How Do You Log Your Travels?

[emmo]

HI,
I have not bought a log as yet, but definitely, will, I have in the past kept a log for hang gliding ang sky diving and see no difference here.
At the moment I am trialling Captains Log, and also keep a documented log on the computor til I buy the written log, which I feel is the only way to go.
I log every time I go off the mooring as well as maitenance items done,

Cheers, Emmo

If you are ever stuck going to maritime court over something involving your boat then you need a specific type of log to be totally kosher. The log needs pre-numbered pages. Without that, you could easily slip in re-written pages to fudge the facts and tear out damaging information after an incident.
Any sort of log is better than nothing but if you want to be covered fully than pre-numbered is the way to go.

This, of course, is for the official ships log and not for a social diary.

[GordMay]

Though pre-numbered pages might add veracity to you'r log, I suspect that any "bound" log (wherein pages cannot be easily inserted nor removed) should suffice.

[Sandero]

I don't keep a log... I used to.

When I do passage I am pretty diligent about it... but coastal week ending I am diliquent.

I maintain an excel log about the maintenance and equipment.

Is everyone maintaining a full on log of every time the boat moves?

Jef
sv Shiva
Contest 36s

[Raven]

Okay, we're in the middle of a massive blizzard here in the northeast so I may not be seeing too well, but can someone show me where the good old bound paper logbook is in this poll?

The best one I've found to date is a logbook produced at Mystic Seaport, Connecticut. I live and work aboard my PSC 34, often setting the sails in the mornings to get my kids to school, head into downtown for a meeting, or other routine errands, etc. Using the boat regularly as a vehicle (any excuse to sail, and a damned pleasant commute) I'm not always good about logging all those hours, but I do carefully track my time for any passages or extended cruising.

[RandyAbernethy]

The official "Ships Log" can not legally be kept in cyberspace, it has to be on the boat (I would imagine on paper as well).

Regarding a paper travel log, for you old salts, there's this this new invention called a printer... We also keep a local copy of our blog (now on sailblogs which makes it easy to download an entire copy) as a back up.

[Ed Steele]

We keep three logs. The first is a daily diary 8 ½ inches by 6 inch pages and one page per day. On this we scribble anything. “Todo” lists, fuel and water on-board, phone numbers, confirmation numbers. It is completely informal; we just write or scribble on the appropriate day. We have found this to be much more efficient than a sea of post-it notes and scraps of paper. The second is a ship’s log and we have been using the Weems and Plath product purchased from West Marine. We hand draw columns and every few hours / watch change / significant happening, we log “time”, “position”, “bearing (COG)”, “Speed (SOG)”, “barometer”, “sea condition”, “temperature”, “weather”, “wind speed and direction” and “comments”. If we took a lightning strike and lost the navigation instruments and chart plotter, we could reconstruct our position on a paper chart and continue to navigate. We believe that this type of paper log is a prudent addition to safe passage-making.
The third log is a blog that we post on www.sv-doodlebug.com. Everyone has their own preference as to how to do this. Some do a monthly newsletter, some weekly. We update our log daily in diary form, via e-mail to our daughter and she typically updates the web-site weekly with the accumulated entries. When we reach electronic civilization, we will then add photographs to the blog. It is amazing how soon you forget where, what , why and who. The web-site has been a great reminder for us of our trip and a lot of fun to re-read.

[GordMay]

For those who keep a handwritten paper log, for legal reasons - remember, each (daily) page must be signed (by the captain).

[Pblais]

For those who keep a handwritten paper log, for legal reasons - remember, each (daily) page must be signed (by the captain).

The sad truth about logs is they hadly ever serve to prove you were innocent but will always be used to assert your guilt. The theory being you would be self severed with a lie in the log to escape justice and be a darn fool to lie about something that would prove you were guilty. Suddenly shades of gray become shades of guilt.

[toewsrus]

We use WordPress hosted on our own domain.

[maxingout]

We used the Weems and Plath Offshore Log all the way around the world. We log our position every hour around the clock when the boat is moving. We also make hourly notations about wind, weather, and barometric pressure.

An hourly log keeps us honest about what is going on around us. When we write down wind direction and barometric pressure every hour, we have a better idea of what is coming our way and we adjust our sailing in a timely manner. When we couple what we write in our daily log with weather faxes, we can usually figure out what is happening in our world.

It's rare for a weather system to sneak up on us undetected because we take our hourly log seriously.

Cheers,

[GordMay]

Originally Posted by maxingout

...We also make hourly notations about wind, weather, and barometric pressure.
An hourly log keeps us honest about what is going on around us. When we write down wind direction and barometric pressure every hour, we have a better idea of what is coming our way and we adjust our sailing in a timely manner. When we couple what we write in our daily log with weather faxes, we can usually figure out what is happening in our world.
It's rare for a weather system to sneak up on us undetected because we take our hourly log seriously.
Cheers,

Dave makes a very good point. Changing barometer readings predict changes in the weather. Keep an accurate record of the key weather conditions, and note their changing patterns.

It's been said that to predict the weather, all you have to say is that tomorrow will be pretty much like today, and you'll be right more, often than not. But 50 percent accuracy isn't a very good average. The more you watch how weather patterns develop in a specific region, the more you begin to see tell-tale signs in the weather patterns and their sequences. This improves your ability to forecast the coming weather.

There are three easily observable factors, that influence local weather conditions:
- barometric pressure
- rate of change of the barometer (pressure tendency)
- wind direction & velocity

Localized high atmospheric pressure acts as a barrier to approaching weather systems, diverting their course. Low atmospheric pressure, on the other hand, represents the path of least resistance for a weather system, making it more likely that low pressure will be associated with increased storm activities.

Generally, the higher the air pressure, the more fair the weather will be, but the absolute value is not as important as the changes in value*. Changes are generally measured over a three-hour period.

* Pressure tendency = the amount and direction of change in barometer readings over a three-hour period

Note the normal twice-daily ups and downs of air pressure, which are due to a solar-induced atmospheric tide called the “diurnal pressure change”. Pressure generally rises between about 5 to 9 standard clock time and falls between 11 and 3 standard clock time.

The more rapid and extreme the pressure change over a few hours, the sooner and more extreme the weather change you can expect.

When the air is warm and wet, the barometer reading falls. If the barometer is falling, then deteriorating weather, or some form of precipitation is likely. A rapid drop in barometric pressure means disturbances nearby, showers of shorter duration. A slower, but continuous drop in barometric pressure, will indicate more persistent bad weather.

When the air is dry, cool, and pleasant, the barometer reading rises. If the barometer is rising, then there will likely be nice weather or no precipitation, although it may be quite windy. A faster rise in barometric pressure means good weather of shorter duration.

If the barometer remains steady, no immediate change in the weather is likely, unless there has been a significant change in temperature or solar radiation. This is not a hard rule, because a number of weather changes can occur with very small or no observable pressure changes (ie: isolated showers).

As Yogi Berra said, "You can see a lot by looking."

Don't make yourself a victim - be aware of what's happening around you.

[Dreaming Yachtsman]

We capture events for the "log" in a Palm Tungsten PDA as they happen. About 4-5 times a week we download that to my laptop computer, edit, and expand the text into a running narrative of our adventure. After significant cruising mode changes, we insert pictures as available then post the chapter to our on-line log:
Log of Yachtsman's Dream.

[Sesame]

We use an old-fashioned notebook to keep our "real" log every day, but also publish an illustrated blog (The Saga of Sesame) so that friends can keep up with us while we're away. We try to update it about once a month and use as many photos as we can sneak in.

[Brent Swain]

Offshore, in my logbook. In home waters, on my calendar.
Brent