Backing a sailboat into a slip

jeb21851 · Jun 2, 2011

the secret is to do it slow and only keep the gear in reverse long enough to keep moving, then pop it back into neutral...this will keep the prop from walking the stern. also it helps to string an old anchor line between the pilings on the side of the slip to latch onto with your boat hook and help ease her into the slip.

RichH · Jun 2, 2011

Most boats will have a 'right handed' propeller. This will translate the fore/aft 'turning' movement under power so that when backing the boat will ONLY turn to port, and going forward ONLY to port ... or nearly so. Attempting to go forward or backing towards starboard will/can be a total impossibility. This is all controlled and restrained due to 'prop walk'.
At very low speeds there will be virtually NO flow across the rudder and you will HAVE to use 'prop walk' to make or 'start' your turns (only to the portside).

Do webseach for: "Pivot Turn" or "Backing and Fillilng" (good video/demo on the US Sailing Website: http://www.videos.sailingcourse.com/pivot_turn.htm)

An example of a 'pivot turn' when attempting To turn to starboard and when going forward .... start in a straight line, idle the engine and 'drift' while shifting into reverse, give a small quick 'burst' of prop in reverse .... will throw the stern to port, aligning the bow to turn to starboard !!!!!
In going in reverse (such as into a slip) approach the slip on the PORT side, turn/drift at 45° to starboard and give a 'small BURST' of reverse - will turn the boat's stern into the slip. If slip needs to be entered when the slip is on the STARBOARD side of the boat .... proceed down the fairway and make a U-turn and approach the slip on the PORTSIDE.... because the boat will not turn to starboard when in 'reverse'.
When 'backing and filling' or doing a "pivot turn" the rudder is NOT used at all !!!!
Learn to do the "pivot turn" and/or "backing and filling". Practice, practice, practice, ... just remember that a boat with right handed prop will have great difficulty or WILL NOT turn to starboard when there is NO flow across the rudder. ;-)

Ross · Jun 2, 2011

Come in the fairway slowly and make your turn to line the stern up with the slip. Then it is throttle, rudder and gearshift work to work your way back to where you can pick up a line. A cross wind of more than 5 knots plays hell with you.

Les · Jun 2, 2011

Here is an idea that has proven successful with some people and their boats. Take your boat out to open water and practice going in reverse. Do all of this slowly. First, just go back in a straight line for two or three boat lengths, then stop your boat by putting it into forward gear. Next, going backwards do a circle to port and a circle to starboard. Note which way your boat likes to go. Now do a figure eight. Finally in reverse, do your initials.

I know it sounds silly but I have been teaching boating for twenty five years or more and I find by the time my student has done all of the above, they have a good feel for what their boat will do in reverse. It takes practice. If Tiger Wood (perhaps not the best example at the moment) can practice five hundred drives in one day and then practice a hundred or more long putts, we boaters ought to do some practicing as well.

Give it a try and see if you don't have a lot more confidence as well as skill in backing into your slip. I wish you well.

Bill Roosa · Jun 3, 2011

dito Ross,
If you think you are going slow enough you are probably going too fast.
Prop walk is your friend (mostly) Learn to use it.
Practice, practice, pracitice
Scraping (see comment 1) a bollard is not harmfull to the boat and I find the squeek proof that I was "taking it to the edge"

Ron20324 · Jun 3, 2011

If your slip location allows, head into the wind to come up to your slip. The wind will help push the bow out to align with the slip. The wind can make this happen quickly, so timing is everything. The best you can have is have the slip on the port to use prop walk, and have the wind blow the bow to starboard. Piece of cake, and practice will be your teacher.

pogo2 · Jun 3, 2011

Ed
I also have a Newport 30, and for 7 years I always backed in to my slip. the big question is what side of your boat is the dock on? My finger floating dock was on the Starbard side, so I would ghost past the end of the dock and then put it in reverse so as to allow the prop walk to pull the stern away from the dock slightly, but at the same time force me into the slip as mentioned you have to adjust your speed to almost nuetral, and go between reverse, neutral, forward, reverse. It takes practice, practice, I got so good that I could back it in and just step off the boat and place the lines. I should have made a video, I've moved to a different marina and now have to deal with a 3kt current to get to my slip, I've learned to be patient and practice.

Jerry Clark H356 SV Persi · Jun 3, 2011

I back into my slip everytime. The trick is you must be moving backwards with enough speed to use the rudder to control the boat and the prop to stop it. Here is my procedure.

I am 90 degrees to the slip with the slip on the port side and about 5 feet from the boats on my starboard side. I stop the boat at the midpoint of the slip forward of mine. I then go to full rudder to starboard while applying about 1500 to 2000 rpm in reverse. That starts the boat moving backwards and more or less straight back. I let the boat accelerate and spin the rudder to port as I gain speed in reverse. That allows the boat to arc toward the slip at a speed of about 1 to 2 knots. With this speed I have plenty of steerage control and I back off the engine and let the boat continue into the slip. I straighten the boat using rudder and prop walk and then use the prop in forward to stop prior to coming to the stern portion of the dock.

This technique works every time. The trick is to be CONSISTENT and once you have mastered the technique, you can tweak it for current, wind etc.

Other thnigs to not worry about are dinging you boat. You aren't going to tear up your boat by scraping a pile of coming along a dock liner. You MUST HAVE SOME SPEED to steer and without it you are going to lose control. Most failures in backing up are due to lack of SPEED or water flow over your rudder. In forward, the prop provides the flow as well as forward motiion but not in reverse.

Go out and practice in open water and practice at the marina on a calm day. If you follow my technique it will work every time for you. I have taught several people how to do this and it works.

robertsapp · Jun 3, 2011

Depends on the boat

I've come to the conclusion that 90% of the ability to back successfully depends on the design of the boat. We have friends with IP's and Morgans who tell us they are completely unable to back, the boat is virtually uncontrollable. Meanwhile, our Hunter 336 drives as well in reverse as it does in forward. My wife just gets forward of the wheel, turns to face aft, and literally drives the boat like a car. We've motored a hundred yards in reverse from a slip to a fuel pier, turning corners in route, with no issues. It's not like we're super talented sailors, it has to be the fin keel and large balanced spade rudder located well aft, and I suspect our small two bladed prop produces very little prop walk, because we've never noticed any at all. So absorb the offered advice, practice every chance you get, but I suspect the only useful information is going to come from someone with the same type of boat as yours.

Stan Breaux · Jun 3, 2011

There is also a sailboat docking video from Bennett Marine

It might help.
I think you can get it from Netflix.

Winkfish · Jun 3, 2011

My wife and I have bareboat chartered in the Greek islands several times, where you have to dock stern-to 95% of the time. Get familiar with how the propwalk affects your boat, but Jerry Clark hit the nail on the head. You have to get up enough speed to allow the rudder to do its job. Typically in Greece, we'd start out about 5 boatlengths away from the dock, stern to the dock. I'd put it in reverse, and the stern swings very briefly until we have enough stern-way for the rudder to work. Then back right in.

Practising in open water, say near a marker or buoy, is a great idea.

jfmid · Jun 3, 2011

I back up a narrow lagoon approx 150 yds every time I return from the bay. It is amusing to watch my neigbors stare at me as I go "backwards" up the lagoon. They must think I'm nuts. Maybe I am but I know that the lagoon is too narrow to spin on a dime or do a K turn for my boat and if I return and go head in first then I'm going backwards out tomorrow. So lately they have come up to me and said how cool it is to see me backing in and how I seem to have control and know what I'm doing. Well sort of.
Having said that my biggest "failure" to date was trying to back into a slip that had strong currents and wind. Ended up scraping against a powerboats prop skeg in the slip next to me as the wind and current pushed me totally off course and I was powerless to stop. Many have commented about how going slowly causes loss of control going backwards. I was going too slowly but on top of that was caught off guard by the sudden loss of control to the elements. Could only get her to go one way and not the other and was boxed in. Was in a blue funk for a week about my inability to control my boat, my lack of knowledge, and my failure as a skipper. Long story short I was unprepared for the currents and wind and didn't adjust properly and didn't KNOW how to compensate. My responsibility as skipper is to know and I learned a valuable lesson that day. It aint just the way the boat handles in normal stuff but what you have to adjust for when the conditions stink. I now practice in "odd" situations because you never know when the conditions will deteriorate and what you "normally" do doesn't work. It was a humbling experience and fortunately no damage occured other than to my pride and ego.
So the post above said it best.
Go out in an open area and practice, practice, practice. Go out when the wind is pushing and see how it moves your boat. Look at the currents and see how your boat responds to your commands. Do this again and again untill you can get the response you want in all types of conditions in all directions without breaking a sweat. Then when the day comes that you are racing a thunderhead home and the wind has really picked up and the tide is pulling out you can comfortably get in without that dreaded feeling in the bottom of your stomach that you are out of control and helpless. Man I hate that feeling and do all I can to avoid it.

Stu Jackson · Jun 3, 2011

Very good advice here. Practice, learn to use prop walk, and most importantly, be very careful about advice that says do it slowly. Slowly doesn't even begin to get enough water moving over your rudder to make the boat turn.

Ken13559 · Jun 3, 2011

Ed, I berth stern into slip. In the past I usually go slow on the boat and fast in heart beats. It was 50-50% hit & miss due to tide and wind. Then one day I saw how the VOR does their berthing stern in, they reverse in quite fast and has very good control and is accurate. So I changed my technic. Now I go fast (not recklessly fast) and find that I have very good control in stern way. So much so that now my heart beat is as normal as going forward whenever I reverse in the slip. Just make sure your prop has good bite in stopping the boat. I've a 3 blade Campbell Sailor so that counts for something. Good luck.

Scott T-Bird · Jun 3, 2011

It's funny how this topic came up today ...

Just last night I was practicing backing into a space with a fresh breeze pushing the bow away from the finger pier. I have an option to move from my mooring to a concrete pier. But the finger pier projecting out is on the port side when backing in and there is nothing on the starboard side except about 20' of water until the shoreline wharf with boats tied up alongside. The finger pier is too short for my boat and the bow sticks out about 8' ... that's why I want to back it in because it fits tighter that way, otherwise the stern would be at least 10' off the end of the finger.

So I was trying to snug it up against the concrete wall so that I could hop off onto the finger and snatch a line to pull the bow in before the wind pushed the bow too far away to maintain control.

I want to know if I can do this single-hand before I commit to taking the space. It took me 4 tries last night ...

. I'm not sure about this ... I may stay with the mooring.

Winkfish · Jun 3, 2011

Scott, from what I've seen of your posts, you can do it - you've got the know how down in there. Practice is what it takes.

Ken13559 · Jun 3, 2011

Scott, when the wind is blowing you away from the slip, it'll be easier to come in at steeper angle and turn at last minute. Have a line at midship to loop onto the dock cleat. Once you're loop your boat on the cleat you can motor forward with helm hard over to bring the boat along side. That's the theory side of it. Your have to try it first with some friends on standby.

Bill Roosa · Jun 3, 2011

Course you don't want to nail the dock at 5 knots either.
Just remember you can turn a boat inside its own length if you think about what you are doing. The prop in forward pushes water over the rudder even when the boat is going backward slowly or stopped. So if you need to kick the boat one way or the other while going "so slowly the rudder does not work" put the transmission in forward, aim the rudder as if you were going forward (gota think about this the first time using it going backward BTW as it is the opposite to what you would think) to get the right direction of kick and blerp the throttle for a 0.5 second.
I have successfully used this method to turn a 40 foot boat in a 45 foot fairway and I went 0 knots the whole time.

Bill Roosa · Jun 3, 2011

Hey T-Bird
Think about this (stole it from a book so don't think I'm smart or anything)
If you can tie up the bow first and then get back on the boat and use forward thrust and the right direction of rudder to push the stern into the dock. Basically the bow line keeps you from going forward (watch the nav lights though) and the sideways force on the rudder push the stern to the dock. You can then reduce throttle to hold the stern to the dock and step off and secure a line. Can also be used to push the stern out when parked between two boats that are too close ahead and astern. Don’t know if you could do that single handed or not but I think it might be possible. You really don’t care how far the stern is blown down wind as the engine can drag it back so I’m thinking that the catch would be getting the boat stopped, running forward and getting the bow line secured before she has a chance to drift away from the dock.

Motoring slower than the speed at which the rudder normally works is FUN and makes EVERYONE around you start yelling, that is till they see it work.