In this digital, app-driven age, the idea of keeping a log book on your boat in which you manually write entries might seem a bit quaint and old-fashion. But, there are several good reasons to make log entries a regular discipline in your cruising life.
First, of course, a log preserves the memories of all the places you’ve sailed, the harbors you’ve visited, the people you met and more. In this way, a log becomes a kind of diary of your personal cruising experience. I, for one, like to draw sketch charts of new harbors and anchorages with notes on bottom condition, holding, dingy landings and so on.
But a log is more than a diary. In a strict sense, it is a legal document. Commercial vessels are required to keep a log as a record of their trips at sea which can and will be used in any legal proceedings that arise from onboard mishaps or collisions. Ships also keep mechanical and communications logs for legal and insurance purposes.
On a cruising boat, keeping a log while on passage, even if you have all the modern electronics and backups, is a practical safety measure. Engines die, batteries go flat, electronics flicker and cease to function. Or, like us, you can be struck by lightning that can corrupt all of your electronics if not kill them.
For coastal cruising, we keep the log like a diary but when on passage we take entries more seriously. We tend to operate on three-hour watches so we ask each watch stander to enter into the log at the end of each watch the GPS coordinates, the boat’s course sailed and speed, the wind strength and direction and the barometric pressure.
With this information, we can continue dead reckon navigation if we lose the electronics. Plus, we can see changes in the weather that augers good or evil depending on which way the barometer, wind direction and speed are going. Also, while on passage we keep notes of the daily rig and sail inspections so we can track problems before they become serious.
Out of habit, we have also kept a mechanical log that helps us know when it is time to change the engine’s crankcase oil or transmission fluid. It is a record of any maintenance performed and a place to write down part numbers and other vital maintenance data.
I did not fully appreciate the value of the maintenance log until we put our last boat, a Jeanneau 45.2, up for sale. The broker we hired came to look at the boat and was impressed by the amount of information the logs provided. These were significant selling points.
When the buyer brought his surveyor aboard for the pre-sale inspection, this seasoned pro confessed that he very rarely saw a cruising boat with such detailed records and such an organized maintenance log. And, he impressed upon the buyer what such a record tells him about the boat’s condition and ownership history.
So, a log is many things. It certainly is possible to keep a log in a laptop and preserve the record in a digital file. But, there is something about a proper logbook, even one with your boat’s name embossed on it, that is special. This can be a keepsake for the rest of your life and, given the sailing adventures it contains, even for the generations that follow.
Here’s a basic guide to log keeping from the good folks at BoatUS.
https://www.boatus.com/expert-advice/expert-advice-archive/2022/july/how-to-keep-a-captains-log-book
