The importance of maintaining your yacht's log book

Why is it important?

Maintaining a complete record of your yacht’s movements gives you crucial information on position, course and speed, information that proves invaluable in an emergency, and especially when real time electronic navigation aids decide to give up on you. From a known hourly position, you can use dead reckoning on paper charts to estimate your current and likely position over the next period, which is particularly useful in hazardous situations where a good fix is essential, whether that’s in fog or when you’re restricted by depth and other hazards.

Logging your qualifying sea miles

Maintaining a log can also help you verify sea miles towards a yachting qualification.

For Coastal Skipper, the minimum qualification is 30 days at sea, 2 days as skipper, 800 sea miles and 12 night hours of sailing.

For Yachtmaster Offshore, the minimum qualification is 50 days at sea, 5 days as skipper, 2,500 sea miles, 5 passages over 60 miles, of which two must be overnight and two completed as skipper.

A log book can be a legal requirement in some countries, and can also assist with insurance claims in the event of an accident or equipment failure.

Above all, the log book is a useful reference and diary to look back on, and a fine way to recount your adventures at sea.