in the mid-1970's, I put together the log that is essentially what I am using now. It is a two-page log, which I now have in MS Word. Here's what it looks like (see the image below).
The part of this I want to point out is a section I started in the 1970's, titled "Special Problems and Ideas." I have never dived a perfect dive. Diving is a complicated sport, and something is always going wrong; each and every dive has problems. By capturing information on what went wrong, and more importantly, on how to overcome it, I found that my diving changed dramatically over time. Here's an entry from August 9, 1973:
"Cold is a big problem. It limits our diving time and functional observation time to ~50". This is w/ a 1/4" full wet suit, 1/4" 3-finger mits and 1/4" hooded vest. Brett didn't have the 1/4" hooded vest & got very cold after ~30" of diving."
We were doing marine invertebrate biological observation/photography that summer. Here's another entry, this time from February 13, 1974:
"I froze my @#$ off!!--gloves and boots leak water & I didn't wear my 3/16" hooded vest. Need to waterproof boots & gloves."
March 30, 1974: "Cold is still a problem--perhaps a "super suit" by O'Neal would help."
5 May 1974: "Cold--app. in patches because of snow melt."
29 June 1974: "The same -- Cold!"
Because of these problems, which I did not put together until I started looking back at my log entries, I decided that the cold-water wet suit I had was not doing the job I needed to be done. I therefore bought an Aquala dry suit, and test-dove it on July 26, 1974. I used it into the 1980's (sold it to a guy who was allergic to neoprene), and scared the you-know-what out of some people at the Oregon State University Marine Science Center when I hung it up in the shower room to dry, and turned the lights out. One of the scientists came into the dark rest room, turned on the lights, and here was this human-like figure hanging from the rafters
What I'm pointing out is that by tracking my problems during the dive, I was able to do what in the safety profession we call "trending." I was able to see a problem that repeated itself over and over, and could eventually lead to an accident (cold divers don't react well, and do have decompression problems if diving deep enough).
This is a technique for actually learning from our diving experience, and acting on the knowledge we gain.
Enjoy,
SeaRat