I've just started living on a boat and sailing for the first time. I need some help on how to launch and dock a BALBOA 26' by myself. Normally, I'd ask someone at the marina I live but there is either no one around at the time (we're in the slow season) or I'm schedueled for work at the same time they're sailing for the day. Does anyone know of an online video I can watch for my boat specifically and if so could someone post a site address or URL for it? I'd really appreciate it.
First Time sailor needs help
- Thread starter farstrider
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Here's a couple of books to help you understand boathandling: "The Annapolis Book of Seamanship" and "Chapmans............."
There's also some excellent online help at http://www.sailingcourse.com/
There's also some excellent online help at http://www.sailingcourse.com/
It would help to know your exact situation. For example, are you in a slip with a full dock or just a finger pier? Do you tie up four point or just one side? Inboard or outboard power? Current or wind, etc.?
There are two things you may want to do. One is find a ASA school and take the Basic Coastal Cruising class. It's not so much a sailing class as a boat handling class. The will cover docking, and more. The other thing would be to find another sailor at your marina that would be willing to spend some time with you.
www.sfbaysss.org/tipsbook And if you're living on it, you shouldn't have to launch and retrieve too much. 
Docking a Balboa 26 is probably no different that any other sailboat of comparable size. You do it slow. At slow speed you will have plenty of time to make corrections or abort your approach. If unable to abort you will at least have the ability to fend off and not do any damage to other boats. Docking a sailboat is somewhat similar to landing a plane, it is a controlled crash. As you come in you have to plan your approach. Survey the wind and current and determine which way are they going to affect the boat. It is easy to stop a boat if the wind or current are coming at you directly on the nose but if the wind and current are pushing from behind it may be quite hard. When coming from the sides expect the boat to drift. Each time you dock your approach plan may be different. More than likely with experience you will develop around 8 routines that will work around 90% of the time. As you survey the conditions slow the boat to a low speed where stearage can be maintained. That slow speed depends on the boat or the direction of wind and current but it usually is under 1 knot. You may shift the engine into neutral or reverse to maintain it. I will usually get down to speed and allow the engine to idle and shift back and forth between forward and neutral to maintain speed. If to fast I may shift into reverse. As the wind or current increases you may need a little more speed but will also have less room for error. It would be best to avoid extreme conditions until you gain experience. Always have a backup; locate a place at your marina where it would be easy to tie up in case of adverse conditions. Once you approch a dock you will find that steering the boat does not have to be conducted from the cockpit. As you enter the dock with the boat moving at slow speed you can leave the helm or tiller and grab a pylon or a line to stop the boat an pull it alonside the dock or finger pier. It is wise to deploy fenders prior to docking to avoid scratches. Most boats are equipped with rub rails so the boat can rest on the pylons. It is not considered good form to bump the dock with the bow but everyone has done it. At slow speed is just a bump but at higher speed it could mean damages to the dock and bow. A boat hook may be of help in retreiving dock lines. Try to procure a copy of Chapman's book Piloting, Seamanship & Small Boat Handling. It does not have to be the latest edition as the content other than pictures and electronic instruments does not change much. Learn to do it in calm conditions and then work your way from there. It just takes practice.
How I dock in 27'
Not sure of your exact situation but this I how I dock by myself. I have a 27' Watkins with an inboard diesel. I have a full dock with pilings.
First point is go slow, it takes practice but my goal is to have my boat coasting to a stop when I'm in my slip. It takes practice to learn how to compensate for wind and current.
Second is I use a single long 30' line. Before I get close to my dock, I run one end of the line from the cockpit outside of the life-lines and tie it off to the bow cleat. With the other end, I put a few wraps over my winch.
This way as I am slowing coming upside my dock, I can take the line and toss it over the dock pilings as I pass them. Now I have one line that secures the bow and stern my boat to the dock and I just take of the slack on the winch to pull the boat up to the dock. Once I'm secure, I can take my time to tie-off all my dock lines, then I just remove and stow my 30' line until the next docking.
Not sure of your exact situation but this I how I dock by myself. I have a 27' Watkins with an inboard diesel. I have a full dock with pilings.
First point is go slow, it takes practice but my goal is to have my boat coasting to a stop when I'm in my slip. It takes practice to learn how to compensate for wind and current.
Second is I use a single long 30' line. Before I get close to my dock, I run one end of the line from the cockpit outside of the life-lines and tie it off to the bow cleat. With the other end, I put a few wraps over my winch.
This way as I am slowing coming upside my dock, I can take the line and toss it over the dock pilings as I pass them. Now I have one line that secures the bow and stern my boat to the dock and I just take of the slack on the winch to pull the boat up to the dock. Once I'm secure, I can take my time to tie-off all my dock lines, then I just remove and stow my 30' line until the next docking.
Spring Line
First, I concur with the suggestion that you attend a good school. In our case, we hired an experienced school trainer for a day, since we knew how to sail, but had never sailed a 27 foot keel boat before.
Our trainer taught us this spring line technique that will work on any slip or dock, whether defined by pilings, or docks:
- Carry a bow line outside the lifelines and any rigging, and drop the coiled end aft of midships on the side deck to the side to which you will tie up the boat.
- Rig a line with a good sized loop (a 2-3 foot diameter) at one end, and the other end made fast to a midships cleat. The loop should stretch toward your stern at a length that will hold your bow off the dock when the spring line is stretched tight.
- Rig the loop to your boat hook so that it hangs from the end hook and one hand about 2 feet in from the hook, while the other hand holds the end of the pole. set the boathook and loop down on the cockpit seat to the side you want to tie up to the dock/finger dock, or catch a piling.
- After thinking through the impact of any wind and current, approach your slip as described in the other posts. I come up the fairway at about two knots, and slow to about one knot as I enter the slip after turning. Wind on the beam will push the bow around, and may require a little more speed to maintain steerage.
- As the boat enters the slip at around one knot, center the rudder, and pick up the boathook with the spring line loop supported by the hook and your hand, and the other hand at the inboard end of the boathook.
- Drop the loop around the cleat of piling at the stern one of your slip, or where you want your stern to end up if you are coming alongside a long dock.
- Slowly increase your forward rpm so that the boat comes to rest against the spring line. Then give it more RPM's. Turn the tiller/wheel in the direction to turn the bow away from the side on which you dropped the spring line. (Pull a tiller toward the dock/piling. Turn the wheel away from it.)
- When the boat comes to rest against the spring line, you will find that you can control the position of your stern within an inch or two with small movements of the tiller/wheel.
- When you get the stern where you want it, leave the helm, step out of the cockpit to the side deck, pick up the bow line, and step onto the dock. The spring line will hold the boat steady for enough time for you to make your way forward and step off if the slip is defined by pilings, and the dock is forward.
- Make your bow line fast to a cleat holding the bow where your want it. You may want to make a stern (breast) line fast to the same cleat/piling that holds your spring line.
- Return to the cockpit and shut down the engine.
- Tie the boat with your standard lines. Our standard is a spring line aft from midships, a spring line forward from midships, and breast lines directly to pilings of the dock from the bow and the stern. When a dock crosses our bow (usual in most slips), we run a second bow line from the side opposite the floating dock or pilings to the main dock.
This approach has worked in all docking situations in the US, and in all weather, including 30 knot winds on the beam, (the hardest approach in my opinion.) (It doesn't work for mooring stern to in the Mediterranean, or for bow in as we found to be the standard in Sweden.) We have used it for our 27 foot Hunter, and for charters from 30 to 37 feet, as well as a 45 foot Moorings catamaran.
Practice makes perfect. It's your boat! When you figure out your system practice it until you are comfortable. Remember to think throughout the impact of winds or current each time you dock, before you begin your approach to the dock!
Fair winds, and following seas.
First, I concur with the suggestion that you attend a good school. In our case, we hired an experienced school trainer for a day, since we knew how to sail, but had never sailed a 27 foot keel boat before.
Our trainer taught us this spring line technique that will work on any slip or dock, whether defined by pilings, or docks:
- Carry a bow line outside the lifelines and any rigging, and drop the coiled end aft of midships on the side deck to the side to which you will tie up the boat.
- Rig a line with a good sized loop (a 2-3 foot diameter) at one end, and the other end made fast to a midships cleat. The loop should stretch toward your stern at a length that will hold your bow off the dock when the spring line is stretched tight.
- Rig the loop to your boat hook so that it hangs from the end hook and one hand about 2 feet in from the hook, while the other hand holds the end of the pole. set the boathook and loop down on the cockpit seat to the side you want to tie up to the dock/finger dock, or catch a piling.
- After thinking through the impact of any wind and current, approach your slip as described in the other posts. I come up the fairway at about two knots, and slow to about one knot as I enter the slip after turning. Wind on the beam will push the bow around, and may require a little more speed to maintain steerage.
- As the boat enters the slip at around one knot, center the rudder, and pick up the boathook with the spring line loop supported by the hook and your hand, and the other hand at the inboard end of the boathook.
- Drop the loop around the cleat of piling at the stern one of your slip, or where you want your stern to end up if you are coming alongside a long dock.
- Slowly increase your forward rpm so that the boat comes to rest against the spring line. Then give it more RPM's. Turn the tiller/wheel in the direction to turn the bow away from the side on which you dropped the spring line. (Pull a tiller toward the dock/piling. Turn the wheel away from it.)
- When the boat comes to rest against the spring line, you will find that you can control the position of your stern within an inch or two with small movements of the tiller/wheel.
- When you get the stern where you want it, leave the helm, step out of the cockpit to the side deck, pick up the bow line, and step onto the dock. The spring line will hold the boat steady for enough time for you to make your way forward and step off if the slip is defined by pilings, and the dock is forward.
- Make your bow line fast to a cleat holding the bow where your want it. You may want to make a stern (breast) line fast to the same cleat/piling that holds your spring line.
- Return to the cockpit and shut down the engine.
- Tie the boat with your standard lines. Our standard is a spring line aft from midships, a spring line forward from midships, and breast lines directly to pilings of the dock from the bow and the stern. When a dock crosses our bow (usual in most slips), we run a second bow line from the side opposite the floating dock or pilings to the main dock.
This approach has worked in all docking situations in the US, and in all weather, including 30 knot winds on the beam, (the hardest approach in my opinion.) (It doesn't work for mooring stern to in the Mediterranean, or for bow in as we found to be the standard in Sweden.) We have used it for our 27 foot Hunter, and for charters from 30 to 37 feet, as well as a 45 foot Moorings catamaran.
Practice makes perfect. It's your boat! When you figure out your system practice it until you are comfortable. Remember to think throughout the impact of winds or current each time you dock, before you begin your approach to the dock!
Fair winds, and following seas.
There is also a docking video by Bennett Marine that you can get. It is available through Netflix, I think.
I don't think video will help a lot until You want to improve your technique as you need to get the feel for how much is just enough forward, backward, port and starboard to move your boat. Practice SLOW drifting into and out of an open dock or against a float during dead calm conditions until it seems pointless to continue because you can stop to your mark on approach from either side. NEVER put any part of you between the boat and anything else. NEVER when you're stopped. NEVER just in case. NEVER just a little bit. Beware that there seems to be a basic law of operation that the faster ahead you go the faster the motor will die when you need reverse; except when moving astern it will quit in forward.
You've already received lots of good information that will help, but I want to stress that it's something you just have to do - ideally with an instructor or other experienced sailor present, but by yourself on a calm day and lots of room if necessary.
You will undoubtedly gain the skills, but an hour or two with a good tutor now will save alot of trial-and-error later, and maybe some scratch repair.
If the slip has a piling between you and your neighbor you could create a big V (pointy end to bow) where the small end holds you off the dock. It would need to be below the rub rail but a foot or more off the water. This will stop the boat and keep you contained while you tie up. As you improve this can be removed.
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I frequently dock my 34 footer alone. #1 issue is probably the wind unless your slip is in a strong current. Always know where the wind is.
#2 is to go as slow as you can while maintaining control. If you are going slow you won't damage anything even if you miscaculate.
#3 Fenders and more fenders. I have so many fenders hanging from my dock that I don't need to put any out from the deck of the boat. There is no hitting hard dock if I mess up.
#2 is to go as slow as you can while maintaining control. If you are going slow you won't damage anything even if you miscaculate.
#3 Fenders and more fenders. I have so many fenders hanging from my dock that I don't need to put any out from the deck of the boat. There is no hitting hard dock if I mess up.
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