Ways solo sail into slip safely

[StuM]

> Thinking of ways to solo sail into a slip safely

Originally Posted by David B

I...then leave the engine ticking over holding against the cradle while you tie the stern lines

... keep the engine ticking over, and arrange your stern lines.

...

Once you have a pair of stern lines on, go into fwd against them

The subject is sail into a slip

[arch007]

I meant motor into the slip.

my fault.

[contrail]

This post sets a record for 1) OP asking something very different from what he meant and 2) almost everyone not reading or answering the question, and addressing a totally different issue. Well done!

[sinnerman]

I have Duncan Well's "Stress Free Sailing and it is a good book.

The following is also a very good instructional book.

It has "lessons" you can go out onto the water and practice..

https://www.amazon.com/Maneuver-Dock.../dp/1944824065

Cheers

[GreenWave]

Originally Posted by contrail

This post sets a record for 1) OP asking something very different from what he meant and 2) almost everyone not reading or answering the question, and addressing a totally different issue. Well done!

Wait - isn't that normal for CF?

[longjonsilver]

Originally Posted by GreenWave

Wait - isn't that normal for CF?

Its highly normal in all society. People don't listen.....

jon

[Rob_P]

Sailing into the slip isn't much different than motoring in.

Sailing to the dock is a skill that can be mastered with some practice at a dock and by practicing the man overboard drill where you stop the boat on a mark by luffing the sails. The trick is to luff early and coast a lot. You have to learn that you will coast longer than you think you need to and that you can't rush it.

Sailing into the slip does require that you have more prep than motoring. Spring lines are an absolute necessity and you need to practice dropping them over the cleat while simulating all the other things you'll be doing at the same time.

The practice drills will engrave the steps in your mind. I know, I'm still doing the drills.


Motoring is the same except the sails are already furled (hopefully anyway). Kick it out of gear as soon as you can and coast. I usually do this at least 75-100 yards away from the slip after idling into the fairway. I rarely use any throttle on the way home after dropping the sails but that's because I don't have far to go from the point where I can do that to get to the slip.

You can add forward thrust if you're going to be short in making it into the slip, but I prefer to wait until that actually happens instead of doing it early. Adding forward speed just because you think you won't make it, usually means you have to scrub off that extra speed with either a fast turn or putting the transmission into reverse and adding throttle. The saying is; if you're not bored while docking, you're doing it wrong. Trust me, if you're only bored, you're still moving too fast.

Speaking of turns, start your turn from the far side of the fairway opposite your slip. It gives you a longer glide, a wider turning arc, and gives you more time to react if something needs done before you crash into the dock.

Once you're committed to going into the slip, put the transmission into reverse and keep the engine at idle. If you time it all correctly, the boat will stop exactly where you want it and in that half second between moving forward and starting to go backward, you can pop it into neutral and be perfectly stationary in the slip.

If you need to scrub off more speed on the way in, a quick burst of throttle while the transmission is in reverse will do that. If you need more, then keep doing it by small throttle bursts and returning to idle. This will keep the prop walk down so you won't have to correct for it.

This is my usual docking sequence. I did this exact thing on a "first time" sail in a Hunter 28 a couple of weeks ago. We came in on a glide, made the wide turn and stopped next to the dock steps with a single burst of throttle in reverse before returning both controls to idle and neutral, my "crew" stepped off and dropped the springline over the mid cleat on the dock. He didn't need to do anything except tie it off and hold his hand out for the stern line. We were absolutely dead in the water when he stepped off.

Had I not had crew aboard, I could have done it all myself without worrying about the boat getting away from me.

[requiem]

Since the intended question was about motoring into a slip...

I too liked the Duncan Wells book and the accompanying video content. I'm also a fan of having a midship cleat, especially for a side-tie situation.

One method I didn't see mentioned here yet was reversing into a slip. Many people don't practice reversing all that much, or have boats that don't reverse well, but I actually like it.

You do need to start backing from far enough out that you have good control, as opposed to a last minute turn that also has you fighting prop walk, but any docking approach (bow or stern) should be started from a good ways off, and (if conditions permit) your turns should similarly be wide enough that the boat isn't still rotating as you enter the slip.

The nice part is that backing in is like driving a car, and this time you have a front-row seat to make sure you're properly positioned to enter the slip. To stop the boat, a dash of forward gear is sufficient. Ideally you can then drop a line over a stern cleat and a bit of forward idle will then keep you against the side as you get the other lines on. You can also use this method for side ties; back up to a cleat at about a 45° angle, drop a stern line over the cleat, then motor against it to snug yourself up against the dock.

As Rob_P mentioned, you should be stopping the boat in the slip so that crew (if there are any) can simply step off and walk over to make fast the lines. If your crewed approach involves people having to jump off and hauling on lines to stop the boat I'd work on that first.

[DMF Sailing]

Got a swim platform and a fin keel with sail drive?

Good. Drop the platform. Work the stern line around the aft rail so you have access from the helm and it's not going to get fouled on anything. Angle in carefully, as you would a car, making sure you have enough room in front of you. When you are close enough to step off, quick burst of forward just to stop momentum then drop her into neutral. Calmly step off with the stern line and tie it really short. Hop back on and go into forward, slowly. The boat will lie onto the dock and you can step off again and tie the bow line. Now walk back, put the engine into neutral, and calmly tie on and adjust the lines.

It's essentially the opposite of springing off solo using a running spring line.

Notes:

* I've seen people do this without dropping the platform by instead going over the aft stanchion. Me, I'd worry about tripping.

* Not recommended if you have a strong current or wind blowing you away from the dock.

* Won't work if you don't tie that stern line really short

* Not recommended if you doubt your ability to not crash your swim platform into the dock.

* Not recommended if you have to jump, not step, onto the dock.

* Not recommended if your boat handles poorly in reverse.

* Not recommended if you are not spry and nimble

* Some folks may worry about the wear and tear this might put on your transmission.

In fact, don't attempt this idiotic method of solo docking.

[requiem]

Originally Posted by DMF Sailing

When you are close enough to step off, quick burst of forward just to stop momentum then drop her into neutral. Calmly step off with the stern line and tie it really short.

You don't have to step off, of course. You can drop the line over the cleat and tie it off back on the boat.

Some boats make it really convenient to step off (flip-up seat, step down into the sugar scoop, no platform to lower) but others have plenty of stuff in the way. Personally I'm not lowering a swim platform just to dock. That sounds like an expensive mechanism to over-use even if you don't crunch it.

One other warning for the list:

* Not recommended if your slip needs dredging and you like your rudder

[Montanan]

Originally Posted by Benz

One guy I knew tied a rope cradle into his slip, rather like a horizontal spiderweb, that his boat would nestle into as he pulled in. The ropes both guided the boat and held him off the dock, and he could power gently into them to stay in position until he got a line ashore.
Pretty slick, I thought. I'd do that if I was ever had a slip to come and go from.

A +1.

Works very well.

Now as to solo sailing in a slip, I have had to do that on two occasions when the engine would not start because the waves were viscous and had stirred up some water from the fuel tank and stalled the iron jib.

Sailing into the marina with head sail and main sail fully raised and about a 25 knot winds, travelling at a good clip will maneuvering in the fairways and hoping that no one else was exiting and crowding the passage ways.

One time the wind was blowing head on as I turned to enter the slip and so it aided in slowing my boat by going into irons; the other time the wind was just the opposite from my aft and blowing me hard into the dock at the end of the finger piers.

Gets a bit hectic to go below to partially crank up the thousand pound swing keel of our lake boat, deploy the fenders, retain the boat's heading into the entrance of the marina, navigate through the fairways, drop the mainsail from the beam reach, as one turns run or into the wind to enter the slip and let loose the jib sheet so that it flutters, grab a dock line hung on a piling which I use to wrap around the cleat near the aft of my boat and apply friction to said line to slow the forward momentum. Then pull a cold beer from the ice chest, crack it open and salute the bystanders in the marina watching the ship sail in under strong winds; the motorboaters don't think much of the accomplishment not understanding that I was not motor sailing but rather just sailing; whereas the sailors well they look a bit gobsmacked. All that practice when I was a kid of docking under sail as a dinghy sailor, aids considerably when one advances to far greater tonnage, same procedure, just more momentum.

Motoring in now that is the norm and is much more relaxed and controlled.

[Fullbore]

[QUOTE=DMF Sailing;3386343]Got a swim platform and a fin keel with sail drive?

* Not recommended if you have a strong current or wind blowing you away from the dock.

Our slip has strong prevailing wind blowing boat off finger.
Without dock-lines she’d be up against nasty square concrete pylon.

Haven’t yet figured out how to dock against that wind without crew hand on the dock lines.

[Don C L]

Once I added oars to my boat going in and out of slips is no longer a challenge.

[DMF Sailing]

Originally Posted by Don C L

Once I added oars to my boat going in and out of slips is no longer a challenge.

I mean, depending on your freeboard, the oar plays

[Rob_P]

Originally Posted by requiem

...you should be stopping the boat in the slip so that crew (if there are any) can simply step off and walk over to make fast the lines. If your crewed approach involves people having to jump off and hauling on lines to stop the boat I'd work on that first.

Or worse, crashing into strategically placed fenders or rollers.


There's a u boob video of a guy docking his 40+ ft boat. He has a fender permanently attached to the dock and rams his bow into it while the engine is still running and in gear to hold it in place as he goes hard over on the rudder at the same time. The combination of the two forces pins the boat in place against the dock and finger pier while he scurries around the dock cleating off the lines before shutting down.

So far he hasn't cracked anything but I'm reminded of the guy who had an office in a glass highrise. He reassured his visitors that it was perfectly safe by running into the window and bouncing off. That worked until the day the window popped out.

I'd have gotten curtains.