BoatBook’s SailingLog is the world’s first automatic sailing logbook

by Carsten Kemmling on 21 May 2015 The logbook, the ancient sailor’s diary, is undergoing a revolution with the launch of SailingLog – the world’s first automatic logbook – a new free application from Israeli development house, BoatBook.

BoatBook is an innovative application aimed at sailors and boat owners that automatically records the professional and social aspects of a voyage. It allows sailors to create their own logbook, including the sailing routes taken, the boats on which they have sailed, the performance and passage data at each point on the itinerary and other events.

This all occurs during the voyage while the smartphone is in a pocket or in a desk drawer. At the end of the cruise the logbook enables its owner, wherever they are in the world, to participate in “sailors’ palaver” and present the history of the voyage on the spot.

Easy Souissa, a leader in the global sailing community and a sailor decorated with countless competition medals, described the application as a revolution: “As I see it,” he says, “this is a sea change in sailing practices and sailing culture in general. SailingLog allows the voyage to be documented in an intelligent and applicable manner and enables the sailing community to share impressions. It also advances development at the personal level, as well as at the level of the club or the team to which they belong. Although sailors are often rather individual characters, sailing is a social sport and using Sailing allows the accumulation of experiences and photos in a modern way along with the ability to communicate and share them. It does not replace the stories, but adds a tangible and professional dimension to them.”

Behind BoatBook the company, you’ll find Erez Aluf and Frank Zvi – two highly experienced technology entrepreneurs, who are also seasoned sailors. The two took on a technological challenge: to develop a logbook that would do everything on its own, including automatically recording the start and end of the voyage, without need of a cellular network, thereby allowing the sailor a user experience that connects traditional sailing culture with progress – via the smartphone. Zvi and Aluf believe that SailingLog will soon be on the smartphone of every sailor in the world, and promise to shortly bring other breakthrough products to the sailing community.

Performance is the main thing

Skippers are required to keep a logbook of each sailing, which should contain data about the voyage – its start and finish points, route, sailing speed and direction, and more. Logbook management is currently done in the odd moment of rest, taking pen to paper, and often doing the task in a somewhat partial manner.

This is where the application comes into play. SailingLog offers a logbook operated from any cellular device and it automatically updates itself throughout the voyage. Its unique technology enables it to identify when the voyage begins and to document it all the way through to its end. The application documents the speed of the voyage, the direction, stops and breaks, and of course the final destination, which it also identifies automatically. As its technology is GPS based, the smartphone does not need to be connected to a cellular network and can function offline, independently, almost everywhere on the planet.

Documenting the performance of the vessel enables sailors to examine and monitor voyages and share the voyage experience with other users. So, for example, you can share the sailing itinerary, review challenges and breakdowns in retrospect, and accurately learn about the boat and its qualities. At the end of the voyage, the sailor – the boat owner, the skipper, or any another participant – will have at his or her fingertips an electronic file that includes the voyage itinerary, its associated data and as many extras as they have selected, such as photos, videos, messages and more.

Every day, every ocean

Because SailingLog does not need a cellular network and can work offline, you can sail everywhere with it. The application’s interface is exceptionally intuitive. All its functions are accessible, available, and inviting, and allow every user to easily operate it.

Adia Cohen, herself a skipper and one of the developers of the application, shares her experience of using the application: “I have used SailingLog every time I set sail in the last few weeks. I know precisely when each voyage took place, where it was, and what happened over its course. At the end of each voyage, I can examine the route and investigate it, know what the speed was at any point and in any wind. And I know exactly where we met dolphins and how the boat responded – needless to say, it turned and chased after them for a while.”

Private, collaborative and professional

The application, as mentioned, allows sharing, but this is subject to stringent privacy conditions set at the complete discretion of the operator. The sailor can choose whether the sailing experience is his or hers alone, or choose different levels of sharing. It is particularly efficient during a hectic voyage, as it frees up skipper and sailor from the need to manually document the voyage, and enables the easy and immediate addition of information (a photo, video and so on), from anywhere on board the vessel. In addition, the application records the user’s sailing career – the number of sea miles accrued, where they sailed to, on which vessel, and with whom. This documentation is useful in many scenarios, for example in applications for a Master’s certificate, when hiring a yacht anywhere in the world, and others. It is especially effective for sailors who are not boat owners, as they usually lack official documentation of their sailing career.

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