Embarrassing Docking in Strong Winds

[Bgkahuna]

Slow is your friend and even the best of us have a little snafu once in a while. Don't let it get to you. Think about it in your head and formulate how you might have done it differently. Remember slow is your friend. A little "bump" now and then keeps you humble. It makes you think. However, a hole in the boat or someone else's boat is definitely a different story. Don't be embarrassed. Treat each snafu as a learning experience.

[CaptainDana]

Practice helps cement and refine technique. The techniques for light wind and heavy wind docking are different. Various wind angles call for technique changes. So, “working up” is not the answer. Study. Talk with dock mates about different wind speeds and angles when going into or out of YOUR berth. It’s one of the hardest things about running a boat such as yours. Find out/observe/identify the techniques your dock mates use and look for technique changes when conditions change. Current presents another speed/direction variable. Gaining the ability to naturally “feel” wind and current effects on set and drift takes time to acquire. Until then, keep in mind the axiom, “education is expensive”. Embarassment is low-cost tuition. Money isn’t everything. Hurting someone is unacceptable. Bow thrusters are good things. Hull setups with good reverse maneuverability are good too.

[sailingharry]

Speed is your friend! Lots of speed. Learn how long it takes to stop your boat, and don't even think about stopping until you are almost out of room. Especially backing. I routinely enter a slip at 2-3 kts, or even more, in both forward and reverse, and call up "stopping" (reverese or forward) when half way in. And stopping is FULL throttle. As soon as you slow to below 2kts or so, especially backing, you lose steerage and the wind starts to push you around.


Backing, you want to get your speed up when well away from the destination -- when you first start backing, prop walk is viscious. But as the boat speed builds, you can reduce throttle and prop walk becomes much less.


If backing into a slip, realize that 1-2 seconds after you call up brakes (ie, full ahead throttle), the wash across the rudder will reverse (the stern will act like you are going forward, not reverse). So be prepared to steer accordingly.


Go out in calm water, with boat at slow speeds, and call up FULL reverse and see how much it jumps left (typically left, unless you have a left hand prop). Learn to account for this. On my boat, I'll twist 10-15 degrees before I get steerage in reverse.


Go out in calm water, with boat at slow speeds. Turn wheel hard to one side, and give FULL throttle for 2-4 seconds (vary it, to learn). Then back to neutral. See how the stern will jump to one side, but the boat won't actually go ahead. This is called Prop Wash (different than Prop Walk). That blast of water from the prop hits the rudder, and turns the boat, but you don't gain forward motion.


You can put the helm hard to starboard, and repeatedly go full ahead 2 seconds, pause 5 seconds, full astern 2 seconds, pause 5 seconds, etc. The boat will turn completely around without moving (this only works in on direction -- the other direction is brutal).


You see I mentioned FULL throttle several times. No kid gloves. Drive with authority. If you don't act like you are in control, you've given control to the boat. I've seen so many nice approaches destroyed by timid speed/throttle at the end.

[kayakerChuck]

We put our boat on the hard last week.

We moved marinas, and the new one is run by friends....

I didn't sleep much the night before (Try to avoid needing to hear the words "rotator cuff" from any medical professional.) and was not at my best.

Coming into the hoist well, the marina guys were shouting directions to me. Foolishly, and against my own advice, I listened to them. It was ugly. No boats or people were harmed, just a bit of a bruised ego.

I teach this stuff... The occasional ugly keeps me humble.

EVERYBODY botches a docking occasionally.

Practice, learn, repeat.

[Auklet]

Originally Posted by sailingharry

You see I mentioned FULL throttle several times. No kid gloves. Drive with authority. If you don't act like you are in control, you've given control to the boat. I've seen so many nice approaches destroyed by timid speed/throttle at the end.

Yes. The way to get into trouble fast is to lose position control of the boat in strong wind. The boat can make serious leeway while turning; so, a turn should be quick if you are doing it in restricted spaces. Basically you have to “punch it” to get the bow around quickly if making a full turn around. Another option if getting in to trouble and there is room, back up into the wind with power. That’s what you can practice. If your approach with wind astern is overshooting, back all of the way out of the fairway and start a new approach. That’s not embarrassing. Embarrassing is drifting helplessly into the other boats with a lot dockwalkers hollering to do this or that, etc. You’re lucky if one of them can advise correctly. The best action in my opinion is to abort a failing approach and start over, not to try to rescue it with the help of “dockwalkers.”

[Bill_Giles]

Get a friend or two with big fenders so that you can practice single handed berthing but your friends can intervene with fenders to save embarrassment. Look for challenging situations (but not risk other boats). The more you practice the more you can rehearse the manoeuvres in your mind before doing them in reality.

[sailingharry]

Originally Posted by Auklet

The best action in my opinion is to abort a failing approach and start over, not to try to rescue it with the help of “dockwalkers.”

I shot competitive rifle (.22 on 50' indoor range) in high school, qualified as NRA Distinguished Expert. One of the very hardest things to do is recognize that "this one isn't it" and take your finger off the trigger, shake it off, and try again. It's so hard to give up when you are oh-so-close -- but it's the right thing to do. Likewise, recognizing that "this" approach is failing, and backing away when you are still in control, is not "failing" or "not being in control" -- it's demonstrating skill and your understanding of the unfolding situation.
I made a landing last summer on a small rental boat into an slip I didn't know. I made 2 passes down the fairway, including backing back out, before I made my final actual landing -- and it was flawless. Unfortunately, the dockwalkers thought I was lost and helpless, and were running to provide assistance -- no, I was making sure I WASN'T lost and helpless.

[Rick Williams]

If I'm pullling into a slip, It has to be a starboard turn unless the fairway is very large and I can make the turn without propwalk. I usually hug the side away from my slip, turn just before the slip with a little too much headway (barely a walk is still too much) and then goose the prop in reverse. The propwalk to port is strong so the bow swings into the centerline of the slip and we stop but the guy who said he's always ready for anything is correct. I know the British navy roped into and out of harbors until steam tugs were invented so I've used that idea several times when the wind would quickly turn the bow the wrong way instead of allowing me to head out. In those cases I'd use a line from the leward stern cleat and wrapped around a cleat or post on the dock. The second the bowsprit would clear the piling we'd take a wrap on the stern cleat and the backing energy of the boat would be converted into turning energy and the stern would swing where I wanted it.
I have a pretty heavy Downeaster 38 so everything I did was slowly as the old lady didn't like stopping anymore than she liked being told what to do in reverse and if you're embarrassed because you're having trouble and people are watching, it's because they want to see how you handled something that got them in trouble the same way.

[danstanford]

Remember that the prop walk goes away in neutral. I will always try to have sufficient way on to turn into the dock in neutral, especially in reverse.

Something that seems to trip many people up from outboard experience is the tendency to start steering in the desired direction in reverse before the boat stops and starts to go in reverse. Until the boat stops it will still respond to the rudder in forward.

[rslifkin]

Originally Posted by danstanford

Remember that the prop walk goes away in neutral. I will always try to have sufficient way on to turn into the dock in neutral, especially in reverse.

Something that seems to trip many people up from outboard experience is the tendency to start steering in the desired direction in reverse before the boat stops and starts to go in reverse. Until the boat stops it will still respond to the rudder in forward.

That's a big one. It takes some practice to get a good feel for when the water flow over the rudder changes direction. When moving from forward to reverse, it'll be when the boat actually starts moving backwards. When moving from reverse to forward it'll happen sooner. On most sailboats I tend to shift to forward, start turning the wheel, then throttle up as I pass through center. Turning the wheel too soon or too late will significantly increase the space required for some maneuvers.

[ChrisPuget]

I try to be patient on a windy-gusty day and wait for a lull to make my move.

[rslifkin]

Originally Posted by ChrisPuget

I try to be patient on a windy-gusty day and wait for a lull to make my move.

That's also a good move. It's easy to do when departing, a bit harder when arriving, but you can sometimes position yourself such that you can wait in a relatively stable position. Let a gust hit, and as soon as the gust drops it's time to go.

[sinnerman]

"You can learn how to sail in a week, and spend the rest of your life trying to learn how to dock.."

[sinnerman]

The wind affects the bow the most, so plan accordingly.

Unfortunately, most of the docking videos on YouTube show you how to dock alongside a nice long pier, not pulling into a dead-end U-shaped slip with you neighbor's boat only 4 feet away....


I sail solo so docking is always the "highlight" of my sailing day...

If the wind is blowing you out of the slip or towards your side of the slip, wind is not usually a problem. In the second scenario it helps you dock.


First bad case is if the wind is driving you towards the dead end of the slip where you will crash bow first. In this case come in dead slow, jump off quickly and tie off.


In really high winds, I would consider backing into the slip unless I had some hands on board to jump off and quickly tie off. What is good about backing in is if the docking starts to go bad, you can always power the boat out in forward and try again.


Worst scenario is when the wind is pushing you into your neighbor. In this case your priority is not hitting his boat. Since the bow is most affected by wind, I would point the bow at a 30 to 45 degree angle towards my dock (away from my neighbor) on approach.


Since the bow is most affected by the wind, my target would be would be tying off my bow as quickly as possible or even better getting a midships "breast" line tied off. With the bow tied off you could power back/fwd to pull the stern in.


The midships breast line is best as once that is tied off the boat literally is going nowhere. Not forward or aft or sideways..


Anyway everyone has an opinion and this is my two cents... Cheers.

[FPNC]

I really like a Tartan 34c. Great boats. However, they can be tough to maneuver at low speed under power. The propeller is small and is set just behind the keel and very far forward of the rudder. Which means you do not have the benefit of thrust at low RPM. Extra prop shaft RPM must direct the prop thrust down and over 4 ft aft before it hits the lowest point of the rudder. In my humble opinion, this vessel can require a lot more finesse to handle at low speed in windy or heavy current conditions.