Supper and poor docking procedure

[svmariane]

Originally Posted by hellosailor

If you feel that you have been entertained, it is considered terribly rude of you to neither throw money nor applaud. One or the other, you need to express your appreciation.

And photos or film, please. Otherwise it never happened.

[CaptFigmo]

I manage a single engine trawler by myself.
To borrow the pilots' terminology: Any tie up I can walk away from is a good one.

[jtsailjt]

Every sailboat I’d docked had an aft cockpit and over the years I got pretty good at it and gained confidence. Then I got our present center cockpit boat but it’s heavy and predictable and has a bow thruster so it didn’t take too long to get the hang of docking it fairly well. Then came the day when the long fuel dock was almost full and I had to shoehorn it in between 2 other boats with only a few feet to spare fore and aft. All was going fine until I was about to turn the bow away from the dock and put it in reverse to pull the stern in to port towards the dock. That’s when I glanced behind me and realized there was a LOT more back there than I’d counted on and if I turned the bow away from the dock or used reverse to slow and suck the stern in, my stern pulpit was certainly going to scrape along the bow pulpit of the boat behind me and it was too late to stop and try again. So I chose the lesser of two evils and continued straight ahead, impacting the dock at about a 30 degree angle. I’m sure it was somewhat entertaining to the (thankfully small) peanut gallery but I got lucky that day because the dock has good padding and the only damage was a small scuffed area on the bow of my boat. Now this goes through my mind every time I approach a dock where another boat will be just aft of me. I know I got lucky!

I find that getting off the dock gracefully can be more of a challenge than getting on, especially with a strong breeze blowing me into it and other boats fore and aft. I think I’ve read about and tried all the helpful techniques and no damage so far, but that situation with a strong wind blowing me into the dock is what causes me the most anxiety.

[dfelsent]

I’m mid cockpit these days too. After two years I still always have to turn around to check on that extra 18 feet behind me.

[Scott Berg]

60' full keel monohull, no thruster; springlines are your friend as is working very slowly -- never move faster around a dock or other boat than the speed at which you are willing to hit it and you're usually fine... (slow is pro)

[jtsailjt]

Originally Posted by Scott Berg

60' full keel monohull, no thruster; springlines are your friend as is working very slowly -- never move faster around a dock or other boat than the speed at which you are willing to hit it and you're usually fine... (slow is pro)

But then there are those times when there’s a stiff crosswind or a following current and if you go slow you’ll have no control. That’s when it gets really interesting.

[micknor51]

Originally Posted by RaymondR

I found that a good grappling hook with about 40' of line was very handy when docking, particularly if there are lots of other boats around with pushprits and pullprits and rails or life lines around their deck edges. If you can heave it over and snag one of them you can usually winch the boat in with a deck winch.

I like this and must give it a try some time thanks for the tips.
However my full respect has to go to Captain Ron. Whenever I try his method I wipe out the the dock. Just as well The boat is steel.
Note to self, must buy a grappling hook.