How do you get out of tight berth when the wind is blowing?

[jsc7]

The instructions I see for leaving a slip with a strong wind blowing onto the dock all seem to assume that the boat has boat lengths of room on all sides. For example, one instruction I saw said, "tie the bow line to the mid-ship cleat, turn towards the dock to pivot the stern out 'well away' from the dock, free the line, back up, then motor out while turning into the wind". Yeah, right, this is fine if you have a boat length to windward, and another boat length of space to the rear, but in any marina I have seen, you get about 3 feet to the next boat over and 3 feet or less to the back, so this move is not possible (photo shown of typical).

How do you undock with wind in a marina like this (without hitting anything)?

[Sojourner]

I'd put my 2 crew on roving fenders starboard, and bully my way out, pivoting off the end when the wind blows the bow down, using feet, or someone pushing from the dock, wincing all the way. But then again, I've got an older tank of a boat with scuffs on it already.

Or spring off starboard to get the bow off the dock as usual. I know, not enough room, but there's always wiggle room in everything....spring to push the boat next door over a few feet. Might be enough to motor ahead and out before they drift back.

Or maybe a slip line from aft port cleat to the port bollard then back over a winch to keep the bow from blowing down as you motor ahead and out as the line is eased out.

Or maybe I'd stay in. Sometimes you just gotta stay in.

[valhalla360]

I assume in your picture we are talking a wind out of the ENE.

Simply back out and keeping momentum, turn before hitting the boats on the opposite side of the fairway and continue to maintain steerage while backing down the fairway.

This assumes you didn't buy a boat that is a total pig in reverse.

If you are talking about the finger pier (flybrige boat and wind out of the NNW). I would fender up real good and slide down the pier letting the last bit hang up a bit and let the wind start the turn. Then depending on which way is open water either put it in forward or reverse out.

[Sailmonkey]

If I’m pressed to the dock, like the top boat would be with a port beam wind, I’ll turn hard starboard, goose the stern out a bit, then full throttle astern. Once the bow is clear, halt astern progress with the engine an let the wind toss the bow downwind. Even if I don’t want to go that way I need to let our boat weathervane stern to in tight quarters and then slowly back up out of the fairway.

[a64pilot]

Before you go off and possibly damage something, remember you can always wait for the wind to drop.
I have spent the night at anchor at least once when the wind really got up, cause I didn’t want to go through the stress and drama

[Suijin]

Are we talking single handed or crewed. Big difference.

Keep in mind that there are conditions where it’s just not possible. There is not always a solution.

And sometimes the solution is inelegant but effective. Like backing out and backing all the way down the fairway, or doing a clockwise 270 to use prop all instead of a counterclockwise 90.

In the photo, if I’m the sailboat and the wind is north I’m concerned pretty much exclusively about the boat next to me. Midships line released just as I lean on it in reverse, stern pulls to port. Stay in reverse until the bow comes around, then up and out.

[S/V Illusion]

Spring lines are your friend!

A properly placed spring will always allow you to back against it to push one end of the boat out sufficient to maneuver safely.

If you can't do that, the rest of us will appreciate you not trying.

[TrentePieds]

Isn't jsc7's boat powered by TWO bejazusbig OUTBOARDS? Maybe the answer is just to go out to where there is nothing to hit and learn to control those things? Beyond that, just follow SOPs depicted in innumerable YT clips.

TP

[ranger58sb]

Originally Posted by jsc7

but in any marina I have seen, you get about 3 feet to the next boat over and 3 feet or less to the back, so this move is not possible (photo shown of typical).

How do you undock with wind in a marina like this (without hitting anything)?

Nothing in that picture looks unmanageable.

Ideas:
- find a more suitable marina
- learn everything you can about spring lines
- invite crew, and assign them fender duty
- learn to control your boat with the engines in those conditions
(e.g., you MIGHT be able to spin the boat a little by simultaneously using forward on one engine and reverse on the other)
- add a bow thruster
- add a stern thruster
- practice, practice, practice

-Chris

[wholybee]

Have someone on the dock walk the boat out of the slip. By the time the boat is halfway out of the slip, there should be enough momentum that it can be steered and kept off the other boats. Use the shrouds as a solid handhold to climb unto the moving boat.

If the wind is too strong for that to work, ask yourself if you will be able to maneuver in the fairway, or if you will hit several other boats getting turned the right direction.

[Dave22q]

My concern is wind blowing downstream across the slip. Morgan is a pig backing so letting the wind swing the stern and backing out 200' is bad option as is attempting to use rudder to swing against the wind.
I set a line from the upstream dock end to my upstream jib winch. Backing out I tension the line to swing the stern upstream. When my bow clears the adjacent boat I toss the line and motor forward. I leave the rudder midships throughout the process.
The line is weighted so if no hand is available to haul it in it sinks below prop depths. May seem complicated but works for me.

[toddster8]

Well, that is why I back in to the slip. Although that can be a rodeo too, since if you do it too slowly the wind will blow the bow off one way or the other. Often involves (devolves?) “get kinda close then warp it in with long lines to bow and stern. Spring to the midship cleat only really works (sometimes) if the neighbor boat is gone.

[Don C L]

I had to move a heavy full keel 30 footer once alone on a windy night in a situation like you describe if I understand it correctly. There was no way it was going to work. So I had a tennis ball full of silicone tied to parachute cord I used as a heaving line and one of those long plastic arm atlatl things folks use for throwing balls for their dogs. I shot the line over to the upwind dock and walked around and pulled a line over. With a big loose bowline over a dock cleat i got on the stern of the boat and pulled it out hand over hand, then walked the line forward so the boat was now beam-on the wind held close to the sterns of the upwind boats in their slips and with engine running gave the line a snap to free the bowline off the cleat and made it out without costing anyone any money.

[Sea Angel1]

If you are in doubt, just stay in moored. If you think you have to leave, why not ask a mooring assistant in the marina helping you pushing out in a correct direction with their inflattable. No worry, no danger, no damage. Especially when your prop drives your vessel in the wrong direction and you do not have a thruster. This works fine.

[akprb]

Smartly and with confidence.

Every single docking situation is subtly different.

I ran an Auckland harbor ferry for years. 38 bearthings per shift.

You come to know your boat and what she and you will do.

Nothing works like practice and experimenting. Try to do that when others are not a meter away port and starboard:-)