Docking help needed.

[BrianW]

Ed, I had some docking challenges myself. It would almost spoil my sail just dreading the docking job at the end. What made it worse was the audience awaiting from the folks at the dock. Instead of learning a little bit each time I docked, I decided to pick a day with light wind and no audience and then dock it over and over and over again until I got it right. If I had an idea about my technique or wanted to try out suggestions from this forum, I'd test them out. After the 10th approach and docking in a 2 hour period, I finally was able to get it right each time. The trick repetition and immediate feedback and doing it right then while it's fresh on your mind. BrianW

 

[Mike B]

Ed I always tied my spring lines to the outside pilings and would run them back to mid ship cleats. Since you don't have any mid pilings getting a spring line on wont do you much good if you're being blown into your neighbors boat. Is there any way you can run a heavy dock line between the end of the finger pier and the outside piling? If you can you could possibly rig a seperate shorter line, in a loop or possibly on a roller, off of it that you could grab and tie off to a mid ship cleat. That would help keep you from swinging into your neighbor's boat until you tied off the bow and spring lines.
Mike

 

[Ed Schenck]

Another wrinkle I should add. With bow in the only place to get on the boat is aft of piling #3, right at the end of the finger. So tieing a line between there and #4(port/aft) is an issue. You see I have to have a solid ladder there so that my wife can get up the three feet onto the boat. It might be possible for the ladder to straddle that line. I do have an old halyard that could suffice.

I think it was Ken mentioned a sling-like piece of nylon. I had hoped to achieve that with the line between 5 and 6. In fact that is how I came in and crewmate was able to get a short spring on that forward starboard piling(6). But I could not get the stern to starboard against the wind. Maybe I was afraid to apply enough power and port rudder. I'll be checking and making changes tomorrow.

 

[Bad Obsession]

One thing that considerably help you is to run a line from your rear pile ons to your front pile ons. I used some old halyards to run mine. There was a bowline that attached to the end of the slip pile ons but the end at the dock I tied a bowline about 5 feet from where it would meet up with the pile on, then took the end and wrapped it around the pile on and then ran the line back through the bowline and pulled the line extremely tight. It will prevent you from drifting out of your slip really hard and it gives you something to grab with a boat hook and help pull you into the slip.

I did this to both sides of my slip.

I see the distance from your finger peer to your deck. You can build a step onto the last pile on of the finger peer to help you get on and off.

I still think that you would be better served backing into the slip.

 

[Andy Lifland]

I may have missed someone else already mentioning this: when backing my 281 toward her slip, I turn around well outside my fairway, actually two docks from mine, so I have plenty of room to get up to speed to get steerage. This is much easier than doing it close to your slip.

 

[SamLust]

Take a look at Captain Jack Klang. He does demonstrations of sail trim and single handed docking procedures in the Quantum Sails booth at most of the shows. Of course he sells a DVD of the various techniques. Most of the techniques center around catching a piling with a spring line as you pass by and using it and your engine to swing the boat in to the slip. I've used ideas I picked up from him to get out of a few snotty situations.

 

[TimCup]

Ed, that's an ugly slip! Have you tried a shoehorn??

My neighbor has an odd shaped slip right next to the walkway to the office- The outer pilings are VERY narrow, and he gets awful close to the cement every time, but he has a system...

He made 2 very short lines about midship. The first has a large snap on the end which he attaches to the line between the forward and the rear pilings to starboard as he enters the slip. The clip will allow it to slide along that side line as he goes further into the slip. That line keeps the boat from hitting concrete. The second line is to port, which he throws over piling just inside slip. This is the control line to keep off the port side boat and those pilings.

I think I might get enough poles so everyone on board could have one!

It reminds me of one time I was approaching a dock at a restaurant (okay, a bar..) in Sarasota. I approached with the intent of docking to starboard, but I misjudged the strong wind coming over my left shoulder. The admiral threw the bowline over the piling as I threw it in reverse. The wind pushed the bow to the OTHER side of the dock! With the line secured (no time to untie!), I turned the wheel, and the aft end swung around and right up against dock, like I knew what I was doing. She looked panicked, but I looked like I meant to do it. Inside, a couple of guys came over and complimented me on my skills- their hobby was watching boats trying to dock in those winds. We laughed, and drank, and repeated several more times...

cup

 

[catsailor]

I have a Cat and so the slips are always too long.

To make matters worse, my wife is disabled, so I always dock alone.

All good advise on prop and warp methods. Most of it will not work well enough if you are alone; there simply isn't time to let go of the wheel to get to the lines if it is blowing.

I string MULTIPLE tight lines on both sides. Piece of cake. Once I get in the hole, I just walk her back and forth as needed to collect my lines. The pilings are also padded, but that is redudndant. I have rub rails and barely touch them. Still, a bit of old carpet is free (put the tacks fore and aft only). As a side note, these lines saved my boat from a pounding once when a negihbor boat came loose once. It simply road on the lines.

Fix your slip for easy parking, and relax. The extra lines are less embarasing than bad landings!

When picking up a bad transient slip, I rig fender boards (old cockpit cushions) before starting. You never know.

 

[shemandr]

Your situation is about the same as mine. We also have a cross current to keep it interesting.
I approach with a bit of way - actually about a knot. We need it to keep control. I have stopping loops on the outermost poles which I direct the crew - most often my wife - to get on the mid ship cleat first. She would be set up on the windward side. The stopping motion brings the boat to the windward side where she can easily grab the bow line off the forward pole and secure the bow to windward. Its then a leisurely tie up of the leeward side and we're done. Have I screwed it up? You betcha!
We got a step we tie to the rails on the cabin top to assist getting on. It can be one hell o' a jump or climb without them.
If you back in - make sure your slip is deep enough for your rudder. I stopped backing in when I came to the boat to see the rudder stuck in the mud.

 

[Grant Headifen]

I have a fairly extensive blog on docking at http://www.nauticed.org/blog/?cat=21

Here is one of those blogs
Docking, maneuvering, handling, parking a boat while under power is an easy skill to learn. Many people are intimidated when entering the marina and with good cause - that is where 99% of damage to boats occur. But with some practiced skills, the intimidation changes from fear to excitement to see how close to perfect one can dock their boat.
Given a perfectly calm day (altho why would a calm day be perfect for a sailor?) I still see sailors with that nervous look on their face docking a boat. And it’s understandable, I remember those days my self.


The day when I was able to replace the nervous look was the day I picked a buoy in the middle of the lake and just started maneuvering the boat all around it pretending that the buoy was the dock. I’d back the boat up to “dock”, park next to it, spin around it. Then I started doing donuts in the boat to see how it handled under full power, low power. On other days when the wind was howling strong I’d do the same.

All this lead me to be able to develop and teach a maneuvering under power course and looking high and low there is no other course out there quite like this one. But even if you don’t take the NauticEd maneuvering under power clinic, just doing the above will keep you out of trouble.


So get out there, and learn to dock a boat in any marina by learning how a boat behaves under power. Soon you’ll be grading yourself a 9out of 10 on your docking skills.

Similarly this will give you a huge boost of confidence when chartering a sailboat in the Caribbean, Pacific or Mediterranean. Usually when chartering we go for a bigger boat than we’re normally used to and so docking and handling a sailboat skills become important. And besides it’s just plain embarrassing when you hit something right in front of the guy who just checked you out on the boat. There is an unwritten competition rule to make a perfect docking maneuver when bringing the boat back after a week. and the way to do that is to do some maneuvering as above on your own boat before you charter a sailboat and once you are there practice it again with the charter boat next to a mooring buoy or something but make sure other boats are out of the way.

In the Maneuvering under Power clinic there is a printable set of exercises that you can take out to the boat with you to practice with. These exercises will simulate almost everything you’ll need to know when docking a sailboat perfectly.

More at nauticed.org/blog

 

[SeaTR]

Geeezzzz Ed !! You attracted quite a bit of viewings / discussion on this topic !

Thanks a bunch for starting this, as I'm thinking of going to a slip (or maybe a mooring) this year with my H22 in lieu of trailoring and I find your thread educating in many ways.

--Charlie

 

[Ron20324]

( I could not open the .bmp.) Ed, I think you need to dedicate your dock lines- do not remove them when you go out. I believe you'd only want the lines from the boat, around the pilings, and back to the boat when at some other marina when you need to retrieve the lines upon departure. In my sailing club I get alot of "newbies", some who have never even been on a boat. It is easier to have dock lines at a pre-configured length with loops that they can just lay over the cleats, starting with the windward side (the captain having told them which was the windward side). After all 6 loops are over a cleat we can go back and put them under and around the cleats.

On the lines you have from the forward piling to the aft one, secure a 1x2 inch (stick/board/pipe), maybe just a foot long, so it is vertical in it's static postion. Once you lift your line off your boat cleat, lay it over the stick. If the stick tilts and dumps the line, you need more length/weight on the bottom end. It should be easy to reach when you come back in. I never leave or enter the slip without two boat hooks at the ready. One on the bow is a must.

I have a 33-foot Beny in a 30-foot slip, so the slip width next to the finger pier is just not enough to go stern-in.

Also, if you think about this as a geometry picture, your stern lines should be at deck-level when it is mid-tide. I can't quote tan/sin/cos and all that, but with the lines horizontal to the boat at mid-tide, the boat is as far over as it can go. As the tide goes higher or lower, the angle of the line effectively makes the boat closer to the pling, thus farther away from your neighbor. I don't know the tidal range there, but the way you have them, the higher the tide, the more the boat is allowed to go sideways. If nothing else, make them the same level as the bow lines to the bulkhead.... I have two spring lines. From the mid-ship cleat one goes up from the boat toe rail (to outter piling), the other goes down (to bulkhead piling). The lower the tide, the more the boat is pulled back in the slip, into deeper water. The higher the tide, the more the stern is pulled forward, away from the outter pilings

 

[RAD]

I have a 1/2 line on each side of my slip tied to the outer poles and the dock and pulled tight and there at about toe rail height at high tide, I call these my corral lines which help holding the boat from drifting into my neighbors while I get the already waiting dock lines secure or I use the boat pole to grab this corral line and temporary tie a line mid ship
This method has worked even in the worst wind conditions from all directions while I single handle my 32

 

[moparv104x4]

I don't know if this will work with your tide issues, try making a Y shaped bridal between post 3 & 6 with the front held up by post 1. Cover the rope with the foam noodles kids swim with for flotation and to pad the boat. Then you can enter the slip with forward momentum and the V of the line will center the boat and stop it where you want. Then you can leave it idling in gear to hold it in the slip and slip the stern from side to side by turning the rudder.

 

[Jimmy P]

Good luck!

Welcome to Florida. Many marinas, especially the older ones, have the finger docks in the photo. It is a rare commodity to have a floating dock, especially the further south you go. The farther north you are the greater the tidal surge. In the Keys it's a foot or two. Here in St. Augustine it's a six foot drop at dead low. The rest of the state is somewhere in between.

My best suggestion, since I have been in the same situation, is to go bow-in when the wind is up and don't be too light on the throttle. You are first going to have to get a bow and stern line on quick (whichever side the dock is on), then eventually go to a four-point line-set with two springs (six lines total). I always travel with six lines anywhere I go. The real challenge is getting off without banging into the boat next to you.

The art is allowing your final stern line, and bow line if necessary, to remain looped around the last piling (either side) as your reversing out of the slip. Again, don't be too sheepish on the throttle. It's Florida, the wind changes direction or gusts when you least expect it. Allow the line to slip through your hand, or the first mate hopefully, as your coming out but get it back into the boat quickly before it gets underneath. Oh, like one of the other posts suggested, keep a couple of 35 footers handy, especially as spring lines or that hard to reach single stern piling.

There are a lot of great suggestions but this has always worked for me in rough wind or ridiculously narrow slips.

 

[Benny]

Why doubled back lines to the cleats? Tie permanent lines to rear pilings, then measure and draw a loop to your stern cleat at the desired length. Then tie a line from the center pilings and take the bitter end and tie to the loop of the stern lines at the desired length. These line will serve as your spring lines. You now have lines than when left loose will go in the water alongside the slip on both sides. That makes it easy for them to be picked up with a boat hook and you have a loop between them that will go over your stern cleat at just the right location. The adjustment for seasonal tides is done with the bow lines. By the way I think you are leaving the boat to far back; with proper stern lines the bow will not hit the dock. Leave all lines at the dock when you go out and keep aboard a set of lines for when on a trip. If you get a spare electric cord just leave one tied up to the center piling so all you have to do is plug in when you get back. The lines from center to rear pilings can be used to counteract prop steer when backing out. There is nothing wrong with letting the boat rest momentarily against the pilings. When you leave the slip for good then retreive your lines. Backing in into them finger piers complicates getting in and out of the boat with an enclosed transom and a Bimini top.

 

[Paul F]

Had a similar problem when docking on the Anclote River with current and tides and a slip that required a "Z" approach. Your boat has a Slotted Aluminum Toerail as does mine. I used a short line with a hook at the end to temporarily hold the boat before other lines could be attached. Maybe you could place one at each post and grab and hook these short lines to the toerail and then attach your perminent docking lines. These hooks worked well for me in a very awkward slip.

 

[Stu Jackson]

Ed, I wish I was there with you

because I could learn a lot from your situation as well as from these great answers.

It looks like you really don't have a "slip" as those of us who are accustomed to double finger piers that reach somewhat more than halfway of the length of the boat.

Permanent lines connected to the dock seem to be a necessity - re-figuring the dock lines out by taking them with youall the time when you go sailing is something I've never understood even from those who have real "slips."

One of things I've seen on some of the conditions you are exposed to are simple garden hose hooks placed on the posts to hang the lines on, rather than dropping them in the water.

The physics of your conditions are interesting, to say the least.

In addition to practice, practice, practice, as a mere way of spending even more time on the boat than you "need" to, I suggest a way to figure out a method of employing a midships spring line. You've heard me "preach" about this nifty little concept before.

Captain Klang does a good explanation of it. But I can't find the link to his website that I bookmarked years ago - so the skipper who brought Klang up in the first place should provide a link, please, so I can grab it again

As short as your fixed exterior woodwork (dock) is, you may have a challenge in finding the right point, but it should be doable, somewhere.

With your toerail, and/or a midships cleat, you should be able to include some way to do it if you can find a place to grab on the dock. The most obvious place would be the aft pier (post? - what do you call those telephone poles in the water, anyway???).

 

[Cpt. Jon]

(post? - what do you call those telephone poles in the water, anyway???).

you mean Pilings?

 

[Ed Schenck]

So much information and experience, thanx!! So I am off to the boat this afternoon. I'll get some measurements and see what lines are available in the locker. Then I will probably have to pay WM big bucks for more. Or maybe Lowes?

Here is what I think that I know(?). I need a port side line between posts #3 and #4. And a really good midship spring available for the windward side to throw over the aft piling. Stern docklines permanently secured on the aft pilings. Someway to easily retrieve the windward line as I enter the slip. Good padding on the pilings.

I like the 'V' catch idea except that the pilings are so misaligned I am not sure it would work. And without a plumb bow I would probably ride over it.

Another issue that I have is that of the bimini frame and fender stowage bracket. It makes reaching anything from the cockpit very difficult. I guess I could fold it back, at least until I build a more permanent one. I'll report back.