While we use our boat almost every weekend year round, our frequency of actually going out drops off during the winter due to a major increase in windy days (by which I mean 20 knots and over) which often coincide with weekends.* So my wife and I find ourselves sitting on the boat in the slip listeing to the wind screaming through all the masts and rigging around us and talking about previous trips (on our boats here and the narrowboats in the UK).* Those "remember when...." conversations we all have.
When we first bought our GB we got caught up in the euphoria of buying all sorts of "real boat" stuff, one item of which was a purpose-designed cruising log.* You put in the date, weather conditions, where you went, notes, that sort of thing.
I think we filled it in twice and then abandonned it.* I had also designed a simple engine/generator log sheet patterned after the aircraft log sheets used for the planes we fly to keep track of total hours, hours since engine and injector pump oil changes, filter changes, and so on.* I included a chunk of space for notes.* Since we fill this out at the end of every trip, we have been using the notes space to jot down interesting occurances or observations on the trip.* I don't believe we have every actually gone back and read any of these things once we've written them, however.
Today there are all sorts of new ways of noting and storing information-- laptops, iPads, smartphones, portable drives, etc.
So I'm curious how other boaters record their experiences on the water, or if they even think recording them is worthwhile.* I'm not talking about engine hours and maintenance and repair notes.* But the "Saw a pod of Orcas off Turn Point on our way back" notes.
Perhaps what others do will give us an idea of a way to record these events that's more user-friendly than simply noting them down in the engine log.
PS--- While I'm the "writer" in the family, my wife is actually far more dilligent about recording things like this than I am.* So she would most likely be the one using a smarter system than what we use now.
-- Edited by Marin on Wednesday 26th of January 2011 01:17:43 PM
When we first bought our GB we got caught up in the euphoria of buying all sorts of "real boat" stuff, one item of which was a purpose-designed cruising log.* You put in the date, weather conditions, where you went, notes, that sort of thing.
I think we filled it in twice and then abandonned it.* I had also designed a simple engine/generator log sheet patterned after the aircraft log sheets used for the planes we fly to keep track of total hours, hours since engine and injector pump oil changes, filter changes, and so on.* I included a chunk of space for notes.* Since we fill this out at the end of every trip, we have been using the notes space to jot down interesting occurances or observations on the trip.* I don't believe we have every actually gone back and read any of these things once we've written them, however.
Today there are all sorts of new ways of noting and storing information-- laptops, iPads, smartphones, portable drives, etc.
So I'm curious how other boaters record their experiences on the water, or if they even think recording them is worthwhile.* I'm not talking about engine hours and maintenance and repair notes.* But the "Saw a pod of Orcas off Turn Point on our way back" notes.
Perhaps what others do will give us an idea of a way to record these events that's more user-friendly than simply noting them down in the engine log.
PS--- While I'm the "writer" in the family, my wife is actually far more dilligent about recording things like this than I am.* So she would most likely be the one using a smarter system than what we use now.
-- Edited by Marin on Wednesday 26th of January 2011 01:17:43 PM
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