YO-HANCHA
Why paper is paramount
Yo-Han Cha – 800 dives and counting – makes the case for keeping a good old fashioned dive logbook
SOME PEOPLE PUT A LOT OF EFFORT into their logbooks , they write essays about their dive and draw the most beautiful pictures and dive profiles . Not me – these days it ’ s pretty minimalistic , just basic dive information : the time , depth , temperature and sometimes how much weight I used , especially if I had changed my kit configuration .
I may note down a few species that I found particularly chuffed about seeing underwater and that ’ s about it . At the end of the day , I mainly go through my old dives to find out weight I used that last time I wore a wetsuit ; or to remember whether 12 ° C is 3mm or 6.5mm gloves territory , so I can only put the slight obsessive dive logging nature down to me having , possibly , some wee compulsive disorder .
Mild OCD aside , I would say that it ’ s more important to keep a log of your dives earlier in your diving life than later , especially if you ’ re doing training , so there ’ s no judgement from me on those experienced divers who have stopped logging them . If you ’ re in the middle of doing Sports Diver or Dive Leader training , definitely log your dives . Those conditions don ’ t get signed off by themselves and if the same few instructors are diving with numerous buddies throughout the course of a week-long trip , their memories may need some jogging to remember what exactly happened on your dive with them . Especially if you all wait en-masse until the end of the trip to ask your instructor to fill out your QRBs .
I ’ ve currently logged more than 800 dives and I ’ m still logging them . On paper . Apparently , a lot of experienced divers stop logging their dives well before they get to my tally and if they still do , they ’ ve stopped bothering with paper logbooks . Apparently , there ’ s these things called spreadsheets , which in any case can be downloaded straight from your dive computer ? But I still stubbornly continue to log my dives the old-fashioned way .
I guess I find paper logbooks so much more personal and sentimental . It ’ s hard to ask a buddy to sign a spreadsheet or if you ’ re abroad , to use the dive centre stamp on them . Dive computers can fail and lose all their recorded dives , so they ’ re not 100 per cent safe as recordkeepers . That being said , the safety of your logbook is very much dependent on the individual . They ’ re not immune to cups of tea and salt spray .
If , for instance , you leave your logbook on your car roof and drive off without realising , you will indeed lose those very personal and sentimental bits of paper and give yourself a gut-wrenching moment in the process . I may have done just this in Connemara as I drove off feeling very satisfied after a successful weekend of diving , and only noticed that my logbook was missing after a couple of hours of driving . But thankfully , the Irish are a clever and wonderful bunch , and they managed to get it back to me . �
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