Book or logbook for yachting

The Nautic Way Maritime Bookstore offers a wide choice of on-board books for all your navigations.

These logbooks meet the regulations concerning the mandatory documents to have on board a boat.

The logbook is obligatory and appears in the list of the armament and safety equipment necessary for the semi-offshore navigation, that is to say more than 6 miles of coasts. It must respect a framework and is made compulsory by law. The text of Division 240 regulating boating is clear: "Article 240-2.07 of Division 240) describes the logbook as "a logbook containing the relevant elements for monitoring navigation and safety of the ship."

A little history...

For many years, his main interest was helping to maintain goodwill, but that was before the arrival of GPS! The road was maintained by coastal and astronomical bearings, and in the absence of these landmarks, one passed to dead reckoning. It was therefore necessary to regularly plot a point on the map and record all events in the logbook.

With the GPS, knowing your position is easy and immediate, the logbook is no longer the essential tool for navigation, but becomes the witness of the navigation carried out by the crew and their boat.

Why keep a logbook?

It is a legal obligation because it is an important administrative document. It bears witness to the events on board and the measures taken during navigation. It is the memory of the events of the boat.

In case of damage, this document takes all its importance because according to the law, it is authentic, until proven otherwise.

An old detailed regulation

Today, article 240-2.07 of Division 240 describes the logbook as "a logbook containing the relevant elements for the monitoring of the navigation and the safety of the ship" without giving more information, the old version (ordered March 11, 2008) was more didactic.

How to write it?

What should we write? All the important elements… knowing that the spirit of the law wants to appeal to common sense:

• Concepts related to time: the day and the hour
• The air environment: barometer, state of the sky, wind strength
• The nautical environment: sea state, tide, course, speed, geographical coordinates
• The naval environment: speed, sails, engine speed, fuel capacity, number of engine hours and possible damage
• The place and time of departure, destination and stopovers
• The crew with identification of the crew and the skipper, in charge of the logbook and the responsibility of the crew and the boat.