Humbling Experience

[Paul Housman]

After owning an H140 for a couple of years we decided to go for the big leap. Bought a wb H26. Now I've sailed some bigger boats and some H19 so I'm somewhat familiar with the handling of these boats. One of the most challenging aspects of sailing is backing out of your slip into the narrow confines of the channel without making a fool of yourself. First of all the harbor I was moored in was real shallow so the night before I pulled up the center board for clearance. I didn't allow for the extra weight of passengers boarding the next day. You guessed it. Got stuck in the mud.Raised the center board and proceeded to back out.I got over too much and ended up backing down the whole length of the channel occasionally having the crew shove me away from docks and boats. Red faced and confidence deflated we headed out of the harbor. The next day I thought about what had gone wrong the previous day and was determined to get it right. My wife casted of the lines from the dock . I started the engine and put it in reverse. The darn thing stalled. As I looked down and was fiddling with getting the engine going, my wife, in order not to suffer another embarrassing ordeal as yesterday, pulled the boat out of the slip and brought the bow around so it was facing out of the marina. I looked up and she had that smug look on her face. What could I say but " Thanks,honey"

 

[R. Palaia]

"slow is pro"

With docking a boat, slow is pro. I've heard it said that the experience of a captain can be seen when docking. Just take things slow and it will give you more time to recover if something doesn't go right.

 

[Ron]

Happy is He

Happy is he who backs out without incident. You may consider an approach my wife and I took in man handling our H37C in and out of the slip. She does all the driving and I run interference between the dock and the boat. It's alot easier for a guy to shove the boat around than for a woman (in most cases). Anyway, works for us.. Good Luck Ron

 

[Robert Entwistle]

Wife drives too .

We have a catalina 30. Going in and out of dock my wife also runs the tller and does a great job .Before we can up with this there was a lot of shouting about what lines to secure . Now paula pulls the boat into the slip and I tie it up . Works Great !!!!!!! Rob

 

[ramona]

between a wall, gate and dock

our boat is docked with a gate poking out alongside the nose of the boat(it's a half slip) and of couse the dock. There is a sloping cement wall that is approx. six feet from the starboard stern. We have to angle the boat out and into the slip without hitting the gate or backing up into the wall. As well as watching not to hit the boats moored behind us. In our favor is that we are protected from wind as we "coast" into our slip.

 

[Tom Ehmke]

another humbling experience

We were at a marina on Pelee Island in Lake Erie when I discovered what freeboard can do to a boat when the wind is blowing from the west, the boat is pointed south, and you want to go west to clear the channel. I backed out of the slip without any problem, but as I moved the tiller to bring her about to move west, she held her position broadside to the wind and we blew east down the channel. I tried a couple of times to point her into the wind, but no luck. So... I put her into reverse and backed her out of the channel into the wind until I got some room to maneuver. I learned something about rudder placement and have used the reverse trick at other times when she wants to slide downwind broadside to the wind. Think about it and you may see how much better the boat responds with very little way on if the steering is IN FRONT as you maneuver. O'Days do have a lot of freeboard and can be stubborn at times when there is very little way on.

 

[Jim Rice]

Backwards is forward!

On our old balky 22' Southcoast, we used to back out of our slip and all the way to open water, if the wind was wrong for putting the bow thru it. Big deal--the other owners were more impressed by our missing their boats!PS--My wife and I trade jobs all the time, it helps to know what the other person is going through.