Keep a log of your boating hours
March 3rd 2007 22:44
.Keep a log of your boating hours:
I have to say that sometimes when someone approaches me to crew on my boat and I question them as to their ability, I often get a rather vague reply. “Oh, you know, I have been around boats all my life, I love the water and I always mess around with catamarans when I go on holiday anywhere.” This doesn’t tell me anything other than I probably have a raw recruit to deal with. An experienced sailor will pull out his personal log book and show me the last few pages, filled out by different skippers, as proof of his prowess.
Not everyone is an expert and that is not what I want to discuss. If you are a boater and I guess you may have strong bent in that direction if you are reading this blog, think about your experience and how you would record it so others would understand what you do and how you do it. Use the kisss principle. Keep it simple for simple sailors. Yachting Australia have a log book available to buy and it is also available through Boat Books on the net. There are cheaper versions but what ever you get it should last through your boating career.
Count up all the boats that you have skippered or crewed on for however far back you can remember. Then work out how many days or how many hours you spent on each boat and what job you were doing on board. You may have been the “winch wench”, cook or “bottle getter” but it all adds up to experience and the skipper of your next boat will be happy to browse through your log and know your expectations, limitations or whatever. As a skipper you may be planning to take a step at formalising your qualifications and adding up your experience will be part of the requirement.
I came to professional sailing and boating pretty late in life. I had many lives prior to this one but I had always managed to spend a good part of the season on board some kind of boat or another. When it came time to formalise my experience I was at a loss to do so. I needed proof positive and as I had not kept a record I needed statutory declarations from past skippers and crew mates to prove my claims. I could only do so with about fifteen percent of my boating career but lucky for me that was enough. Now I religiously record all my voyages and boating days.
.
I have to say that sometimes when someone approaches me to crew on my boat and I question them as to their ability, I often get a rather vague reply. “Oh, you know, I have been around boats all my life, I love the water and I always mess around with catamarans when I go on holiday anywhere.” This doesn’t tell me anything other than I probably have a raw recruit to deal with. An experienced sailor will pull out his personal log book and show me the last few pages, filled out by different skippers, as proof of his prowess.
Not everyone is an expert and that is not what I want to discuss. If you are a boater and I guess you may have strong bent in that direction if you are reading this blog, think about your experience and how you would record it so others would understand what you do and how you do it. Use the kisss principle. Keep it simple for simple sailors. Yachting Australia have a log book available to buy and it is also available through Boat Books on the net. There are cheaper versions but what ever you get it should last through your boating career.
Count up all the boats that you have skippered or crewed on for however far back you can remember. Then work out how many days or how many hours you spent on each boat and what job you were doing on board. You may have been the “winch wench”, cook or “bottle getter” but it all adds up to experience and the skipper of your next boat will be happy to browse through your log and know your expectations, limitations or whatever. As a skipper you may be planning to take a step at formalising your qualifications and adding up your experience will be part of the requirement.
I came to professional sailing and boating pretty late in life. I had many lives prior to this one but I had always managed to spend a good part of the season on board some kind of boat or another. When it came time to formalise my experience I was at a loss to do so. I needed proof positive and as I had not kept a record I needed statutory declarations from past skippers and crew mates to prove my claims. I could only do so with about fifteen percent of my boating career but lucky for me that was enough. Now I religiously record all my voyages and boating days.
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