A Digital Logbook

Since I was about eight years old, one of my hobbies has been to code, to make computer programs. I love the creative process, and also the off chance of finding some new ways of piecing old puzzles together. This post is about my small sailing logbook coding project.

EDIT (18.3.2021): This version of the logbook is now deprecated! For the current version, check this post: Charlotte – Your Digital Crew Member.

Opening the Logbook

You can jump straight into the logbook by opening this address: https://community.nakedsailor.blog/yacht/charlotte/log

(Note: I’ve made some adjustments for mobile phones, but the logbook might be easier to view with a larger screen.)

(Note 2: The logbook loads a lot of stuff in the background, so it works better with a decent network connection.)

Sailing logbook showing our Hanse 388 s/y Charlotte in Turku.
If everything goes well, the opening screen should look like this. s/y Charlotte is the red pin there in the middle, just below “Turku”.

Navigating the Logbook

The logbook is basically a map that you can pan and zoom just like you’d normally do.

On top of the map there is the route history (the blue lines) and photos. If you click on a blue line, you’ll get some more information about the route, and if you click on a photo icon (they become thumbnails when you zoom in), you’ll see the photo.

Sailing logbook showing our Hanse 388 s/y Charlotte's maiden trip route through Nötö.
Zoomed in a bit. Here you see a blue route line and one photo thumbnail.
Sailing logbook showing our Hanse 388 s/y Charlotte on her route to Nötö.
Click on the route line to select the route and get more info. You can now see the boat heading roughly north-east, doing 6.3 knots. The true wind is 5.7 knots from 90 degrees port. On the bottom you see where and when this route leg started and where it will end. Also, how long it is and how long it took to sail it. You can deselect the route by clicking on the bar.

(Note: If you are on a mobile phone and the route bar and play button don’t appear, try to change the orientation of your phone once, and then back again.)

Sailing logbook showing our Hanse 388 s/y Charlotte's attitude and apparent wind speed, angle.
On the right side you can see a simple 3D model of the boat with some further information. The apparent wind at this point was 7.2 knots from 33 degrees port. There wasn’t any pitch but the roll/heel of the boat was 3 degrees to starboard.

Replay the Route

Finally, it’s possible to replay the route (in realtime) by hitting the play button.

Sailing logbook showing our Hanse 388 s/y Charlotte on the way from Tallinn to Finland.
Here we are, crossing over from Estonia to Finland. There’s a nice picture of us sailing but instead of that we click the play button.
Sailing logbook showing our Hanse 388 s/y Charlotte on the Gulf of Finland with ship on the AIS.
And we’re moving! Well, you can’t see that in this still picture, but at least the play button is now a stop button 😄. Also, in replay mode, you get to view historical AIS data.

Leave a Comment

So, that’s it. My small sailing logbook project.

Please let me know what you think. And please suggest improvements!

Here’s the address again: https://community.nakedsailor.blog/yacht/charlotte/log

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