I give you the Slip from Hell

[DMF Sailing]

OK, cruisers.

You have that Sun Odyssey 389.

Assume the prevailing conditions: a SW wind is blowing you onto the dock. In summer that thing can be 10-15; it can be 20-25.

Those pilings to the right are about a boat-length and a half from you as you nose out. They are submerged at high tide.

Assume that you have one crew on your boat, and no one on the dock or the other boats helps out.

How are you getting out of there?

NOTE: THERE IS NO BOW THRUSTER!!

(It's not the Slip from Hell; it's actually very doable: The second picture depicts me having gotten out. I'm just interested in case someone has a better idea than I do. My recent experience suggests that there are people who have way different solutions for common problems.)

[rslifkin]

That boat has twin rudders, so any trick involving prop wash over the rudder while stopped is off the table. I'd either use the bow thruster or backing against a spring line to swing the bow out into the gap and plan to go quickly (knowing that you'll need some speed to get rudder authority on that boat). Bow thruster can be used (if equipped) to help push up wind if the wind is strong enough and reduce the crab angle required while squeezing between the boat and the pilings.

Personally, I hate side ties with the wind pinning me to the dock. I'd rather get onto one with 25 kts blowing me off than try to leave while pinned to the dock.

[DMF Sailing]

Originally Posted by rslifkin

That boat has twin rudders, so any trick involving prop wash over the rudder while stopped is off the table. I'd either use the bow thruster or backing against a spring line to swing the bow out into the gap and plan to go quickly (knowing that you'll need some speed to get rudder authority on that boat). Bow thruster can be used (if equipped) to help push up wind if the wind is strong enough and reduce the crab angle required while squeezing between the boat and the pilings.

Personally, I hate side ties with the wind pinning me to the dock. I'd rather get onto one with 25 kts blowing me off than try to leave while pinned to the dock.

Rslifkin has a great answer. I subsequently edited the post to indicated that the boat in question has no bow thruster. Perhaps there should have been a poll answer that stipulates "Don't be a troglodyte; get a bow thruster."

[Adelie]

Row or motor the dinghy upwind as far as possible, drop an anchor and kedge yourself out. Doesn’t have to be the main anchor. Doesn’t have to be winched from the bow.

Long history of this in centuries gone by.

[leecea]

I have wanted to try spronging as shown here and in other videos. I have not yet tried it.

Seems to have the advantage that you stay in forward gear through the whole process. When I've used a spring, as is traditional, there is that period when you have to go from reverse to forward and the bow gets blown back towards the dock.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1bLf7C-jAG0

But you do need space and a cleat behind the boat. Often neither one is available.

[Adelie]

Yes, kedging is very old school. So old many don’t think about it in the moment or don’t even know about it.
It’s time consuming and requires significant effort.
But the vessel remain secured throughout the movement reducing the boat to 1 translational degree of freedom so it’s easier to avoid collisions/allisions with docks and other vessels.

[DMF Sailing]

Originally Posted by leecea

I have wanted to try spronging as shown here and in other videos. I have not yet tried it.

Seems to have the advantage that you stay in forward gear through the whole process. When I've used a spring, as is traditional, there is that period when you have to go from reverse to forward and the bow gets blown back towards the dock.

But you do need space and a cleat behind the boat. Often neither one is available.

This is an excellent option.


Leaving aside that this guy has way more room than I ever did...and the tiller give you so much more control... Neither point matters. On a high-freeboard, medium displacement boat, I might being that line over to me midship cleat to starboard. Am I wrong?

[Cheechako]

Getting IN seems the issue to me, so I guess I dont see what's going on. Getting out looks like "point and go" if you have some room to get movement. Your boat is pointed "out" when at the dock right? (backed in) That's what I see in the first pic.... Or is there not the length of dock I see in pic 2?
It is a tough one, I have used a loop line on the Stbd. quarter, turn the rudder to go Stbd and thrust the engine, then let go of the line when the boat heads away from the dock. You risk scraping the Port quarter though if you have no length to move...

[DMF Sailing]

Originally Posted by Cheechako

Getting IN seems the issue to me, so I guess I dont see what's going on. Getting out looks like "point and go" if you have some room to get movement. Your boat is pointed "out" when at the dock right? (backed in) That's what I see in the first pic.... Or is there not the length of dock I see in pic 2?
It is a tough one, I have used a loop line on the Stbd. quarter, turn the rudder to go Stbd and thrust the engine, then let go of the line when the boat heads away from the dock. You risk scraping the Port quarter though if you have no length to move...

Cheechako, All respect to you, as one whose comments I have learned from throughout my history on this forum, but getting in is easy. You can point the boat like a Big Bertha bus and drive in to the corner of the dock, have the (1) crew step off and tie a stern line real short, then go into forward. The boat lies onto the dock, and you tie everything off.

You are definitely right about the challenges of getting out.

[valhalla360]

Originally Posted by Cheechako

Getting IN seems the issue to me, so I guess I dont see what's going on. Getting out looks like "point and go" if you have some room to get movement. Your boat is pointed "out" when at the dock right? (backed in) That's what I see in the first pic.... Or is there not the length of dock I see in pic 2?
It is a tough one, I have used a loop line on the Stbd. quarter, turn the rudder to go Stbd and thrust the engine, then let go of the line when the boat heads away from the dock. You risk scraping the Port quarter though if you have no length to move...

Agreed, so long as your engine doesn't have a stalling problem, just spring the bow out a little past where you want it to be and then give her some power in forward to get moving quickly and get the keel and rudders controlling movement and direction.

Getting back in looks more tricky as you need enough momentum to maintain control (hopefully good control in reverse) but not so much speed that you can't stop quickly all while threading between your neighbor's boats.

Do you know your neighbors? If they are open to it, rather than a kedge, you could use a line to one of their cleats to pull the bow over.

[wingssail]

On my boat, with a wide beam and a narrow stern, I can swing the bow quite a ways out by pushing it, while the midships is still nearly in contact with the dock and the sterm is close to the dock, then motor away from the dock. The key question is, how to swing the bow out? The spring line method in the video is intriguing, however I have always been able to manually push the boat away from the dock, bow first, far enough, then jump on as it motors away (assuming there is another person manning the helm).

I would also stand by to fend off the boat ahead, and do the whole thing sort of slowly.

[s/v Jedi]

So with our boat we can’t push or pull as it’s too big, too heavy. If leaving forward with the dock at port side, we take in all lines except the stern spring, then reverse into the spring to bring the bow out all the way against the neighbor with crew manually keeping a fender in between. At that point throttle to neutral, take spring line aboard, go forward at 1,200 rpm so that propwalk helps get away from the dock.

I prefer leaving backwards with the dock at starboard side. Also, when there isn’t a boat next to you, you can drive into the forward spring bringing the stern off the dock all the way until perpendicular to the dock. I once did that with 30 kts wind and it worked.

[grantmc]

Originally Posted by Adelie

... easier to avoid collisions/allisions with docks and other vessels.

I don't recall ever reading/hearing the word allision before. I had to look it up for myself and any others interested:
What is an Allision?
The nautical definition of an allision is “the running of one ship upon another ship that is stationary.” The distinction between it and a 'collision' is that in the latter, both ships are moving.

[Jammer]

Set fenders on the port quarter and a spring line going aft. Have the engine ready then raise and sheet in the main to swing out the bow. Release the spring and use the engine to motor away.

No, I haven't tried it. I would like to, though, if I can find a suitable place to experiment.

[rslifkin]

Originally Posted by Jammer

Set fenders on the port quarter and a spring line going aft. Have the engine ready then raise and sheet in the main to swing out the bow. Release the spring and use the engine to motor away.

No, I haven't tried it. I would like to, though, if I can find a suitable place to experiment.

I'd be worried about the added windage of having the main up when trying to squeeze past the pilings.