Is an electronic logbook acceptable in UK?

As I don't have a boat (yet) I had no log book for my YM Coastal exam as all my time was spent on other peoples boats.

The examiner simply quizzed me on some aspects of the places I had sailed to make sure I had been where I said I had been and actually done the miles.
 
chrishscorp said:
+1

I assume you had AIS transmitting on board ?
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Thanks for your interest, also Quiddle and Neeves. I had no AIS fitted, but the X-band Echomax is always on, the aerial's on the spreaders.
I'll post the whole tale in a couple of months, it could have gone a lot wronger and I'm lucky to be still alive, and in ownership of my old cutter. Like rogue cross-swells, accidents can arise from an unlucky combination of otherwise harmless inconveniences...
 
dunedin said:
Not sure that a leisure boat log would have any relevance in terms of an impact with a charted rock.
We must have passed many thousand charted rocks last year (Scotland West Coast, Norway, Sweden) and perhaps a handful, less than twenty, would be mentioned in the log - only when they marked a major headland/turning point.
And when rocks every 50-100m you don’t record the course to steer between each hard object in the log. Too busy following the pilotage to scribble stuff down.
AIS track might be used, but log entries I very much doubt.

I do keep a paper log - but mainly for personal interest / momento. On busy passages written up many days later. Use a spiral bound notebook on passage - with scribbles of things relevant to passage (tide times, key waypoints, key timings at major milestones), eagles or dolphin sightings etc. No columns for flexibility. Position, course and speed only recorded hourly if on a long boring bit, never during island pilotage.
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+1 to all of that.
 
Jungle Jim said:
As I don't have a boat (yet) I had no log book for my YM Coastal exam as all my time was spent on other peoples boats.
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Good the examiner showed common sense.

You are confusing different types of log book. The one for RYA exams is simply a record of voyages. One row per trip, even if that was a few weeks. There's a specific log book for the purpose: http://www.rya.org.uk/shop/Pages/products.aspx?product=rya-yachtmaster-scheme-syllabus-and-logbook but I record that data electronically now, although it would only really be relevant if I went for the YMOcean. You don't have to own a boat to have one of those. You're supposed to get it signed off by the skipper if you're not the skipper.

Regardless of whether you get one or not it'd be best if you made some record for when you sit the YM (Offshore) exam, if only so you can count up the miles.

The log book the OP is talking about has a record of where the boat has been. e.g. hourly position, or whatever system the skipper wants to run, if any.
 
Twisterowner said:
I find the amount of information in my log is inversely proportional to the complexities of the navigation!

Rock-dodging in foul weather and little gets written down because I'm too busy dodging the rocks. A long passage in fine clam weather finds me leaning over the chart table recording useless information that no-one will ever read! :D
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Amen to that ;)
 
lpdsn said:
You don't have to own a boat to have one of those.
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Indeed it seems to me that RYA personal books are mostly maintained by those who don’t have their own boats. When a charter week or a course or a passage as delivery crew is a bit more of a noteworthy event, versus just taking your own boat out as you regularly do.

Not implying for a moment there’s anything wrong in that; it’s exactly what I did. Logged everything between getting the book when BKYC signed off a regatta week as a Comp Crew course when I was 19, to when we got our first boat and it seemed silly to carefully log a “voyage” from Southampton to Cowes :)

Pete
 
I am prety sure that you are on safe ground here but if you travel outside the EU I have a feeling that you may find that not having a written log may cause problems. Much like curtosey flags, I am sure that it is not a legal requirement to fly them that is why it is called a curtosey flag, but some countries do not see it the same way.
 
dunedin said:
Not sure that a leisure boat log would have any relevance in terms of an impact with a charted rock.
We must have passed many thousand charted rocks last year (Scotland West Coast, Norway, Sweden) and perhaps a handful, less than twenty, would be mentioned in the log - only when they marked a major headland/turning point.
And when rocks every 50-100m you don’t record the course to steer between each hard object in the log. Too busy following the pilotage to scribble stuff down.
AIS track might be used, but log entries I very much doubt.

I do keep a paper log - but mainly for personal interest / momento. On busy passages written up many days later. Use a spiral bound notebook on passage - with scribbles of things relevant to passage (tide times, key waypoints, key timings at major milestones), eagles or dolphin sightings etc. No columns for flexibility. Position, course and speed only recorded hourly if on a long boring bit, never during island pilotage.
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My fault: I use a combined passage plan and log format; and usually refer to it as the log.
It is the passage plan that would probably be of more interest to the insurers, but in the event of a diversion the log might be relevant.

These days for public liability insurance, insurers require risk assessments. A passage plan is somewhat analogous.
 
Seven Spades said:
I am prety sure that you are on safe ground here but if you travel outside the EU I have a feeling that you may find that not having a written log may cause problems. Much like curtosey flags, I am sure that it is not a legal requirement to fly them that is why it is called a curtosey flag, but some countries do not see it the same way.
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Is this just a "feeling" or do you have anything concrete to say that outside the EU you might have problems without a written log?
 
I used the term feeling bit for clarification purposes I think that I have read it some where possibly on the Noon site. I can't put my finger on it there is just something in my head that I remember reading.
 
Seven Spades said:
I used the term feeling bit for clarification purposes I think that I have read it some where possibly on the Noon site. I can't put my finger on it there is just something in my head that I remember reading.
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Think man THINK

Was it after :-
Baked beans,
Carrots
Washing up liquid
After shave
Whipped cream

Or was it on the other list she gave you?
Daily mail,
Express
Pint of Milk

If you forget it she will only send you back again- You know what happened last time!!!!
 
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Seven Spades said:
I am prety sure that you are on safe ground here but if you travel outside the EU I have a feeling that you may find that not having a written log may cause problems. Much like curtosey flags, I am sure that it is not a legal requirement to fly them that is why it is called a curtosey flag, but some countries do not see it the same way.
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As there is no requirement, there is no requirement. Simples.

However

Even in the UK - if you are "lucky" enough to have a visit from a Border Force RIB they may ask if you have a log. They may already have asked where you have come from and are headed to. If the two agree you aren't assured safe passage... ...if the two disagree you are going to be doing lots of explaining. Oh and they know exactly where you came from! So no good making the Log say something different...

Same will apply in EU waters. Add the complexity of language.

Now go to non-EU waters. You get the language issues, you are trying to explain in potted Spanish to a Mexican official that you don't need to have a Log on a UK Pleasure Vessel, while answering where you've been, where you are headed, what your intentions are, if you have VISAs, Passports, anything you shouldn't be importing etc. Its not that you actually will need to have a log. But it may take some time to explain that, meanwhile more of your paperwork is being examined, your hatches opened etc. If everything is in order it shouldn't be an issue -- it will just take up lots of your time... ...and if it turned out something silly is "wrong" that might be the thing that causes you an issue to make up for them not having the log they wanted...

Make a comparison to being pulled over by the police. Maybe a brake light is out. Not the world's worst offence. You are polite, you answer their questions, you are breathalysed and drug wiped without objection. You likely leave with advice about the light. Alternatively, you are belligerent, you evade answering questions. "Where have you come from?" "Oh just out for a drive" You give cocky answers. You don't follow the instructions for the breathalyser the first 2 attempts. You are basically saying "you pulled me over and are wasting my time - so I'm going to waste your time"... ...next you know the traffic cop has your bonnet open, having failed to find a bald tyre, he's now looking for a loose battery, the boot is open to check the tread on the spare. "Your headlights aren't aligned correctly sir". You know the tread on your tyres should be fine. But still the depth gauge is out checking... And at the very least you will be getting a formal notice to get your light fixed and then checked at an MOT station in the next 7 days. And if your screen wash bottle happens to have just run out - they'll be having you for that too.
 
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