How to Back Up a Sailboat
- Thread starter Roger Long
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I finally found out how to back my boat after a couple of years of frantic fending off by all hands. The answer is in Chapman's Piloting (as mentioned in a previous post).
The animation has it right. Putting the tiller hard over in the opposite direction that you would expect and giving it lots of revs works. Something about the water stream being drawn forward from the rudder.
My boat (full keel with keel hung rudder) actually just starts to pivot in in place when reversing with tiller mid ships. Following with a shot of forward with the tiller hard over only gets me back to where I started.
The animation has it right. Putting the tiller hard over in the opposite direction that you would expect and giving it lots of revs works. Something about the water stream being drawn forward from the rudder.
My boat (full keel with keel hung rudder) actually just starts to pivot in in place when reversing with tiller mid ships. Following with a shot of forward with the tiller hard over only gets me back to where I started.
Question to the group. How many of you have turned your boat within its own length. Hard over to starboard and forward thrust for a moment then reverse to kill the forward motion and prop walk (again to starboard) then repeat.
I had to do this at Fort Washington on the Potomac right after I learned to sail. I did not want to back out the narrow channel as I had run aground getting in. Lucky i had seen the concept in Chapman's Piloting. It was pretty easy. The good Lord looking out for idiots (again)
I had to do this at Fort Washington on the Potomac right after I learned to sail. I did not want to back out the narrow channel as I had run aground getting in. Lucky i had seen the concept in Chapman's Piloting. It was pretty easy. The good Lord looking out for idiots (again)
Just Had To Do It Last Night...
...came back after a race (a first and a second, thank you) about 0230 after being gone for five days and found a Whaler in my slip. I backed to a dock and let two of my female crew off to move the boat out. However, that left little room to maneuver. It took two applications of forward and reverse thrust to kick the stern over. At least it gave me something challenging to do rather than grind my teeth and curse about the boat in the slip (misunderstanding about when we would return).
@ Bill Roosa. I learned this on the 65 and 100 foot Army tugs. I have used it often and continue to use this technique. The reverse motion while slow allows the prop wash over the rudder when shifting to forward forces the stern around with allmost no forward motion. Almost like having a Kort nozzle or Voith-Schneider vertical axis prop. I may try backing in to my slip and use the prop walk to my advantage. That should hopefully offset the current and keep me closer to the dock. I just prefer seeing what the bow is doing while docking. @ Don. Tried the fast/short burst and coast. This crazy boat loves to pivot around the fin keel. It wouldn't be a big deal getting out but the behemoth of the sea sticks out into the channel 20+ feet and couple that with the lack of clearance between us spells damn that's tough. I will try varying amounts reverse bursts till I get it. Thanks.
Maybe it's my 3 bladed prop, but backing out of my slip, I engage reverse at min power, rudder centered, speed builds slowly, rudder becomes effective, face backwards, steer, no drama.
Once while waiting for Dismal Swamp Lock, I got a lot of practice going backward, settled on low power, wait for speed to build, relax. Speed never gets too fast, just be careful of cross currents, wind or water. Anticipate and lead, as slow as possible for conditions, no bursts of power.
Once while waiting for Dismal Swamp Lock, I got a lot of practice going backward, settled on low power, wait for speed to build, relax. Speed never gets too fast, just be careful of cross currents, wind or water. Anticipate and lead, as slow as possible for conditions, no bursts of power.
Roger, that animation is 1st rate and will def. help me when I get the courage to back-up my new-to-me boat.
You'll find that, with the E32 and its big rudder, you can almost center the rudder and steer a bit when you enter the coasting phase. I tried to make the animation a bit more generally applicable.
The first forward application of power should be a fairly quick burst. As soon as the boat starts turning, take it out of gear and wait for it to coast into the set up position for beginning reverse.
Nailed it! Woohoo! A solid pull on the forward spring line coupled with a solid burst of reverse and away we went with room to spare. Applied another shot when the pointy end was still in proximity to the Homeland Security boat and the small bit of prop walk turned the bow away giving more clearance. Returning I approached upstream and set the chubby part of the beam almost into the dock and applied reverse which pulled the stern away from the dock and stopped at the same time. The boat layed alongside the dock for a nice and easy step off to secure the lines. A helper who had stopped by was duly impressed. The burst of reverse was the missing element. Thanks Roger.
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