Do You Sailors All Keep Logbooks ?

[Brent Swain]

Coastal cruising , I just right where from and where to, on my calendar.

[osirissail]

Originally Posted by barnakiel

Anybody here has any automated device that would spit out the basic log data on the passage?
I know some software will write log data to a file. Is there any software that would print a file in time intervals?
b.

That questions assumes you are sailing with both a computer and a printer turned on all of the time. A lot of the early PC Navigation programs have an automatic (you set the parameters) log file option to write your parameters to an ascii data file.
- - After accumulating a disk full of these files and never looking at them or doing anything with them, I turned the feature off. It was taking too much storage space and had no practical use.
- - What is of use is the automatic "Track" recording function which lays down a line of where you actually sailed according to your GPS inputs. Likewise, if you use the automatic "Route" function each waypoint in your route will contain time/date. speed, course information which can be reviewed afterward. Those two functions are very useful to see how long each leg took and how far off your course you had to deviate to stay under sail.

[dacust]

Originally Posted by osirissail

That questions assumes you are sailing with both a computer and a printer turned on all of the time. A lot of the early PC Navigation programs have an automatic (you set the parameters) log file option to write your parameters to an ascii data file.
- - After accumulating a disk full of these files and never looking at them or doing anything with them, I turned the feature off. It was taking too much storage space and had no practical use.
- - What is of use is the automatic "Track" recording function which lays down a line of where you actually sailed according to your GPS inputs. Likewise, if you use the automatic "Route" function each waypoint in your route will contain time/date. speed, course information which can be reviewed afterward. Those two functions are very useful to see how long each leg took and how far off your course you had to deviate to stay under sail.

I think Barnakiel's idea is that if you had a major electrical failure and lost everything, you could go look at the last printout and see where your last known location was.

Good idea, but like you say, you'd have to have a PC/Laptop and printer always powered up. Maybe not a problem on a power cruiser, but maybe not practical in a power-lean passage-making sailboat.

-dan

[Healer52]

So, what methods if any do people use to record enroute position fixes on cruises for use if their electronics visit Davy Jones' locker?

I still do things old fashioned, with a large-area chart and regular (every 8 hours or more) position fixes -- from electronics, pilotage, dead reckoning, celestial, magic chicken bones, etc...whatever I've got. It may be primitive but it has the advantage (for me) of being essentially bulletproof and well understood (well, except my celestial is probably rusty)...

[Astrid]

I generally keep a log with entries at the end of each four hour watch--primarily citing course, speed, wind direction and speed, any sightings or radio communications, course changes, how much sail is the vessel running under, general weather observations, crew or equipment casualties. At noon I enter noon sight with the sextant (if I can see the sun) compared to GPS position (if its working) or from dead reckoning if all else fails. I can then adjust heading to bring the boat back on the base course. Once a day, usually at noon, an entry for fuel and water remaining in the tanks. I always plot positions and courses on paper charts. Maybe I should add casting bones or rune stones to my repertoire.

[Hudson Force]

We keep a couple of logs,- a Deck Log that has the Date, Location, Time, Weather, Destination, Crew and Crew notes. We are on our seventh of these since 1971 that we make from a bound ledger and often refer to when we try and recall where we were,..with who...when.....and how long it took to get there.

Our other is the engine log:



Here, on the right, I keep a dated accumulative time of engine running hours, fuel consumption and records of checking FOTCHX (Fuel, Oil, Transmission fluid, Coolant, Hydraulic fluid & Stuffing BoX). On the left leaf of each page I record all maintenance events like oil changes or valve adjustments and repairs. At the front of this log I have all the numbers for parts, filters, impellors, etc. and at the back I keep all the lengths, diameters and nature of running rigging lines.

Nancie sometimes uses the term, Anal Retentiive, that is totally beyond my understanding. I'm more comfortable with the descriptor, Functionally Obsessive Compulsive. ...and, yes, when I'm checking out at the grocery store I do arrange my purchases on the conveyor belt according to type and in a uniform pattern!

[Astrid]

Was one of your ancestors a ship's purser by some chance?

[osirissail]

All the suggestions for a physical notebook/log are quite good. Generally speaking a total electrical failure of a medium to large sailing vessel is very remote - but - possible, mostly due to lack of maintenance or neglect to fix things until they actually break.
- - I keep at least two battery powered navigation systems running in parallel with the ship's main navigation system just for that reason. If the main system goes down - (it has never on my boat) - I have a couple of Garmin GPS76's available with fresh batteries - at least one of them is running at all times on ship's power but will automatically switch to battery if necessary.
- - Also I have a lapbook computer running an alternate navigation system and if the main ship's system crashes the lapbook can run on its own battery for an hour or two. And there are numerous battery banks that are isolated from one another while underway so I can use one of them to power the computer.
- - Incidentally it was on a power yacht that I was assisting with a passage that had a total power failure and my trusty lapbook computer and its battery got us into harbor safely. Part of the reason is that I run a "hocky-puck" GPS unit that plugs into the computer's USB port for power and data transfer. So the Lapbook it totally independent of any connection to the ship's electrical system except for recharging the battery.

[Capt Phil]

Pelagic makes an excellent point for those who have made their living at sea. I recall being anchored one evening in a cove in southern British Columbia waiting out weather (fog) on a delivery to Seattle. A vessel came down on us about 2:00am with a pretty mild bump that barely scratched to gel coat. The other skipper was a pleasure boater who insisted that we were underway and caused the collision. The matter ended up before a magistrate in Seattle several months later and the ships log which noted in detail the time of anchoring, position, weather conditions, other vessels in the anchorage along with the prior usual course, speed, sea conditions and the charts with hourly plotted course position and other details led the judge to dismiss the case against me and the owner. The other vessel had nada but Pelagic is correct that professional masters are held to a higher standard and so they should be.

[CaptPatAg]

I use an inexpensive bound journal, book type for my "log". I am not a real stickler about doing it every day but like it to make notes of anything that is, well noteworthy to me, like the night we saw a LUNAR RAINBOW. I try to put all the filter numbers and anything else that might be needed later. I know it isn't really organized, but I do know it is somewhere in the book. FWIW

[Therapy]

Originally Posted by CaptForce

and, yes, when I'm checking out at the grocery store I do arrange my purchases on the conveyor belt according to type and in a uniform pattern!

Heh!

I don't feel so alone right now.

[daddle]

Originally Posted by Brent Swain

Coastal cruising , I just write where from and where to, on my calendar.

Coastal cruising is where you need to log mile-by-mile exactly where you are and which way you are going. But ocean crossings: no need. You can figure it out tomorrow or the next day:

"Hmm, four days out of Hanalei. Must be quite far north."

I've been drowsy along the coast and not able to be certain if the cape I rounded an hour ago was A or B. Sure I could check the GPS map, but it seemed imprudent to rely on that. To have that as the only confirmation. I'd have appreciated this in the logbook:

Mon 0130 Cape San Martin 7nm ENE COG 327@4.4kt 23kts & 6ft NW

[barnakiel]

Originally Posted by osirissail

- What is of use is the automatic "Track" recording function which lays down a line of where you actually sailed according to your GPS inputs. Likewise, if you use the automatic "Route" function each waypoint in your route will contain time/date. speed, course information which can be reviewed afterward. Those two functions are very useful to see how long each leg took and how far off your course you had to deviate to stay under sail.

Positive.

I was thinking more along the lines of having some paper print-out (without having to make one myself), just in case the electronics packs up.

b.

[barnakiel]

How much will electronics be affected if there is a direct strike from an electrical bolt in immediate vicinity?

Electronics may be fried.

I know a guy to whom this happened twice (in Indonesia/Thailand). But from the map we know that other areas can be just as bad - E Africa, Florida ...

No laptop, no handhelds afterwards ... now a paper log comes out as a true beast (now I think perhaps it should be made on non-flamable paper and with a waterproof marker ... ;-)))

barnie

[Astrid]

Good point barnie. Or go with the old style 100% linen or hemp paper and india ink which won't run if wet.