Is a crash landing ever 'normal'?

[Ralph Johnstone]

Also, when I have a bad landing, I say something like," well, that lacked grace!" with a sheepish smile. We all have our bad days.

And that, ladies and gentlemen, is the reply of an experienced boater as opposed to an idiot who doesn't even realize that he made a bad landing. As was the case with LuzSD.

And with that, I'm off to the boat and pray I survive the idiot power boaters lurking in wait.

 

[woodster]

the marina owner here is a pontoon boater ....he is a likeable guy if you keep him on a leash.....he will board his boat and untie all the lines while telling you about how he work as a merchant marine up in nyc as a scab when he was 17 ...also telling you he has been around boats all his life ......when the lines are all untied then he proceeds to let 150 yamaha down with the trim button and then start the engine....need i say more ....oh and he is slipped right next to me

 

[Kermit]

Hey Woodster, your marina owner sounds just like the friend I took sailing a few weeks ago. We boarded the boat and he immediately asked which lines to untie first. I hadn't even opened the hatchboards. The difference is he's not a boater. Except for when he rents a pontoon boat for the day. Thankfully on a different lake.

 

[woodster]

Hey Woodster, your marina owner sounds just like the friend I took sailing a few weeks ago. We boarded the boat and he immediately asked which lines to untie first. I hadn't even opened the hatchboards. The difference is he's not a boater. Except for when he rents a pontoon boat for the day. Thankfully on a different lake.

hopefully only one on each body of water ...but i suspect there are more than just one

 

[BigEasy]

Hey Woody,
Nothing like the smell of outboard exhaust in the morning!

 

[woodster]

Hey Woody,
Nothing like the smell of outboard exhaust in the morning!

yup even 4 stroke

 

[jeepbluetj]

OTOH, (and because I'm in the same marina as LuzSD) - Both my immediate neighbors have twin outdrive powerboats. Both of them dock flawlessly every time. Come down the fairway, hit reverse on both, pivot to the slip, and in. No drama at all. If I'm there I'll walk over and hand em the bow line or keep the boat centered whilst they tie it up. They're both really nice folks. (Well, I've tied fenders for one of them 'cause he said a sailor knows more knots... But that's a different story) The powerboaters on the dock across from me are now the same. all totally cool coming in (all twins too, 'cept for the one on my dock) I've hung out on their boats multiple times. (Air con is wonderful to get in when you don't have it)

The marina staff will enforce the overhang thing. LuzSD likely knows who to talk to about that. (I can help if not) Ramming the dock? It happens, no biggie. As I mentioned before, the docks really are in such bad shape damage from a ramming is the least of the problems.

It was totally wrong of the person LuzSD tried to help to disparage that help. Even the total jerk on my dock mumbles a thanks now and again if I help.

 

[NotCook]

Don't put yourself in the position of fending off a boat not under the control of the skipper. Stand clear, you can't fend off a 30' motorboat, but you can get hurt trying.

Agree 100% with Gunni..'s post, and Rick486's approach. We insist that those offering to help stand clear unless we ask them to clear a line of the conditions are particularly bad. Then the challenge sometimes is their response, "I've got it", when just holding the line when we tell them to clear it. There is no "I've got it" with an 80,000# boat when it's blowing. We also always brief our crew to never attempt to fend off if it should appear that we are about to hit a dock or other vessel, and to keep their hands, arms and legs well clear - they are not going to stop an 80,000# vessel and it will crush their body parts in the process. It is the skipper's job to approach the dock under control at minimum controllable velocity, ever mindful that conditions can change in an instant (engine dying, shaft sheering, transmission freezing, prop or rudder falling off, at the worst possible instant), to bring the vessel to a rest without compressing the fenders in the process. A skipper that says the dock is there to stop his boat is either drunk, or an arse, or both.

 

[agprice22]

Just to echo JeepBlue, I try to make friends with everyone, and the power boaters in our marina, though few, are nice. We compliment their boats, chat about the weather, and help each other. In fact, I have a powerboat, a 16 ft Wahoo Center console I take out on calm days. My sailing friends get a kick out of me motoring by in my little wind generator. The slip next to me is vacant for two seasons now, and we trailer it up and park it next to us all weekend.

Our two boats!
If you look at the marina, you can see that sailboats outnumber the power boats about 10:1.
There is a powerboat marina down the lake from us, so we try to stay out of their way.

 

[Anonymous 121765]

Wow,

This thread has really picked up steam..........or should I say, "Power."
Aside of statistical percentages, all of your posts still fall into a collective
picture of people not knowing how to properly operate power boats.

In my area the % of power boats to sailboats (weekends) are I'm guessing around 20:1.
What I do see, are that powerboats coming in too-hot seem to have one thing in common.
Most are dual engine boats. So, they feel that it's OK to come in hot because the have two engines
for coming to a sudden stop & then for walking the boat.

I disagree with this mentality. I have also done occasional fishing/diving charters on 2 motor boats but, I come into a dock at the same slower controlled approach because let's face, it can be more of a challenge docking on a single screw than having two.

CR

 

[Charlie Jones s/v Tehani]

Years ago, like in the 50's, I had an old guy tell me-."son, don't ever depend on reverse. Come in slow enough so that if it doesn't work, you won't crash" I've always tried that.

On a delivery trip on a 32 footer, we were entering Calcasiu Lock in Louisiana when the shift handle just plain fell off the pedestal. We were moving slowly enough that the skipper just killed the engine,, and we coasted up to the lock wall, slowly enough to grab and hold. Could have been really bad otherwise.

 

[Gene S]

Agprice22. Here in the North west we have finger docks. How do you singlehand dock with just posts? And those boats in the background. How do you get off them?

 

[SFS]

Gene, can't speak for that specific marina, but our docks have one finger pier every other slip. If you look closely on the port side of agprice's sailboat, you see the finger pier on his port side. His powerboat has a finger pier on its starboard side. I think it is just a trick of the angle that the boats on the other side of the fairway appear to have no finger piers.

 

[agprice22]

Agprice22. Here in the North west we have finger docks. How do you singlehand dock with just posts? And those boats in the background. How do you get off them?

Boats can tie up to only pilings, but you generally have a wall to work with. Yes, SFS is correct, we have finger piers. Last season, we did not, so we had to lasso the piling on the stern to use as a brake if needed. Tying the boat off was a little harder. Now we have finger piers. They are good, but everything has a drawback!

 

[catalanc]

Some observations on this thread. I came to boating rather late in my life, starting with a power boat about 10 years ago. I have purchased 5 power boats, each one a little larger, finally ending up with a 30' twin engine cruiser. Loved to cruise the Pacific Northwest, San Juan Islands and in to Canada. The Admiral and I moved to Colorado just under 2 years ago; sold the cruiser and purchased my first sail boat (Catalina 22 MK II), which I have been "sailing" on Lake Dillon, CO. Bottom line ... sail boats are MUCH more difficult to learn how to to use. Significant learning curve, on which I feel I am still at the bottom.
So, I think that the power boaters that have taken center stage on this thread tend to be the arrogant newbies who would not consider a sail boat due to the difficulties involved. I was able to purchase each of my power boats with VERY low hours on the engine(s), most likely because these folks couldn't even master the power boat. I can tell you that no self respecting power boater would ever use the dock as a stop. Just plain bad form. I would be very embarrassed if I did not make a "clean" dock approach, forwards or backwards. It is a matter of pride.
As for helping with dock lines, I belonged to a club in Seattle and it was expected that you would always walk out and offer to help a fellow boater (power or sail) as they approached the dock, and I always did. Some needed it, many certainly did not.
Overall, I unfortunately agree that the fraction of power boaters that are untrained and perhaps even arrogant may be greater than you might find in the sail boat community. Based on my experience, it is likely the result of the humbling learning curve involved in sailing; many rookies likely quit early on. You can get a great ride in a power boat without knowing what you are doing ... which often reveals itself during docking. That said, my interactions with "seasoned" power boaters has always been respectful and informative.
My two cents ...

 

[kimelmore]

I'm reminded of a certain sailboater who claimed to be an "engineer" at a local aerospace firm. His boat was an older sloop of 35 feet. He always made his approach rather fast using gobs of reverse to stop his crash arrival. One day as he approached the slip his transmission failed (again as we later found out...as was it's habit ...again found out much later) and so rather than smash into his own slip or slam into a concrete piling, he crashed into a neighboring boat because as he explained to the perplexed and rather upset owner of said boat " I knew it wouldn't do as much damage to my boat". Oh...and did I mention he didn't have insurance and got offended when he was asked to pay for repairs....instead saying " don't you have insurance.?" The repairs included...damage to the hull..the gel coat in many places..bent stern rail...and a bent lower housing on the outboard hanging from the stern rail. When he was asked why he never had the transmission repaired he replied " I use the dock to stop". To the credit of the marina, they immediately evicted him but this left the owner of the crash barrier boat to sue in small claims to get the 'engineer idiot' to pay for the damages. So do I offer to assist others when docking...yes...and only if they accept my offer much along the lines of jeepblue...my point of this long rambling dissertation is this..idiots are idiots.

 

[woodster]

I'm reminded of a certain sailboater who claimed to be an "engineer" at a local aerospace firm. His boat was an older sloop of 35 feet. He always made his approach rather fast using gobs of reverse to stop his crash arrival. One day as he approached the slip his transmission failed (again as we later found out...as was it's habit ...again found out much later) and so rather than smash into his own slip or slam into a concrete piling, he crashed into a neighboring boat because as he explained to the perplexed and rather upset owner of said boat " I knew it wouldn't do as much damage to my boat". Oh...and did I mention he didn't have insurance and got offended when he was asked to pay for repairs....instead saying " don't you have insurance.?" The repairs included...damage to the hull..the gel coat in many places..bent stern rail...and a bent lower housing on the outboard hanging from the stern rail. When he was asked why he never had the transmission repaired he replied " I use the dock to stop". To the credit of the marina, they immediately evicted him but this left the owner of the crash barrier boat to sue in small claims to get the 'engineer idiot' to pay for the damages. So do I offer to assist others when docking...yes...and only if they accept my offer much along the lines of jeepblue...my point of this long rambling dissertation is this..idiots are idiots.

man we have really got to get you out of that shell

 

[kimelmore]

 

[Benny17441]

They say an aircraft landing is just a controlled crash and the same is with boats as they do not have any brakes. To me the challenge of docking is to judge the conditions and try to anticipate the angle of entry and the point to start bleeding speed so that when the boat enters the slip it will come to a stop on his own before the bow kisses the dock. Once the boat is going slow enough that it looses steerage I step away from behind the wheel to pick up my lines.

 

[DaveJ]

Approach the dock at the speed you wish to hit it......

Cheers