Docking stern first

[Hello Below]

Doug, good idea about stepping out onto the dock as the boat approaches, as in the middle boat position. You're right, I can get pretty daggone close to that corner, but the jump would be close to three feet for my wife, so there's some risk of injury there if she were to jump wrong. If it was me, sure no problem, but my wife is a bit more careful and maybe not as fleet of foot (or foolish for that matter) That's why I'm thinking a simple clip of a caribiner would be the safest, most stress-free job for her.

A device called "Fender Step" comes in real handy for stepping off a high sided boat. Over the past year I have learned to back in for the same reason that you are learning. It took some patience and fortunately for me, I have a channel that is wide and allows me to make as many attempts as needed. Surprisingly that number came down to one pretty quick. I agree, if possible come into the slip from North to South so the boat's momentum is in the direction of your slip vice toward your slip partner. Turn around to steer, have the fender step as far aft as possible. Bring your Port aft corner in to the very edge of the slip. Crew steps off the fender step and I am right behind. I put a Polyform A-2 right at the end of the slip to protect the boat if I come in a little quick. I have 2 more of these guys hanging off my outboard side to protect both boats if things go wonky. I also have 4 or 5 older fenders permanently strung horizontally on the first 15' of the dock edge. Distance between my boat rail and the large M/V beside me is less than 18" once in the slip. Good luck and have patience.

 

[JK_Boston_Catalina310]

I dock stern first and have for 14 years anyone else?

Three years with this boat and 4 years with my previous.

 

[Gary_H]

for added privacy

I dock stern first and have for 14 years anyone else?

I seldom dock stern first because I don't like people walking down the dock being able to look directly down into the cabin. Also backing out into the fairway for me puts prop walk in my favor and offers more maneuvering room.

 

[kloudie1]

I have docked stern first for 35 years .. seems natural.. I have been in a temp marina for three months, while mine is being refurbished and for the first time I am in bow first. Got that way because when I first arrived, the wind was very strong (20 kts across the dock) and I felt better about slowly going in forward slowly and leaning on the pier to get settled.. Docklines and power cord are all set for that configuration now so I am likely to stay that way for a couple more months until I move back to the refurbished "old" marina in the woods.. Much better wind protection there.

 

[Ross]

Docking stern first makes for pleasant socializing when people are coming and going. I can always close the door if I want privacy.

 

[Stu Jackson]

Sometimes socializing is not the issue. In some situations, if you have a dodger, it can be a lot more comfortable to sit in your cockpit to go bow in depending on wind conditions. We go bow in, not to be anti-social, but because the afternoon wind would blow us away!

 

[LuzSD]

we always go in bow first and being anti social (or enjoying a little more privacy) is a plus. Far better viewing a sunset and headlands than the dock and those on it .

 

[RobChichester]

My slip is exactly the same configuration as yours. I drive a Hunter 410. I motor down the left side of the alleyway past my slip. I execute a U-turn to come back to my slip so that it is on the left side. At the appropriate point (i.e., when my mast is about abeam with what will be the starboard side pilings), I execute a hard right turn with reverse thrust. If done properly, she lines up and back right into the sliip. Meanwhile my crew can easily grab the docklines from the outer pilings. I have a bow and spring line at the outer port piling. I will run the spring line to a stern cleat to assist in turning the boat into the slip if needed (as in the case of a strong wind into the slip or from the right of the slip). When I am straight in the slip, the spring line is moved to a midships cleat on the port side to arrest movement into the slip. I can even execute this approach single handed if need be. There is not a lot of running or screaming. We execute a quiet, slow, and easy slip approach. I can step off and retrieve the stern lines to finish the landing.

I teach boat handling and docking. This is a standard challenge that I give my students.

 

[druid]

I often dock stern-first single-handed. My secret is the midships line. Attach a line around the center of the boat (in your case maybe slightly forward of center). Then once you get the stern in, hop off and cleat the midships line. This will keep BOTH BOW AND STERN from drifting off, and you can walk the boat down the slip further, controlling it with the midships line. Then tie bow and stern lines at your leisure.

druid
"WindDrift" Ontario 32

 

[NC-C320]

No! Bad Plan!

First rule of safe docking is that no one should have to jump off the boat to secure it by trying to pull a 12K+ pound boat over against the wind.

As has been pointed out, you problem is that you are docking at too low of speed in reverse. The prop walk is pivoting you around the keel. You are seeing the same thing when you mention that while tied up in reverse your bow is still heading towards your neighbor's boat.

Here is my opinion:
1) approach from the northwest/north, this sounds counter-intuitive but the prop walk is hurting you in your approach
2) do so at higher speed, RPMs probably around 1500 at first to get the boat moving in reverse and water washing over the rudder (this will negate the prop walk)
3) put the boat into neutral as you approach, that way there is no prop walk
4) use forward throttle to slow once you have entered the threshold of the slip, this will not only slow you but help keep the bow away from your neighbor's boat
5) when done right, your wife can than step off the boat and tie off a line (stern first, see below)
6) if the bow starts to get away from you, then it becomes important to get a stern line on first and foremost. With the stern line on, you can put the boat in forward and the boat will be forced against your dock. --------------

Using the above plan, I docked this weekend with a 30 knt cross wind pushing my bow off of the dock. No one had to jump off; calmly stepped off and put on the stern line.

We also have a 3-4 knt current pushing us on or off our dock. You didn't mention what the current might be doing to your boat. That could be a bigger factor than the wind.
-----------

I have almost the exact situation as the original poster, except, instead of the cross wind across bow quarter at 45 degrees, it's across the stern quarter. My slip is 14 ft. wide, and the beam of my C320 is 11' 9". Slip is accessed from a 50 ft. wide fairway. There is no current to contend with. The C310 and C320 are extremely similar in design.

Your comment about docking with 30Kt cross wind and 3-4 current is interesting. You want to secure the stern line first, which implies that the boat needs to be almost completely inside the slip before you step off to secure the stern line. Are you docking in a traditional "rectangular" shaped slip and how wide is it? The 30 kt wind is going to give you significant drift across the slip and into the adjacent boat in the OP's diagram. Or is the wind setting you onto the finger pier in your case? I read about these types of landings, but I can't do it and I don't understand how others can do it. There's something major that I'm missing and I hope you can enlighten me. Last year, I did some testing in the slip regarding drift/set from the cross wind and I determined that I had on the order of 2 seconds in 25 mph winds from the time I entered the slip before I was going to contact the leeward outer piling. And I wasn't going to be very far into the slip, so the wind would then tend to twist the boat back into the fairway if I stop, or otherwise, I'm going to damage the boat if I continue to try to go further into the slip, or if I can't get it stopped when it strikes the piling. Also in OP and my situation, the backing into the slip before the actual turn into the slip is somewhat down wind and direction of propwalk is going to combine to spin the boat around out of control when one makes the backing turn into the slip (or wind alone, if you shift to neutral for the turn). Further backing with a 30 kt cross wind down wind means you have to be really moving in reverse.to have control over the boat. Miss judge the turn just a little or not getting the boat stopped in such a hot approach is going to create a whole world of other problems. What am I missing? When I do all this, I will be single handing.

 

[JK_Boston_Catalina310]

I have almost the exact situation as the original poster, except, instead of the cross wind across bow quarter at 45 degrees, it's across the stern quarter. My slip is 14 ft. wide, and the beam of my C320 is 11' 9". Slip is accessed from a 50 ft. wide fairway. There is no current to contend with. The C310 and C320 are extremely similar in design.

Your comment about docking with 30Kt cross wind and 3-4 current is interesting. You want to secure the stern line first, which implies that the boat needs to be almost completely inside the slip before you step off to secure the stern line. Are you docking in a traditional "rectangular" shaped slip and how wide is it? The 30 kt wind is going to give you significant drift across the slip and into the adjacent boat in the OP's diagram. Or is the wind setting you onto the finger pier in your case? I read about these types of landings, but I can't do it and I don't understand how others can do it. There's something major that I'm missing and I hope you can enlighten me. Last year, I did some testing in the slip regarding drift/set from the cross wind and I determined that I had on the order of 2 seconds in 25 mph winds from the time I entered the slip before I was going to contact the leeward outer piling. And I wasn't going to be very far into the slip, so the wind would then tend to twist the boat back into the fairway if I stop, or otherwise, I'm going to damage the boat if I continue to try to go further into the slip, or if I can't get it stopped when it strikes the piling. Also in OP and my situation, the backing into the slip before the actual turn into the slip is somewhat down wind and direction of propwalk is going to combine to spin the boat around out of control when one makes the backing turn into the slip (or wind alone, if you shift to neutral for the turn). Further backing with a 30 kt cross wind down wind means you have to be really moving in reverse.to have control over the boat. Miss judge the turn just a little or not getting the boat stopped in such a hot approach is going to create a whole world of other problems. What am I missing? When I do all this, I will be single handing.

Quick reply, let me know if this doesn't answer your questions.

The cross wind pushes us off the slip and we typically have very little room. When the marina puts a boat next to us (double load slips with about 24 feet of space between the fingers - me 12', power boat 9' leaves less than 3' most of which is taken up by fenders) we usually have about a foot of space between boats. This year we have the slip to our selves (for now).

In short, YES you have to be really moving (well, for a sailboat at least). I am generally around 1-2 knots. This does mean you have to power forward to slow and stop. But powering forward doesn't have the same prop walk affect and what little there is will help push you into the dock.

On a tough day I won't try to get all the way into the slip in one shot. I will aim for the mid-finger cleat. Stop next to that and put the stern line on that cleat and power forward to get straight and next to the finger when needed. Then move the line to the back cleat and reverse the rest of the way.

Hope this helps and sorry for the quick reply.

 

[NC-C320]

Quick reply, let me know if this doesn't answer your questions.

The cross wind pushes us off the slip and we typically have very little room. When the marina puts a boat next to us (double load slips with about 24 feet of space between the fingers - me 12', power boat 9' leaves less than 3' most of which is taken up by fenders) we usually have about a foot of space between boats. This year we have the slip to our selves (for now).

In short, YES you have to be really moving (well, for a sailboat at least). I am generally around 1-2 knots. This does mean you have to power forward to slow and stop. But powering forward doesn't have the same prop walk affect and what little there is will help push you into the dock.

On a tough day I won't try to get all the way into the slip in one shot. I will aim for the mid-finger cleat. Stop next to that and put the stern line on that cleat and power forward to get straight and next to the finger when needed. Then move the line to the back cleat and reverse the rest of the way.

Hope this helps and sorry for the quick reply.

Thanks for your comment. I still don't see how you do it with 30 kts. crosswind at the slip. Your situation is just as tight as mine and as far as I can tell, your technique is fine and I would agree that it should work well most of the time. But at the kind of crosswind that you describe, I can not do it (my situation is that I have crosswind/downwind in the approach down the fairway at 45 degrees off port bow, then when I turn into the slip, 45 degrees off port aft quarter when backing in). I have tried backing into the slip with much less crosswind than you describe with the same 1-2 kts. boat speed and either couldn't control the boat or if I got into the slip, I only got just a short distance into the slip entrance before coming down on the leeward outer piling (that would be on the OP's neighbor boat in his diagram). I single hand and prefer to back into the slip, but when the wind kicks up, I go bow first because I have lots more control. Still can't get very far into the slip, even bow first. I'd love to see a video of someone docking in such a situation. That 1 ft. clearance on the side disappears quickly in a cross wind. I've attached a couple of links to show (1) how fast sideways drift occurs, and (2) to illustrate what 20 kts. crosswind can do for a boater.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pW3aE9F2uqc

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=woYlQT-Lhdo&feature=related