What Do You Record in Your Ship's Log ?

[hellosailor]

A cash register receipt?
Hold on a minute, I'll run one off for you. No, sorry, to easy to forge, which is why an entry in a *bound* log bound, with pages in sequence and none cut out, would be held to be "better evidence" than some easily counterfeited paper scraps. A register receipt would ultimately be better evidence, if the register kept a second "tax roll" and that was obtained from the source and matched up to prove the receipt correct.
Most folks are unaware that many "real" cash registers keep a second roll with duplicates of every transaction, for the tax man. Usually paper, not just electronics.

FWIW.

[Eleven]

In the UK, where this is an issue with the Euro Currency ports, the marina depots give an official receipt based on the useage, i.e. heating v motive power. The correct answer, as I remember, is 70/30. Heating being VAT free, motive being at the UK duty rate which is much lower than street petrol stations but not as low (zero) as the farm RED diesel which is stained and scented for easy identification. When in doubt the Euro port will assume that all the tank WAS filled with RED, charge their duty rate, and fine you for cheating.
The Receipt(S) and Log Book might convince them you are a genuine sailor sticking to the rules and procedures. You don't, of course, have to keep either if your credit card is your flexible friend.

[Bash]

Originally Posted by Ex-Calif

Ship's Log - April 2007 to date -

Went sailing, drank beer
Fixed the boat
Went sailing, drank beer
Fixed the boat
Went sailing, drank beer
Fixed the boat
Went sailing, drank beer
Fixed the boat
Went sailing, drank beer
Fixed the boat
Went sailing, drank beer
Fixed the boat
Went sailing, drank beer
Fixed the boat
Went sailing, drank beer
Fixed the boat
Went sailing, drank cheap wine (birthday cruise)
Fixed the boat
Went sailing, drank beer
Fixed the boat
Went sailing, drank beer
Fixed the boat
Went sailing, drank beer
Fixed the boat
Went sailing, drank beer
Fixed the boat
Went sailing, drank beer
Fixed the boat

Dude! Stealing that page out of my logbook is nothing short of plagiarism!

[Roy M]

I kind of like the Star Trek Captain's Log approach for personal observations and future value for my memoirs, the Engine and Maintenance Log to record the things that worked or didn't, and the Navigation Log to help me out when the batteries go dead and I don't want to end up so.

[barnakiel]

We take down the fix, dir and speed from the gps, the fix from any other source and significant stuff like passing ships, weather data and boat issues (leaks, explosions, man overboard, etc.)

I also write some poetry in it, so that my first mate has fun when she takes over and she will sometimes leave me the shopping list there too.

barnie

[wingNwing]

There's a move in parts of the U.S. to also log and keep receipts - whenever you pumped your holding tank - North Carolina is one. Although I don't know how they can decide on the appropriate interval - how do they know if you were using marina facilities, or more than 3 Nm offshore - without comparing with your ships log (which pleasure vessels aren't required to keep?)

[boatman61]

The Soggy Dollar Bar... Palapa Docks, ST Martin.(Race set and drunken orgies)
Friars Bay Beach Cafe, Friars Bay, StMartin.(Great Live Music)
The Back Street Pub, Taylors Creek, Beaufort, NC(1 street back from shore great atmosphere)
The Silo's, Oriental, NC. (20 mins walk from Town Dock along main drag. great 4 rednecks and Pizza)
M&M's Bar, Oriental, NC. (turn left at end of jetty, 1st left, good laugh)
Tres Mocaco's, Ferragudo, Algarve, PT.(Great live music)
The Escondido Bar, Grande Pria, Ferragudo, PT.(Great atmosphere and sunset views, just row to the beach)
The Oriel, Poole, UK. (on the Quay, yummy food)
Etc; Etc......

[Jammer Six]

I realize this is an ancient thread, but I'm moved to comment.

I'm retired from construction, I was a general contractor for about twenty five years. (Depending on how you count.)

It was all the rage to keep a log. Everyone kept logs, and everyone insisted they were "legal" documents. I kept a log for at least twenty years, and I have them all stacked in a corner of my office.

In a quarter of a century, operating hot, loose and fast in one of the most litiguous industries man has ever invented, I was called on to use my log "legally" exactly twice. In both cases, I simply found the date, read the entry aloud, and that was it. No one ever looked at the log, no one ever questioned what I read. I could have done the same thing without the log, but it helped me remember. The book itself had no weight. None.

No one cared that what I said came from my log.

There used to be all kinds of rumors, mysteries, fears, superstitions and voodoo about logs. It was the favorite topic of many, many of my subs. They'd all ask me to "sign off" on entries in their logs, like that changed anything, or committed me to something. I used to sign whatever they asked me to sign, and then sign a blank page and tell them that next time, they could just fill it in whenever they were ready and not bother me about signing it. That usually put a stop to the signing foolishness, and it made one guy lose his temper, because I had "defaced his legal document". But he had been on his way out, anyway.

There used to be all this stuff about entering the weather, because "in court, they can go back and find the weather for a particular day, and if you entered the weather and your entry matches what the weather was, your log will be accepted as legal because that proves you made the entries on that day."

Uh, huh.

When laptops in the field became common, there was this whole dance about how a log couldn't be kept on a computer, because it was too easy to change.

Right.

I have never, ever, seen a log used for anything more than a memory aid, and I've seen it used that way for cops, lawyers, nurses and sub contractors, in court and depositions. I've never seen a log entry make a difference in anything, in any way. I've just seen them used so a guy can tell you where he was and what he was doing on at a particular time on a particular day.

But I've never seen a log prove, disprove or alter anything legal, both before and after I became a paralegal.

There are certain exceptions, but they're spelled out. In the law. Surveyors come to mind. But those instances are spelled out specifically.

So first, all you folks who are waving your arms about keeping a log, is any of this spelled out in any legal code anywhere?

The surveyor's entries in field books have been spelled out since the revolutionary war. Exactly what you write, how you write it, why you write it and what you do when you find your math error.

When the legal profession wants you to keep a log, they tell you how it should be kept.

So is there any format, anywhere in any legal code about how to keep a log aboard a ship?

If not, I believe I'll roll my eyes and record the time the bird flies into the cockpit, if I'm ever that lucky.

In the absence of that legal formula, which I strongly suspect doesn't exist, I think I'll write down the things I'll want to read twenty years from now.

At the end of my construction career, I changed the format of my log to include dental appointments, grocery lists and Imperial Requests and Order Of The Day from She Who Must Be Obeyed.

This concludes my rant.

I look forward to everyone explaining that they knew a guy who heard in a bar in Hondurus about a guy who didn't have a log who got locked up and came down with the clap.

Before you throw me out, please accept my apology for the tone of this post. I'm easily disgusted, and if I could control my temper, I'd be ruling the world, and all your yachts would be mine.

Do carry on.

[Sir Rondo Normal]

[boatman61]

Kept one once... bored me stoopid... my Zarpe's are my logs..

[boatman61]

Originally Posted by boatman61

Kept one once... bored me stoopid... my Zarpe's are my logs..

Dunno where post #37 came from... musta been one my confused 'Happy Evenings'....

[Ziggy]

Originally Posted by Jammer Six

[...]In a quarter of a century, operating hot, loose and fast in one of the most litiguous industries man has ever invented, I was called on to use my log "legally" exactly twice. In both cases, I simply found the date, read the entry aloud, and that was it. No one ever looked at the log, no one ever questioned what I read. I could have done the same thing without the log, but it helped me remember. The book itself had no weight. None.

No one cared that what I said came from my log.

I may be wrong, but I suspect that the fact you were authoritatively reading from your log, rather than relying on your memory, played a huge part in establishing your credibility.

[Capt.Don]

Nice rant!! Our first year of owning our boat I did not keep a log. A year later I could not remember the engine hours or whether we needed to change the filters. I've since started keeping a paper log of usage, engine hours and maintenance items. At least I know it is time to change the oil. The log also comes in handy in preparing USCG sea time forms. I'm gladiator keeping paper notes, aka log.

[Jammer Six]

Once a man posts a good, red-in-the-face rant, everyone knows he's an asshat, and he doesn't have to pretend to be a gentleman anymore.

[msponer]

A log book of mine was once used 'officially' -- some folks I had on board made a claim to their travel insurance. Their insurance company wanted to see the relevant page from my log book, and the folks were paid once I emailed a copy.

Longer story: Months before I gave some scientists (bird researchers) a lift to a deserted atoll. On the way there the weather built to a gale, and I didn't know enough then to batten down the hatches early, before the waves start coming on board. A wave filled the cockpit, and with the porthole in the aft berth still open most of the water drained onto their camera equipment inside. I felt really bad, since it was the start of a long expedition for them, I didn't know at the time that they had insurance, and it was my fault for not closing the window.

This is the format we use


Right page is navigation and weather, left page is usually drawings of the anchorage (headings for the escape route, how much chain we have out, what direction we set it in, to how much reverse RPM), forecasts we copy down from the ham radio, sometimes notes for the overnight watches (so it's not a game of telephone -- what to keep an eye on (chafe on something, engine oil, minimum distance to land, overall strategy if we are in rare circumstances, predefined reasons to wake me up), and playful notes to each other (what we ate, poetry, random thoughts about the stars, whatever). When we were doing traditional navigation we'd make a lot more entries to track small course changes.

Phew, I guess that sounds like a lot of details. But it's more of a fun shared diary and memory aid. We don't really keep one on coastal hops, just trips that are longer than a day or so. I don't think of it as a legal document.