Docking to a Windward Finger

[TrentePieds]

Campbdon:

You have a Northern 29 you say. For purposes of docking she may be considered absolutely equivalent to TrentePieds.

Your task is to bring her alongside a finger-slip to weather of her, and to stop her forward way before her stem touches the main pontoon from which the finger float emanates. Piecacake but you have to leave all knowledge of driving cars behind you.

How you approach the job depends almost entirely on whence the wind blows in relation to the float - not the boat, but the float. Tidal current must also by considered but I will take it here that since you are in Twanna tidal effects are minimal :-).

Step one is lay 'er dead off the slip. but headed into it so that when you move her forward, her track, (which will NOT correspond to her heading), will take her straight into the slip. You control her heading while off the slip by taking advantage of the propeller walk. No doubt you have a "right hand" prop so that when you are lying dead in the water, then put 'er in reverse and "goose" 'er, she will swing her stern to the port before she actually picks up stern way. So you play with forward and reverse till you have the HEADING you want as determined by the wind.

Once you become adept at that, you can do as many pirouettes in the fairway at the end of you slip as you like. So practice it :-)!

Here is a nice little illustration how you do that in a ship with considerably more heft than yours and mine:-). Study carefully the flow of his prop water, listen to the sound of his engine and mind his rudder deflection. That's how it done, and that, sez I blushingly, is how I do it. The harbour and the types of ship you see are ones I knew well in my youngest years ;-)

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=o5WWaHDy10M

Now, you are lying dead in the water in your fairway and headed into you slip. Whence comes the wind? If if comes from the opposite side to your finger float, just move in dead slow. The wind will blow you against the float. You've got your fenders out already of course, including the "pudding". What's a "pudding" you say? It's a special purpose fender that fits around your cut-water to protect it when you press it up against a pontoon or a bulwark in the manner ferrymen do to hold their vessel in place when their ramps are down for loading and unloading.

So you move in VERY slowly, letting the cutwater pudding come up against the root pontoon thanks to the forward thrust of the engine and letting the wind blow the boat onto the finger float. Then you step off the boat and belay your mooring lines which you had laid out on deck before you entered the fairway. The wind and the forward thrust of the engine will hold the boat nicely in place while you belay the lines and take a bow from the assembled multitudes :-).

With the wind blowing you OFF the finger float, things require a little more finesse, and timing is a tad more critical.

All boats have a "pivot point". In your boat, as in mine, it lies about a foot abaft the mast. When you alter your heading while having neither forrard or stern way, that is the point around which the boat will pivot, so when the bows swing to port, the stern will swing an equal amount to starboard. Your boat should have HORN cleats on the rails port and starboard abreast the pivot point. But if you don't have a proper cleat abreast the pivot point, you can make do with a stanchion. A clove hitch laid around the base of the stanchion right down by the deck will do. You don't use one of your regular mooring lines for this. You have a rope dedicated to the purpose. I call it a “warp”.

And here is the trick: EVEN with the wind blowing you away from your finger float, unless the wind is very strong, you can slick the boat in a inch or two from the float, and while you still have a LITTLE way on, you can catch a HORN cleat, properly positioned on the float, and slip the bitter end of the warp over a sheet winch with a bollard hitch. If you now have the engine in forward idle and the rudder laid away from your float the forward thrust against the warp (which is now effectively a spring), in combination with the prop water impacting the rudder will hold the boat snug against the float while you step off and with great nonchalance set your dock lines in the accustomed fashion. You then remove the warp and stow it as any sailorman would do.

Oh, if you are gonna do this, you have to snug the warp BEFORE your pudding hits the root pontoon :-)

Have a go at it when your neighbour is not there. Once you get your timing right, you'll like it :-)

TrentePieds

[morgan3d]

I use the spring line method that many have described for docking a 40' boat singlehanded to a finger, usually stern-to. Going in backwards has some advantages. Easier loading and unloading if you have a fold-down platform or sugar scoop, of course, but also it is much easier to power out straight in forward to escape if anything goes wrong, and at the helm I'm close to the dock and edge of the boat to see exactly how close I am.

1. Hang fenders on both sides and rig an aft midship spring line, keeping the working end of the line near the stern.
2. Reverse down the final fairway. If the fairway is more than 30% wider than the length of the boat, then stay closer to the side opposite the berth. Otherwise stay in the middle. Begin the turn in reverse.
3. If the fairway is not wide enough, you will have to start the turn from the middle. Apply a brief forward thrust without changing the helm. This will stop the backwards linear motion while maintaining the angular momentum of the turn.
4. When nearly aligned with the berth, resume backing. Apply brief reverse thrust to start the motion and then shift into neutral unless strongly opposed by wind or current. Steer into the berth.
5. Use forward thrust to bring the boat to a stop with the skipper right next to a dock cleat at the stern.
6. Throw the spring line around the stern dock cleat. Hold plenty of slack in each hand and toss both parts, holding onto the loose end. Pull the slack out of the line, and cleat it off to the stern boat cleat.
7. Apply light forward thrust, which will pin the boat to the dock pushing against the spring line.
8. Step off the boat and attach the bow and stern lines. Finally, shift out of gear.

[s/v Jedi]

No, y’all doing it wrong. Maybe a video explains the correct technique a bit better:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8alNxLjCBJc

[Apollo19.5]

I have a 46' yacht and leave/dock it solo a bit. Uusally trade winds blowing me off the dock finger and a big $$ stink boat docked to leeward beside me). I use a pivot line, mentioned above, from a pivot point about 70% back from the bow. Mine is premade with a soft shackle at the right length to stop the bow hitting the dock in front. Cruise slowly in straight(ish) with the pivot line run under the safety lines then looped over onto a boat hook. As I go past the closest dock cleat, I drop the pivot loop over the cleat and then very slowly move forward taking up the tension in the loop. Once tight, take up the revs in forward a little (more in counter breeze/tide) and then use the rudder to trim the bow in or stern in until the yacht is holding next the dock against the fenders. Once I am happy all is stable, I leave the helm with the motor in gear and the rudder in balanced position and then get off to secure stern/bow/spring lines. I remove my pivot line and store it when not in use. Leaving the dock, I do it in reverse, holding the boat via the pivot line/yacht in fwd gear and then removing dock lines. When leaving i take the pivot line off the cleat on the way out (either flick or using a boat hook). This all works extremely well. Worth finding your best pivot point (mine are the deck deadeyes for the spinnaker sheets, but have seen winches used) for your yacht and make up dedicated pivot line.

[deblen]

Originally Posted by s/v Jedi

No, y’all doing it wrong. Maybe a video explains the correct technique a bit better:

Perfect docking!! / Len

[MicHughV]

An alternative is to have some pre-arranged dock lines ready on the dock, pick 'em up with a boat hook..or if you have dock piles in the vicinity, leave some dock lines hanging on a hook..

[Dockhead]

Originally Posted by MicHughV

An alternative is to have some pre-arranged dock lines ready on the dock, pick 'em up with a boat hook..or if you have dock piles in the vicinity, leave some dock lines hanging on a hook..

For your own dock, this is of course the killer app.

[Dockhead]

Originally Posted by JPA Cate

. . .
Honestly, installing a midships cleat with a backing plate for each side, will make all your docking easier, perhaps a winter project.

Amen to that.


I hadn't caught that the poster didn't have a midship cleat. That's essential gear.