Logbook

On my sailboat, Dash, a Pacific Seacraft 25, I keep a logbook. You can find fancy logbooks at West Marine, those with embossed gold letters and compass roses on the cover. Mine, however, is an 8.5”x11” Classic Moleskine hard cover notebook, black. Instead of lined, the pages are dotted, and an elastic band wraps around to keep the cover shut. It is only a logbook, which is different from a diary or a journal.

A logbook only records events that have already transpired. It is a way to keep track of maintenance dates, repairs, weather changes, and nautical miles traveled. I write an entry after I change the oil, check the bilge, leave the marina or return home. It is not the place for me to write about the future, like my plans for sailing destinations or which sailmaker I will choose next season. I have a different notebook for those entries.

This logbook only records progress, not anticipation.

As I write my observations, the logbook develops into a chronological account of the events onboard and nearby. As time passes and the logbook is filled, it will be available to remind me when it’s time to change the oil or replace the lifelines. It will be there to recall a memorable voyage, or anchorage, or a hazard I encountered. In the end, from a distance, these small details will merge to show the life of the boat, to see whether or not she was cared for, to see if she sailed to her potential, or to see if she sat tied to the dock, ignored, staring at the horizon.

We are talking about a boat, right?