"jeff" wrote in message
...
Hoges in WA wrote:
Would anyone happen to have an example or two of their preferred
passage
plan layout or deck log layout?


I don't know if you're interested in planning/deck logs for my type of
cruising - mostly coastal New England with 2-4 days travel to
destination - but here's what I do:

Trip planning has become much easier with the new technology. I can trace
out a trip from Boston to the Vineyard on Coastal Explorer and it can tell
me exactly how far I can go, what the tides and currents are, etc.
However, it's impossible to create a schedule for a trip that is
guaranteed to hold up. For example, when heading south through the Cape
Cod Canal you can't predict how bad the chop will be at the Buzzard's Bay
end, or how nasty the the Bay will be. Last year we were turned back by 8
foot square waves and went into Onset; the year before the chop was
tolerable but a thunderstorm was coming up the Bay so we turned in at Red
Brook.

Thus, trip planning is not so much figuring out what we'll do in an ideal
situation, but considering a dozen different possibilities depending on
what happens along the way. Since the decisions sometimes have to be in
the worst of conditions, I want to know in advance how a given delay will
affect a critical part of the route a few days hence.

Admittedly, I've become lazy and less ambitious as I've gotten older, so I
tend to use familiar routes, add extra days to compensate for delays, and
plan on "easy" anchorages if there's a late arrival. Thus much of the
contingency planning is pretty easy and familiar.

As for deck logs, I use the C. Dale Nouse Deck Log by International
Marine. The format doesn't matter much - what's more important is that
I've logged every time I've left the dock (and a lot of times I haven't
left) for the last 18 years. I've filled about 8 or 9 volumes. Sometimes
(not very often) its hour by hour, or tack by tack. Other times its
"powered out, raised sail, sailed around X Island, came back," but it
always has the time and who was aboard. Fuel fills, pumpouts, etc are
always logged; oil changes and all other maintenance, of course are noted.
We also make a point of noting mooring or slip numbers, phone numbers, VHF
channels, names and anything else that might come in handy if we revisit a
few years later.

I'm sure that there are many who are far more meticulous, and I know that
most sailors keep no log at all. But I've been very pleased with my
system - what it lacks in detail it makes up for in consistency. My
advice is simply to find some method that suits your nature, and stick to
it.


I am spotty when it comes to keeping a log for the local stuff with friends.
When I do note the book it's either for a class or paid charter, or when I'm
going by myself. I also note fairly meticulously maintenance requirements
and solutions (or deferrals). I believe the maintenance logs are essential.

--
"j" ganz @@
www.sailnow.com