Sailors have to document their trips. So say the law. It is also for your own safety. But nowhere is it really specified in which form recreational skippers should keep a logbook. The YACHT shows which data must be recorded in any case. And what is also possible so that what is often a chore becomes a freestyle.
One of them records the events while sailing in sober numbers and data in short form. Another writes whole novels in the logbook, rather keeps a kind of travel diary. And a third person even decorates his entries with small sketches or hand-colored drawings.
It is clear that a logbook belongs on every ship. However, it is unclear how it is to be managed correctly. In addition to complicated laws, there are also blank logbooks, which are available in various versions in bookshops, provide clues.
Sometimes it is intended to fill confusing, multi-page tables with general meteo data, with wind and wave observations, with information on engine hours and sails, with maneuver sequences, with special incidents, with the fill levels of the batteries, water and fuel tanks, with the condition the bilge, the functionality of the electrical devices and, and, and. In addition to the ship's name, where from and where to and the list of all crew members, at least two signature is required at the end of each page, from the skipper and the logbook writer.
Other forms, on the other hand, are limited to a very small recording of the most relevant cruise data, such as weather, course and sails. They offer plenty of space for personal entries.
In the latest edition of YACHT (issue 7/08, from immediately available in newsagents).
We also clarify what options electronics and the Internet now offer to take on log bookkeeping tasks. And we show how individually differently prominent sailors, but also completely normal recreational skippers, capture their experiences at sea.