Challenge: Bringing a Larger Boat Into a Slip Without An Engine

[jrd22]

Sailing it into the slip isn't the problem, stopping it is. A gust at just the wrong time or another boat pulling into the waterway ahead of you can create drama. Have a stern anchor at the ready, in a tight spot it's your only "brake".

[David M]

Practice ahead of time before you have to do this. When I taught sailing I had my students do this all the time...docking without an engine. Every good skipper needs to know how regardless of the size of their the boat. You never know if your engine might cut out inside the marina. Also, before getting underway, have your sails ready to hoist, for exactly that reason. Can't tell you how many boats I have seen pulling out of a marina with their sail covers still on.

It's like any other sailboat regardless of displacement, you have to point the boat to weather and not have excessive way on when you do head to weather. You also want to be sailing just under your main sail with barely enough way on to maintain steerage.

Dropping a stern anchor is a very tenuous idea and would probably put you in a worse situation having lost all steerage and now being at the mercy of how you are not truly anchored or drifting in a tight marina channel between fingers. I can just see slamming into the boat that is berthed downwind of you with your boats full mainsail up and now pointed downwind.

You don't want to try this downwind. Temporarily take someone else's open upwind berth if you have no other choice. Or pull in to the fuel dock or pump out station if you can do this pointing to weather.

[sailorboy1]

Doesn't it all just depend on the conditions; wind/current etc?

But to me unless you had absolutely no other choices like getting help/tow, it always pisses me off to see stuff like this. I could care less if someone wants to take the chance with their boat, but putting the boats around them at risk just to show what a great sailor you are is crap! This includes big boats sailing though the tighly packed mooring field. Just because you can doesn't mean you should!

[skipmac]

Originally Posted by jrd22

Sailing it into the slip isn't the problem, stopping it is. A gust at just the wrong time or another boat pulling into the waterway ahead of you can create drama. Have a stern anchor at the ready, in a tight spot it's your only "brake".

Absolutely. No engine, no reverse, no way to slow down or stop. And as we all know, a brake is better than a break.

[Ben M-P]

Maybe, We are going to look at it this morning. It had the engine (and bad fuel tanks) taken completely out for a repower. I have a couple of possibilities for engines but was looking for solutions for moving the boat in the mean time.

[SaucySailoress]

I think most sailing boats in our marina sail into their berths on a regular basis... usually with the engine running in idle. It's essential practise for when (not if) the engine does dail at the point of no return!

[doug86]

Originally Posted by Don Lucas

But to me unless you had absolutely no other choices like getting help/tow, it always pisses me off to see stuff like this. I could care less if someone wants to take the chance with their boat, but putting the boats around them at risk just to show what a great sailor you are is crap!

I couldn't disagree more. This is a basic sailing skill and to do it well requires regular practice. Practicing a basic skill isn't "showing off", it is learning to be a better sailor. Being able do it well when you want to will mean that you will be able to do it when you have to. This would actually put less risk on the neighboring boats, not more.

Notice I managed to express my thoughts without telling the forum how pissed off it makes me feel?

[David M]

Your brake is called the wind....by turning into it.

Don't expect an anchor to catch right away and bring you to a screeching halt. This is not reality.

You really need to practice and to learn how to stop a boat under sail AT the slip.

This is a very fundamental seamanship skill for all sailors....like knowing your knots.

[capnorv]

Originally Posted by David M

Your brake is called the wind....by turning into it.

Don't expect an anchor to catch right away and bring you to a screeching halt. This is not reality.

You really need to practice and to learn how to stop a boat under sail AT the slip.

This is a very fundamental seamanship skill for all sailors....like knowing your knots.

Gosh, are you sure? It always worked on the Popeye cartoons! lol My 6pack teacher, retired Navy Captain said you really only need to know four knots really well, more is just redundancy. So I guess I have hope.

[sarafina]

Originally Posted by sailnautilus

Never had so many offers for dates... must have been impressive.....

Something about a fine docking maneuver that turns sailors on... Used to happen when I brought in a cranky old christ craft into a tight berth...

On topic, if (when ; -P) I lost power coming back into the marina we poled off of the boats along the way until we could get someone on the dock to catch a line and secure us in place. Then we walked her by line from finger pier to finger pier until we could pull her into our slip. All the wind was going to do for us in our situation was blow us onto the rocks at the foot of the dock, so sails were not an option.

Happily help was available on the dock. It would have been harder with just the two of us. Not impossible, just harder.

If my power died out side the marina I would be calling for a helping hand in the form of a dingy with an outboard. I could sail her up the channel, but not thru the marina.

For those of you familiar with the Berkeley Marina, I have sailed with a guy there who is a little crazy, but an amazing sailor. He sails a 28' racer in and out of one of the eastern slips as a matter of habit. Astounds me.

[markpierce]

It helps to keep this in mind when selecting a berth/slip location. Ideally, you want a slip usually entered going up-wind and approachable with very few turns.

Done it occasionally in a 29-foot, 4-ton sloop. Usually, drop one of the sails before attempting, depending on wind direction. Drop main if landing down-wind, drop jib if landing up-wind, unless breeze is slight.

It was even easier in my one-ton 24-foot Cutter.

Not recommended if one hasn't become intimately familiar with the boat's handling and momentum characteristics.

[sailorboy1]

You don't have to pull into a berth to practice slow speed boat handling under sail. And it isn't a basic skill. Yet I do practice for it, but not in the marina! And I do sometimes sail in the mooring field with the engine already on, but not with both sails up and wind enough to be heeling 15 degrees (I see this lots of times).

Far as practice for "when" your engine dies, how do power boats practice for that? I don't feel my engine will just die once running, more likely it just wouldn't have started.

[pteron]

Originally Posted by Ben M-P

How would you go about bringing a 35'-50' sailboat in to a slip if your engine quit?

(and no you can't use a dink with a 100hp outboard )

Under sail, how else?

Did it on my yachtmaster training course. Obviously easier if:
1. You can choose which berth to come in to
2. you have wind against tide

if you can't, then sail to the most suitable point and warp her in.

PS practice in a dinghy, makes it second nature.

[markpierce]

Originally Posted by Don Lucas

Far as practice for "when" your engine dies, how do power boats practice for that? I don't feel my engine will just die once running, more likely it just wouldn't have started.

Auxiliary sailboats have more options, but then the power boater is more likely to keep his engine better maintained and/or have multiple engines.

[hellosailor]

Either you sail it in, or warp it in. As long as someone can get a rope thrown to a hand on the docks (a warp being the line that is thrown) you can manhandle the boat into the slip and secure it without drama.

If there are boluns or horn cleats on the dock, you can often do it yourself from the boat. If there are only those damned slots they use up in BC...you'll need a helper ashore.