Logging quick little jollies?

[FL390]

With kids job etc most of my sailing is a few stolen hours each week. This last 12 months has been my first of boat ownership. So getting to grips with that. I do try and use the time as effectively as possible and usually always have an objective in mind ie MOB drills, nav etc.

Whilst Yachtmaster may one day be undertaken it’s not a short term objective, and at 6.5m don’t think any experience gained on my boat counts for qualifying time.

Holiday charters and insurance companies ask for experienced in terms of ‘days’. It feels disingenuous to log an few hours as a day sailed, yet equally that experience is not totally worthless; and makes up the majority of my sailing!

How do others log these sorts of outings? I was thinking log any meaningful day/trip/instruction as normal whilst keeping separate book for these little jollies logging hours and distance, transferring into main logbook as a single entry every 6 months. If so what counts as a ‘day’ sailed? 30nm/8hours???

 

[Poignard]

I stopped filling in my personal log book more than 20 years ago. I only keep it because it has certificates in it.

 

[[163233]]

It'd be a shame not to record your learning experiences, maybe just the milestones, new places, overnights, solos etc.
The boat size thing is stupid, they should extend the long passage requirements to weed out the day trippers.

 

[bdh198]

I keep a log of all trips irrespective of how long or short they are. I've never needed to refer to them for insurance and the only third party who has seen them in 15 years was my yachtmaster instructor, and even then it was only a 2 minute cursory glance. He was more interested in discussing my sailing experience then reading about what I had written.

The biggest benefit I find of having a log is to look back if I'm ever planning a similar passage or on a similar yacht (really useful having a record of how the passage developed in particular weather, tides etc). I probably find myself doing this several times a season.

In regards to what counts as a day's sail, I think any passage can count. You can have a short passage in tricky conditions where you'll get a whole lot more from the experience in only an hour or two of sailing than you would in benign conditions after a full day's sailing.

 

[prv]

I stopped filling in my personal log book more than 20 years ago. I only keep it because it has certificates in it.

Not quite as long ago in my case, but similar principle. I don’t count up the hours I spend cycling or camping or paddleboarding, and don’t see why sailing should be any different.

(Before anyone gets confused, let’s not mix up personal logbooks with navigational logs.)

Pete

 

[ashtead]

I log all trips even if a stroll to Cowes but as well as recording passage engine hours etc add notes on berthing and other land based experiences.i think for longer distances it’s useful for more rarely visited ports so you get to know range and experiences of fuelling or whatever and record info gleamed from others about a port.just because you are shorter doesn’t make the experience less rewarding IMHO and indeed might present additional challenges for some.

 

[Poignard]

I log all trips even if a stroll to Cowes but as well as recording passage engine hours etc add notes on berthing and other land based experiences.i think for longer distances it’s useful for more rarely visited ports so you get to know range and experiences of fuelling or whatever and record info gleamed from others about a port.just because you are shorter doesn’t make the experience less rewarding IMHO and indeed might present additional challenges for some.

I think we are discussing personal logs not the boat's log.

I keep up the latter but I can see no benefit for me in keeping a personal log of the type issued by the RYA, except as a convenient place to keep cerificates of competence.

 

[RupertW]

I often log trips for navigation or just memories but never needed any formal logs for qualifications. Any school will allow an after the event log book of long experience and will quickly suss out whether it’s genuine.

 

[LadyInBed]

Since using a Chart Plotter I have gone to a one line log, but I don't do trips less than 2 or 3 days.

 

[GHA]

Since using a Chart Plotter I have gone to a one line log,.. .

Similar here, even just moving anchorage goes in opencpn logbook plugin, with one line entries for all passages transfered to the ring bound boat paper log.

 

[Babylon]

I log everything in the ship's log (just an A6 ring-bound notebook), doesn't matter how long or how short. Then, each winter or thereabouts and just out of personal interest, I summarise all passages as one-liners onto the extra sheets of A4 that now puff up my old RYA logbook, and update my total mileage.

Each to their own...

 

[Stemar]

I've never kept a log. On a small boat, it's little more than a diary, and I'm hopeless at that. I tried a couple of times, but didn't last a week.

If needed to justify experience, I've owned a boat for 15 years, crossed the channel half a dozen times and done longer passages as crew a few times. I can give routes, but not dates. I doubt very much a company that wants my money will insist on more.

As for the OP, by all means count a couple of hours sailing as a day. You've done a passage plan, even if it is only to look at the weather and tides and decide a suitable place to go, even if it is only round a buoy and back, left your marina or mooring, put the sails up and handled them, then taken them down and parked the boat. That's more than a round the world sailor does most days.

 

[dunedin]

With kids job etc most of my sailing is a few stolen hours each week. This last 12 months has been my first of boat ownership. So getting to grips with that. I do try and use the time as effectively as possible and usually always have an objective in mind ie MOB drills, nav etc.

Whilst Yachtmaster may one day be undertaken it’s not a short term objective, and at 6.5m don’t think any experience gained on my boat counts for qualifying time.

Holiday charters and insurance companies ask for experienced in terms of ‘days’. It feels disingenuous to log an few hours as a day sailed, yet equally that experience is not totally worthless; and makes up the majority of my sailing!

How do others log these sorts of outings? I was thinking log any meaningful day/trip/instruction as normal whilst keeping separate book for these little jollies logging hours and distance, transferring into main logbook as a single entry every 6 months. If so what counts as a ‘day’ sailed? 30nm/8hours???

Welcome to boat ownership, and enjoy. Sounds like you have a very sensible approach of enjoying your sailing, plus having a learning / practice goal each trip. Very commendable.

I would not underestimate the value of your experience gained doing short sails, or on a 6.5m boat.

There is generally as much boat handling practice (getting off moorings, sails up, tacking, gybing, sails down, getting back onto mooring etc) in a 2 hour sail as there is in an 8 hour sail along the coastline. Just less practice tea and sandwich making.

And whilst the RYA may have introduced an arbitrary lower size limit for reasons of its own, I would not fret about that. Boats have grown bigger over the years, but many / most of the experienced posters (aka old codgers) on here will have started yacht sailing on something of similar size or less. My first yacht sailing was on a 17 foot Silhouette, most of the other club boats were under 22 feet. And we envied the one superyacht in the river (a 27ft Vega), which dwarfed everything else.

So yes if you want to keep a record I would count every trip where you do the on/off moorings and sails/up down. Do this as skipper successfully 14 times and you will be more experienced than many flotilla yacht skippers.

If keeping an RYA logbook for future qualifications, yes it saves paper to summarise a number of similar short daysails and put them in as one line. Hopefully you will Have a few long weekend or week voyages to add soon.
And personally I think good experience sailing a 6.5m boat is good experience for anything. Add the overhang of the pushpit at the bow, the rudder and/or outboard at the back and I am sure the LOA (Length Over All) will be well within any random parameters needed.
Any decent RYA examiner uses the experience log as a basis for discussion around previous experience, and will soon assess for themselves. Explaining what you said above about seeking to set learning/practice goals each trip should be a huge plus compared to others who may have sat munching sandwiches on a big boat covering miles but learning nothing.

 

[doug748]

"If keeping an RYA logbook for future qualifications, yes it saves paper to summarise a number of similar short daysails and put them in as one line. Hopefully you will Have a few long weekend or week voyages to add soon. "


Yes, I used to total them in the RYA log, at the end of each year as: "day sailing/racing". I think any examiner would be happy to see it, as long as you had the required cruising experience for any exam. It also helps to keep tabs for your own personal satisfaction.


Like the others, I keep a boat log of all trips, even a motor around to the fuel berth. It's very simple, often no more than when I set off, came back, miles and weather.
Pencil notes apposite remind me of stuff I may go back to; the cost of a berth, codes, fuel prices the blokes name on the next door berth etc.
.

 

[FL390]

Thanks for all the replies, suggestions and real life solutions. The consensus seems to allow for a good dose of pragmatism for a personal log.

 

[Refueler]

Like STEMAR ..... I've tried to keep log ..... but ended up trying to remember days later after forgetting to write up ..

I buy a common diary every year with the intention of using it as a Log ... and each year I end up with an empty book !!

I even have a CLUTHA Log .... they are a common Deck Log seen on some ships ... and that I try to keep .... seems shame to waste it !!

I suppose what would be better is just to have a plain book .... then it can be used whatever date / year etc.

 

[Poignard]

I even have a CLUTHA Log .... they are a common Deck Log seen on some ships ... and that I try to keep .... seems shame to waste it !!

Didn't Brown Son & ferguson, Glasgow, used to publish them?

They also published, if my memory serves me correctly, "The Malim Sahib's Hindistani"?

 

[zoidberg]

There's a lot of pragmatic sense in the above. It helps, perhaps, to hold in mind what the RYA intended when the 'National Training Scheme' was first formulated. This was largely the work of Cdr. Bill Anderson and he explained that part of the idea was to help candidates and assessors have something of a yardstick of what might be considered 'suitable experience'. He gladly agreed that such experience came in all shapes and sizes, but that the 'requirement' was no more than a guideline, a stab at indicating what might produce enough range of experiences such that judgements might prove sufficient.

To that end, may I suggest that keeping a very simple log or diary or notebook of what went well and what didn't - for each and every trip - would serve you well. This should be kept very private, and serve as an aide memoire. It is especially important to note the cockups and deteriorations, whether yours or someone else's.

That's where the learning really lies.....

An examiner/assessor is certainly not looking to catch you out. S/he'll award 'ticks' for observation, anticipation, consideration and similar small boat seamanship skills which get no mention in the syllabus. That's 'cos such abilities cannot be taught, but they can be observed.

 

[[3889]]

I think the OP's idea is sound. There is much more to be learnt bimbling up and down the Solent or wherever in command of your own boat than staring grim faced at a featureless horizon for a week, logging a couple of thousand miles whilst pretending to be skipper. My experience is that YM examiners think this too.
My own strategy was along the lines of Conwy-Beaumaris-Conwy-Moelfre-Conwy-Menai Bridge-Conwy spread over a range of dates but specifying the number of days on board. YMEs are pretty good at sniffing out BS and likewise, recognising experience.

 

[[70521]]

There is a ships log on the boat that records passage and other information. The data is downloaded from the chartplotter and analysed on a PC. Hours and distance are recorded on a spreadsheet , an online blog written up this includes pictures, an image of the route and the shipping forecast for the trip. But hey I am an engineer and data is important.