At the end of the day...

[steven]

I @#$%&! Hate it!!! but have a new method

I have an 85 hunter 23’ but not too much experience. I am a new sailor and would have sailed a lot more if it weren’t for the docking. To make matters worse, there is a restaurant/tiki bar at the shore side of the pier; the audience on a good weekend can be up to 500 and what a show I put on for them. My new method has been working though, I motor right up to the corner of my slip, jump off the bow, and pull it in by hand, same going out, I untie, pull the boat perpendicular to the slip and jump on. I look a lot more graceful now for my audience of 500, but I’m sure I’ll eventually miss-judge and take a swim.

 

[RREgge]

None of you have it worse than this.

Well maybe you do, but not many I suspect.We are tied bow and stern to pilings along a winding channel. Five feet outside the channel and you have less thab 3 feet of water. Its like parallel parking a 37 foot boat with wind and current and you run aground if you hit the curb. If the wind is blowing right its easy to get out, however if the wind is blowing against you it more of a challeng, the wind has pushed you on the wrong side of the pilings, an you have no leverage. We either use our dinghy as a tug and push her out, or use pro walk to push the stern out.When you come in after a long day on the water, if the wind is coming out of the wrong direction; blowing you away from your mooring (nice to have in the morning)you have a whole new set of challanges. The other boats in the long line of pilings have been blown into the channel making your approach even more difficult. You need to parrallel park and grab both bow and stern lines. It's a common situation to see boats with one line on and the other end blown out into the channel. We then jump into our dinghy and push Allie Kat back in.If your looking for a mooring at Brewers in Wickford, let us know, we'll be ready with our dink to lend a hand.I need a bow thrusterRussell

 

[Breeze Way]

Sailboat prop?

My marina's owner knew I had a new outboard on my Mac 22, and apparently noticed me maneuvering as best I could, thank you very much, all over the place to get anywhere. He suggested a sailboat prop. It's nice to be able to handle my boat like normal now.

 

[Bob F.]

Tired and weary

The dock and put away portion of the outing is the worst time ever. We trailer the Catalina 22 swingkeel so everything has to be taken down and stowed. After a couple of hours of sailing in the Oklahoma sun, we are tired and weary. There have been times that I just wanted to drive off and leave the boat sitting. Thank goodness for friends and deck hands to give a hand in getting it on the trailer and battened down for the trip home.I can remember one time being so dehydrated and parched that the friends had to take over the job with me giving directions.Sure keeps you from sailing solo.

 

[Rob R.]

Went In Under Sail on Saturday...

As if sailing isn't challenging enough, I ran out of gas on Saturday and made a run at a lakeside harbour fuel dock under full genoa and about 5 - 8knots of breeze. What a blast! Turns out I had an ounce or two of gasoline left, as the A-4 fired when I got a few feet away from the dock. Luckily, I didn't need it.Lots of fun, and good training. Compliments from the guys on the dock didn't hurt either!Rob

 

[jcherubini]

Now comes MIller Time

About the only beer commercial more annoying than Hoyt Axton enunciating 'Buschhhhhhhh' in your ear was the 'Now comes Miller Time' series from the '80s. This got to be our in-joke on Antigone (since none of us even LIKED Miller) --upon making the slip and getting one or two lines to the dock someone would announce, 'Now comes Miller Time' like the people in the TV commercials who had just got done some sweaty onerous task.One time I was not on the boat and came down to meet everyone else as they came in. They bumped a piling or two, missed the dock with a line, and finally picked up one of the yellow poly lines floating dangerously close to the prop, and then my brother said, 'Now comes Miller Time', you know.'Looks like Miller Time came about twenty minutes ago,' I said.Then my mom totally ruined what might have been only a VERY shoddy docking manouevre-- 'We're in the wrong slip.'Actually it was probably the Rolling Rock.JC

 

[Michael Hagerman]

Zen and the Art of Docking/Mooring

Surely some old salt has written an article or book on the subject. Bottom line: docking is what you make it, mooring is NORMALLY not too bad. I've done both.Several seasons ago, I got my boat out of the "shop" and headed back to our then mooring. It was a drizzly day with 10-15 knot winds. Alone I motored the 2 miles to our mooring. The folks in the Yacht Club bar must have had fun watching my repeated attempts to pick up the mooring with a now churning river and increased winds. The 3rd time was a charm, and "educational" too.Last season we moved to a slip that we could "drive" right into, subject to the tide. After one outing, we had to pick up a mooring due to low tide. The next weekend, I told my wife I was going to go move the boat into the slip and I'd be back (code for "I need some space.") She volunteered to come along with our then-14 month old cabin boy. We went for a short motored spin. Cabin boy got tired of being restrained from helping with the engine and other controls. He lost it and we headed for our slip. This would have been a Kodak moment but fortunately no one had a camera: My wife went forward to toss the bowline. That left me holding screaming baby boy with my right arm, the tiller with my left arm, and adjusting speed with my left foot. We managed not to kill anyone in docking. After that most of our dockings have been much easier.

 

[Jack]

No Problem...

We have no trouble with our H-380 when it comes to anchoring, mooring or docking. We usually back into the slip for a port-side tie up. Given that the boat likes to prop walk to port a bit in reverse, we have to line-up before backing with that in mind. Once the boat is 'set' we back to the dock and give her a little forward thrust at the last moment to stop our momentum and 'snug' us up to the pilings.The boat is extremely easy to back and control once you know that high reverse speeds can cause the rudder to exhibit quite high wheel forces - inexperienced captians, be cautious, or you'll find the rudder hard-over against the stop before you know it.We also have no trouble anchoring - either dropping or retreiving the hook. We ususlly anchor in relatively shallow water on a sand bottom. Once the anchor is down and the proper scope (or likely, a lot more) is out, we back-down on the anchor to set it. Easy - no problems.Picking up moorings is relatively new to us here in FL. The one time we did, it was a piece of cake.I single-handed the boat from MA to FL just over a year ago and handled all the docking. Never had a big problem, even in some challenging tight quarters and rapid currents. Thinking ahead is the only way to go, though. Plan what you want to do before you get to the slip, then execute.The Hunter 380 handles like a sports car and you can use judicious (and quite robust) bursts of the throttle to move her around in about any direction you choose. Use the prop walk to your advantage wen possible. Remember that the boat backs very well once under way and with a three-bladed prop, you can reverse directions extremely rapidly.We're happy with the handling of the 380. No problems in that area at all...!

 

[rp]

Slow is Pro

nm

 

[Michael Bell]

Bigger anchor - lost my helmsmans job

I put a 22 pound plow anchor with 30’ of chain on our Hunter 26’ (I like to sleep at night).Unfortunately, it was to much weight for my wife to pull, so we switched jobs. Keep in mind this is an outboard rigged sailboat, so maneuvering isn’t the easiest thing to do. We set up hand signals and think our anchoring procedure it’s top notch.So ladies, next time you get yelled at while on the bow – take over the controls.

 

[SailboatOwners.com]

Final results

Final results for the Quick Quiz ending 6/16/2002:The following expresses our feelings about docking, anchoring, trailering:50% OK unless conditions are difficult 21% Piece of cake 16% Getting better, but have a lot to learn 13% The most stressful aspect of sailing

 

[j]

hi all

cat 22 is really kewl to sail!

 

[john k]

GIVEN-UP

AS A SINGLE HANDED SAILOR I "SAIL TILL I DROP"SO AS THE DAY END -IF ITS DUE TO WEATHER, WINDOR TIME. TIS GET BACK TO MORRING GET PACKED UP-SAILS DOWN STOWED, RUDDER PULLED, HATCHES LOCKED, MOTOR SHUT DOWN, GAS CAPED MOORING LOCKED, STORES CHECKED, POTY CLEANED, PULL-UP DINNY PUT IN TRASH GETIN PUT UP LADDER, CAST OFF, ROW TO DOCK, STOW DINNY, LOCK UP LIFE JACKET AND ORS. GET SODA AND DRINK IT ON THE WAY HOME . AT NOON TO 7PM ITS 100 IN DALLAS IF YOUR NOT MOVING ON THE WATER YOUR BASTING! NO YOU DO NOT SIT ON THE BOAT EVEN IF YOU HAD THE TIME.