the ship`s log

[chubby]

The boat has just gone back in the water, the season beckons, now the annual soul searching....what do we use for the ship`s log?

Over the years I have tried the expensive pre printed ones, but lots of pages we hardly use except on the summer cruise: a whole page inviting you to record course and distance hourly for "anchored in bay, rowed to pub, came home again"

We have tried an ordinary exercise book: we keep a deck log for recording weather forecasts and tidal calculations etc so an inspector from the MCA or overseas equivalent could see evidence of passage planning, but that seems a little cheapskate for the main log, the narrative of our life`s voyages etc.

I have tried a customised log printed on the PC with different pages for different things, usualy the file they go in comes apart half way through the season and they all get in a muddle.

So what`s it to be this season, how do other forumites record their adventures?

 

[Brierley]

We have an A5 hardback book with lines on the pages, like an exercise book but with columns also printed in (think it's called a cash book). It has a narrow colum, then a wide column, then 3 more narrow colums.

We record Date, From-To, Engine hours, Max wind speed, Log (nm) at the top of the page, then put comments, visitors etc in the wide column under the from-to heading. If the comments only take part of a page, we start the next entry a couple of lines below the end of the last one. For 'proper' passages, rather than just day sailing, we can add time of day in the date column with position in the comments column and current wind speed and log readings.

At the end of the season, we can use the 'title' lines to add up our annual logged miles, engine hours and days /nights at sea, whilst still having our 'diary' of places visited, crew and new people/boats encountered all in the same log.

 

[shmoo]

I put this http://www.woodbridgecruisingclub.co.uk/logPage(1).pdf together after a quite long discussion here a while back. It combines ideas from a number of forum members. We print it on good quality 100gsm paper and have Staples ringbind it with vinyl covers.

 

[Frontier]

I have been thinking about something new as well.

I wonder if you can get pre punched A5 pages for home printing. Could knock up a form in Excel or Word and print them out to store in a binder. Something like a Filofax.

 

[kcrane]

Have sent you a softcopy example of what we use

 

[ChrisE]

Well, to buck the trend we use one of the expensive pre-printed ones. Yes, we rarely use all of the columns but we now, after 14 years of sailing, have a series of logs that grace our living room bookshelf. Leafing through them is a quiet pleasure on a winters evening.

 

[Robin]

We keep two Log Books. One is what used to be the Sowester Marine one but is now sold by Force 4, it has a useful intuitive layout for modern GPS nav or traditional DR work. However we use this log only for longer passages, mostly out of sight of land let's say or more than a few hours and not for local sails Our second Log Book is the 'narrative' or diary one and is written up for every visit on board, even if we don't leave our berth. This is a simple ruled hard back excercise book and I add a margin to the right hand pages, only these are used for text leaving the left hand pages clear for photographs, postcard views, souvenir things like entry tickets to Fete Des Filets Bleu or Dart Railway ticket etc and even the restaurant bills. In the back of this book we stick in useful business cards, like restaurants, marine taxis, repair shops etc. We also record in this book the cost of any visitor berths/moorings, when gas cylinders were changed, diesel purchased, cost and fuel consumption achieved, although the fuel record is also duplicated in the main log as well. This narrative Log is very useful for future trips as well as providing pleasant memories, the main log has the official stuff in it but can often be a bit short on content, especially on a rough trip with the main course data being on the chart or in the plotter track memory!

 

[ChrisE]

Funnily enough, our log book combines your two. I write in the navving stuff and Mrs_E adds a narrative. At first, I was a bit sniffy aout this but now see it as part and parcel of the log. Especially the 'C is acting like a git' and 'C fed up with the crew' entries.......

 

[Robin]

There is an entry in our main log from the Captain (I'm the Skipper) that says 'Wham bam bloody crash bang. this is supposed to be fun'. When we were later boarded by French Customs off Cherbourg on our way home, one of them was reading the log and asked for an explanation! SWMBO said it was to do with the hidden cost of French wine that weekend, the SW7 on Friday night to collect it.

By the same token there is one in the narrative that says 'If I'm told I SHOULD have done... one more time' and another a year later, same spot that says 'we were here last year and I was told then I SHOULD have blah blah blah just like I'vejust been told again today'. I don't remember what it was, only that it was another piece of hindsight wisdom! Interesting reading logs after the event.