
What are the other disadvantages of not keeping a written log.

Do you keep a log and for what reasons.

Perhaps your reasons will stop me being so lazy.
cheers
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Yes, always have done but I don't necessarily start a fresh page for each passage, especially if they are short ones.

The log(s) just help me to recall particular details about a place that might be a help as we approach next time - normal recall brings most of it back once there but a bit of preliminary stimulation does no harm (as the actress said...etc!) and allows longer warps to be made ready or the passerelle mount to be moved to it's "high quay" position etc.

Steve Cronin
 

Koeketiene

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I don't - I know I should, but I don't.

Do keep records of engine hours, miles logged and make notes when entering/leaving a place I haven't been before.
Also got a list of waypoints I have used somewhere.
Mostly sail by GPS, but plot position on paper chart every hour (or so).

Don't keep a radiolog, don't record weather (it just is) and don't keep records of ships/boats I meet.
 

flaming

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I confess I don't when racing, but do tend to when cruising, especially offshore.
It's a very good idea to keep one, as it is a legal document and can be submitted as evidence in a court if you are involved in an incident as evidence of your position and course.
Especially good idea if you sail a popular make of boat and could be mistaken for someone else!
 

wooslehunter

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There was a guy sailing single handed in loose company with other boats somewhere mid channel S of the Needles last year I believe. He fell off leaving the boat to sail on. After the other's couldn't raise him on VHF, a search was initiated.

He'd kept a regular log of positions. Once the boat was found someone got on board, saw the log and now they had a positive time and position for the guy on the boat. Working back they now had a far smaller search area than the channel & he was found cold but OK.

I keep a position log and also write in anything like harbour pilotage. Long wordy descriptive stuff's not my thing but if anything's worth writing about, I will.
 

pyrojames

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I used to, religiously. Even if I was only on board for an hour, I'd date it with arrival and departure time. I've got lazy in the last few years and only tend to write it up if I have a few days on board and am relaxed.

Since the whole "recorded passage plan" thing came in, I tend to record HW/LW and destination.

I used to have readings from the log as post dinner entertainment. Pick the date going back 1, 2 3 years etc and see what you were upto then. It could be good fun.

Must start writting it properly again.
 

flaming

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[ QUOTE ]
'and can be submitted as evidence in a court '

Correction. Can be seized and used as evidence in court.

[/ QUOTE ]

Well, if you're getting pedantic you meant "can ALSO be seized and used as evidence in court."
 

Woodlouse

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Although the log is a legal document I don't think that leisure boaters are legally obliged to keep one.

If on the other hand you are a commercial vessel I believe that you neglect the log at your own peril.
 
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Yes. If I know what I did do, and where I did end up, there is a chance to predict where I could be when GPS fails. As long as the clock is still working after the lightning strike.
 

Evadne

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Yes. I started navigating before Decca, and found a log useful for recording fixes etc. I still navigate in much the same way, because I enjoy it, though gps is used as a virtual compass if necessary. I don't go for the mile-by-mile detail of those early trips out of Rye, especially if it's just a weekend jaunt up the Solent. The best bits are the end of day narrative that I started adding a few years a go, as well as the miscellaneous notes that tell me how much I paid for a visitor's berth, etc.
 

Brierley

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We do keep a log but it's fairly informal if we're pottering about in the Solent - date, start location, end location, engine hours, approx NM, wind speed and direction.

We have a comments section that is used for details of any crew we have on board, people we meet, notes on marina charges or pilotage that might be useful for return trips. As others have said, it can be fascinating to read back old logs to see what you were doing a few years before or how you felt about certain places or routes.

On passages outside the Solent, we keep a detailed log of our position that is updated every half hour as well as being plotted on the chart.
 

thalassa

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No and yes... Never for daytrips, yes for longer holidays... sort of. I 'm not easily seasick, unless I go below to do charting work or computer stuff for more than five minutes, so I intend to avoid that if at all possible. Instead, I run a small Garmin Etrex all the time, the "tracklog setting" set to 15 minutes; then I download the track at the end of a "run", in port, on the PC and save the stuff to a file. Second step: in "Mapsource", I click on the day's track and right-mouse "track properties", select all, copy. Then I open my "Word" logbook and paste the contents. Then I add, in a few words, the day's summary (from -to - weather etc. ) and save the file for the next day. Paperless, painless, and highly accurate.
 

YAYoHamble

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It is a SOLAS requirement that passage planning is undertaken but it is not a requirement that this be written down:

[ QUOTE ]
9.) Small vessels and pleasure craft

Regulation 34 applies to all vessels but the degree of voyage planning may sensibly be less for small vessels and pleasure craft. There is still a need for prior planning but the plan need not be written down

[/ QUOTE ]
 

l'escargot

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[ QUOTE ]
Isn't the log book where you would also write your passage plan and I think that is a legal requirement!

[/ QUOTE ]
There is no legal requirement for a written passage plan, nor a log.
 

Robin

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We keep two logs.

The navigational 'Ship's Log' is only used for longer passages, generally out of sight of land and not for local trips. These days we run 2 entirely separate chart plotters/GPSs on different battery banks and even have a 3rd 'spare' ready to use not normally running all of which record ships track and Lat/Longs at 30 minute intervals. We also run a Yeoman/paper chart plot on longer offshore trips. The detail in the (offshore) Ship's Log is these days rather sparse, but does record engine hours, fuel purchases/consumption, weather and tide information etc but on a rough passage might be little more than date, start and finish times! Whilst sailing locally but in foreign waters I do record in one liners on the same page where we were/went/stayed each day. We have had this Log inspected when we were stopped once at sea by French Customs and apart from asking what 'bang crash wallop and we are doing this for fun?' meant in an entry from SWMBO they were happy enough with that.

The second is a 'Diary' Log and this IS completed every day we are on board. Here is the story of the time on board, where we went (or not) records of berth fees paid, fuel or gas bought and costs, meals out and so on. This Log has many pictures added, postcards of places, restaurant bills, restaurant business cards and other souvenirs all stuck in. It is this Log that makes interesting reading and is useful later in recalling useful data.
 

johnalison

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Exactly the same, but our written one isn't as good as yours, being a random collection of the Skipper's thoughts. It does go back to 1972 though, and has been typed out by the Skipper and bound into books for the benefit of posterity.
 
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