Sailing Logbook

Welcome to my new electronic sailing logbook format. I started this in 2023. The old logbook was unwieldy and ugly. It was too much manual work to convert the old pages to this format, so I’ve kept them here.

Logbooks have a long tradition. They have always been, and remain, official documents where significant events and information are written down. They are used as evidence in insurance and court cases. Nonetheless, the tradition isn’t stringently followed in private boating. The legal requirement for a logbook depends on the flag country. Germany requires keeping a logbook, while the U.K. doesn’t mandate a logbook for vessels under 150gt.

I keep written notes on paper during a passage. Depending upon the passage length, I have hourly log entries or 3 entries a day. I note location, weather, wind direction and speed, waves, engine check, bilge check, and any other items of note. I discard those notes once the trip turns out to be uneventful. If anything noteworthy has happened during the watch period, I keep the written, dated, and signed pages. I also keep a radio log of any urgency signals (Securite, Pan-Pan, Mayday) heard or received via DSC.

Click on the appropriate year in the table below to get the log details. These include links to blog entries and trip maps.