Logging your sailing trips? What works best for you?

[BruceW]

Hi,

Well, after 25 years of not logging my trips, I am thinking about doing so, at least on the Neuse River trips. I really would like to understand the winds, bearings, etc and keep a record.

yeah, yeah, sure I will.

So, I have an app that would log my direction and so on, if I have a charged phone, and remember to do it.

I looked at the log books at WM, just couldn't figure out what I need to record, so I didn't do it.

Yeah, just a regular notebook could work. I could keep it in a ziplock bag between entries.

So, what do you guys record? And how? And do you have a certain time you like to do the recording? I am always so busy dealing with things that I can't stop to observe. 

Well, I also forget.

Where's my boswell?

[GeeW]

I like to write it all in a notebook, more of a sort of a blog rather than a pure log as I want something thrilling to read when I'm in a care home!

Gordon

[Bob23]

Same here, Gee:
   Biggest problem I have is keeping it up and not forgetting. Each year I start one but it never quite gets completed. It would be interesting to put it into a story form.
Bob23

[deisher6]

I use a large 'Rite in the Rain' journal.  Just enter the date, engine hours at the end of the day where I went and any other interesting stuff.  Include maintenance stuff;  oil, belt, filter, ect changes, fuel fill up, repairs.  It provides good reference info.  Have not kept logs on smaller boats.

Happy New Year

regards charlie

[BobK]

I have kept logs for years.  I log each trip - miles, engine hrs, wind direction and speed, who is on the boat.  When open water sailing I log lat. long. every hour as well as compass heading.
BobK

Happy New Year

[kahpho]

"Rite in the Rain" notebook. Kind of free form you could say. I just record what I feel like at the time. It can be interesting to review them a few years later.

[BruceW]

Well, thanks for the replies. I will see if I can at least log wind direction, speed, locations, etc.

One of the log books I saw had a place to put typical ranges. I need a handy chart page to use also. I have a big chart, and a chart book, but I really just want the area around where I usually go.

I guess I'll muddle along, and try to remember to write some down.

[BobF]

I used to use an el cheapo hand-held tape recorder.  I'd record each tack from heading, to heading, duration of run, wind, tide, etc.  I'd transcribe everything after the trip or, if the cruise was to be longer, during the evening while sipping an adult beverage.

[kahpho]

I need a handy chart page to use also. I have a big chart, and a chart book, but I really just want the area around where I usually go.

I posted this link a long while ago but it seems it would help you with this so I'll post it again.

http://www.nauticalcharts.noaa.gov/staff/BookletChart.html

You can print your own charts in booklet form. Or, just print a page or two of the area you're interested in.

[BruceW]

Well, now, that does look interesting; I'll be spending some time on that page for sure.

Thanks!

Now, I just really need to do it.

All of it.

Sail on!

[crazycarl]

i write an outline in a cheap composition book when under sail.

i also record all stops and reasons for them in the chartplotter.  this way later on i can look on google earth and review where i ate lunch, slept for the night or had another "mishap".

in the evening while on the hook, i go over the comp book and rewrite with detail the days events in a journal.

each boat has it's own comp book on board.

c.c.

p.s.  i tried the micro cassettes back in the '90s when i was motorcycling around the states, but i always sounded depressed.
       

[BruceW]

I think I have a handheld GPS somewhere; maybe I can use that for tracking, etc, and just jot down a few points to clarify later, as you do, Carl.

[brackish]

I started out doing a log but found after many years I wasn't ever referring to it so stopped.  Now, when we do a charter with other couples we take a log book and it is available for every person to enter their thoughts on the day.  I take the log and turn it into a narrative of the trip and send it out with a video six months or so after we return.  Usually fairly humorous and a great reminder of the trip. 

I'll jot notes about things to remind me I need to do something.  For instance the last time I sailed about three weeks ago two of the plastic clips on the mainsail cover cracked and the zipper pull broke off.  Reminds me to order the stuff to make the repair sometime in the future.  I find that a summary of things needing to be done is more helpful than logging everything about a trip.

[BruceW]

Thanks for the input.

I got some great ideas here and elsewhere, and here's my Plan A:

I have a note on iphone with the following things I want to take record of:

Date/time
Position
Wind & dir
course
conditions
status
blurb about the day
maintenance
events

Our marina has a weather station that gives current conditions in the creek. I can get a screen shot as I leave the dock for later use. It has a lot of the above info.

I have a program on the phone that will track my movements as long as I have battery power, haha
I have a handheld GPS; I have a PC that has a GPS and chart stuff on it, if I choose to bring it. Not sure about where to locate it (so it doesn't get trashed when I ....well, you know).

I have a notebook, actually a regular composition book, but also one of those for writing outside and in weather.

Oh, and one of the apps I have will do an automatic record hourly if I pay to get that upgrade.Not happening right away.

What I'd like to remember to add includes various locations on the chart, like where I get to, and all that. I don't know if I will remember to log it, but hey, at end of day, I should still know that stuff to write into the notebook.

At any time, I can take the iphone info and put it into a file, a dropbox, whatever, and add the notebook stuff to it.

It would be nice if I have my course, my track, and the course made good info so I can see what's possible to do, and how I can improve.

Now that I am into it, I might actually do some of the above. Hey, it's a long way to Tipperary.

[BruceW]

Well, let's see. I went out Saturday and Sunday. Both days, I remembered to do a screen shot of the Wundground weather station current conditions as I left the dock at BSC (Blackbeard Sailing Club on Upper Broad Creek). I had a friend with me, and he nor I figured out the tracking feature on the little etrex I had, but we used it for speed stuff and chart.

Anyway, we sailed and had some fun.

Here's the write-up I did end of day:

2-20-16

"Sailed on my CP-23, accompanied by Mike Hastings. Main only, then unfurled jib, went downriver. Couldn't get tracking to work, but will estimate half mile past Goose Creek, 2/3 mil across the river from Kendal Point. OTW back, achieved 4.7-5 kts speed, then downwind to BSC. Couldn't start motor until I found deadman switch needed to be pushed back snug."


Second day, Mike brought his GPS, and he has a track he'll try to share. I also did a track with Odyssea, an app I have on iphone. I got screen shot of it. Basically got to same place on river, but higher winds, main only, had to jibe instead of tacking. Odyssea only shows track over map, and doesn't label course & speed, so I'll try another tracking app next time.

Net net: two great sails in SE wind, 5-10 Saturday, 10-12 Sunday.


Next up: figuring out where to store the combined conditions pic, track, and paragraph.