Marina Maneuvers

[Foswick]

I kind of like interesting docking/undocking situations. I just like to have tools in my mental toolbox for dealing with odd situations.

We got placed in a slip the other night that we got into OK, but getting out in the morning was a little puzzle.

We are the green boat. When we arrived, there was a small boat to starboard, and the slips to port were also full. The barge-looking thing in this image was not there, and there were no boats parked along that dock. After we arrived, the marina allowed those two boats to tie behind us. Neither crew slept on their boat, so they were not there in the morning. We did manage to chat with the boat immediately behind us and they gave us permission to put hands on their boat to fend and also offered to be there within a half-hour if we texted them. Very nice folks.

In the morning, we had about 5-8 kts blowing in the direction of the blue arrow and winds were projected to build.

Two things to note: We are a full keel with just about no steering control in reverse. Right-handed prop. Also, the bow blows down really hard in even light winds. At 5-8 kts, we could easily get into a situation where we cannot get enough headway to move the bow against the wind.

How we solved it:

We actually just ran a stern line to a crew member who stood about where the tip of the blue arrow is. She pulled the stern in as I walked the bow back until I had to get on. A helpful bystander stood by to fend the bow, if needed. (It wasn't needed, but the insurance was nice.) We pulled the stern all the way to the dock at the blue arrow, where the crew member jumped on. The bow was well clear of the finger, at this point, and the wind tended to move the bow to port. Cranked the wheel hard to port and gave a little thrust to complete the turn and we just drove on out. (I think I could have made a tight turn and brought the starboard stern alongside the finger we just left so my crew member could have boarded there, instead, but she got on no problem over the stern.)

This worked because we were able to get that stern line over to the other dock and we were able to back right up to that dock.

Why we didn't just try to back out and allow prop walk to bring the stern to port and then do a standing turn out in that open area:

We could do that in still wind. But, with the wind in that direction/speed, we'd have to make a really brave reverse thruse to ensure we didn't just drift down and clip our bow on the second boat to port. We would probably make it, but it wouldn't be a very controlled move and there wouldn't be a good Plan B.

We had hoped our neighbor to port would have been gone in the morning so we could have just manually moved to boat around the finger into that slip, stern-in, then just pulled right out.

Curious to hear other ideas/strategies. (The diagram is not exactly to scale. Our boat is 32 feet, and there was about 40+ feet between the end of our finger and the tip of the blue arrow. So, it wasn't quite as tight as I made it look, but still a bit snug.)

 

[shemandr]

If there were a bollard or even cleat in the area your crew stood on the dock, you could maybe double a line to it and avoid the need for the crew to board the boat while not docked.
But I applaud your action in using a warp line to control the situation and make a calm departure. There is some false ethic among boat handlers that they have to do it themselves. With a well executed plan such as yours the drama level goes way down.

 

[Foswick]

If there were a bollard or even cleat in the area your crew stood on the dock, you could maybe double a line to it and avoid the need for the crew to board the boat while not docked.

There was a cleat. If I'd realized it was going to go as smoothly as it did, I would have done exactly what you described. I was frankly a bit uneasy about the departure, so opted to have crew on the dock to also fend or walk the stern. Our last departure from an awkward position did not go so well, so we were feeling extra cautious.

(That situation was not entirely dissimilar and ended up with us having to do an unplanned standing turn in about 30 feet of width. Not my finest moment, but no damage done except to my pride.)

 

[Foswick]

Not sure I get it. Couldn’t you simply back out?

You mean back down the fairway ... like to the northeast? No.

The combination of no steering in reverse and the bow blowing downwind makes that virtually impossible. Not even just a matter of skill, but more physics.

Besides, if I could have safely pulled into the fairway stern-first, I could have pretty easily done a standing turn to starboard and just driven out, no problem. The problem was that my bow would go northeast no matter what else was going on, until I had considerable speed.

As executed, I used that to my advantage.

Had winds been about 180 degrees to where they were, backing out might have been an option.

 

[capta]

I think I probably have pulled in stern first.
Take your boat to an open slip or dock somewhere and practice steering in forward to go backwards. If she backs to port, have your helm to port. As you go astern, bumping the engine into reverse, then letting the boat drift aft, she will drift to port. When you no longer want to go aft to port, put her in forward, making sure the rudder is hard over to port, and goose that engine very hard, until the stern begins to swing to starboard. It's a fine line and only you can learn when, but you want the stern to swing, but you do not want to go forward at all. Let her drift to starboard as far as is practicable, then put her in reverse and get her moving sternwards. Repeat.
You may only get a half boat length each time, but you have control of your boat at all times. Wind and current may help you, or not, but you'll get the hang of it soon enough.
I hope I made it clear?

 

[Foswick]

I think I probably have pulled in stern first.

Yeah, I'm very comfortable with the method you describe and it works on most boats. And, it might have been possible in this situation with winds coming from the other side and a bit lighter.

In this case, on this boat, backing in would have been nearly impossible. It would be difficult for me to overstate the strong effect even a modest wind has on blowing the bow leeward.

The wind I described for our departure was about the same for our arrival. So, it would have been virtually impossible to align with the slip since both prop walk and windage would conspire to move my stern to port and bow to starboard. It is just not within the performance window of this boat.

Last season, I practiced backing down the fairway in about a 5 kts crosswind blowing onto the port side. That is just about the limit for controlled maneuvers astern, and even at that, it is really sketchy. At about 7-8 kts, the boat simply crabs away faster than can be corrected with bursts of throttle. Not a matter of skill - just physics. People think I'm exaggerating this until they experience it.

In any case, going in bow-first was definitely the preferred way to dock, given the situation as it was when I arrived. I wasn't very concerned about departure, since those two boats weren't parallel parked along the main dock, at the time. My departure plan was simply to spring off to push the stern to starboard a bit, back into the fairway, and perform a leisurely turn to port. I had no reason to consider backing in, at that time, even if it had been practical.

 

[Indysailor]

While reading the description, my own mental image of how to get out was basically the same, though I wondered whether backing out and letting the breeze bring the bow to port was not an option. Were you thinking propwalk would have caused you to just come out straight?

 

[Foswick]

I wondered whether backing out and letting the breeze bring the bow to port was not an option.

That probably would have worked and been just fine. It was definitely considered. There just wasn't a lot of margin for that and no good fallback plan. So, we just opted for more control. Because of the way the wind was blowing, if we got into trouble just backing out, we likely wouldn't have been able to return to the slip to regroup. Again, we had the fresh memory of a less-than-elegant departure a few weeks earlier.

This is what that looked like. The red circle is a piling, blue arrow is about a 5-10 kts gusty wind:

This was the plan:

I figured between prop walk and the wind, we would just sort of curve right into that slot. I underestimated how much the bow would blow down as soon as the boat was no longer pointed directly into the wind. And, I think we got hit by a gust aloft. Our turn was much steeper than planned, resulting in this:

We were still in control of the boat and didn't touch anything. Plus, our transom overhangs and the bow has a deep rake with a bowsprit. So, we were able to pass the bow over the dock and the stern over the neighbor's dinghy (kind of) and turn around in the slip. We had lots of hands on the boat to assist because all surrounding boats were club members. We recently joined and this was the first time any of them had seen us leave a dock.

Still, with the wind effect, it as a bit too much to completely man-handle, so I still had to do a very tight standing turn which seemed to take forever - like that scene in Austin Powers.

So, I'm not sure if it was better or worse being surrounded by friends.

Over the years, we have never had such an eventful departure and, of course, it happened in front of everyone.

What makes that sting, in particular, while my wife and I were discussing our departure plan, she asked, "Do you want to just walk it to the end of the dock and go from there?" The correct answer would have been, "Yes". Still would have been tight but we would have had the bowsprit on the correct side of the piling. But, my answer was, "No, it'll be fine. The wind will just blow us right out of the slip and we should end up right behind that second boat."

So, now that is part of the story and my skillful standing turn in a space measured in inches is overshadowed.

 

[jssailem]

I can understand the wind catching the bow in the above situation. If I were to attempt such a departure, I would have at least walked the boat halfway on the dock and adjusted the rudder to maintain the bow into the wind until I was beyond the piling. It is a tricky condition. I certainly would have tried to use that open space (as I think you were doing). As soon as the bow cleared the piling, I would go forward and allow the wind to push me, to line up in the fairway. Big Fenders on the stern to mitigate the potential damage to other craft.

 

[Tally Ho]

That probably would have worked and been just fine. It was definitely considered. There just wasn't a lot of margin for that and no good fallback plan. So, we just opted for more control. Because of the way the wind was blowing, if we got into trouble just backing out, we likely wouldn't have been able to return to the slip to regroup. Again, we had the fresh memory of a less-than-elegant departure a few weeks earlier.

This is what that looked like. The red circle is a piling, blue arrow is about a 5-10 kts gusty wind:

View attachment 233310

This was the plan:

View attachment 233311
I figured between prop walk and the wind, we would just sort of curve right into that slot. I underestimated how much the bow would blow down as soon as the boat was no longer pointed directly into the wind. And, I think we got hit by a gust aloft. Our turn was much steeper than planned, resulting in this:

View attachment 233312

We were still in control of the boat and didn't touch anything. Plus, our transom overhangs and the bow has a deep rake with a bowsprit. So, we were able to pass the bow over the dock and the stern over the neighbor's dinghy (kind of) and turn around in the slip. We had lots of hands on the boat to assist because all surrounding boats were club members. We recently joined and this was the first time any of them had seen us leave a dock.

Still, with the wind effect, it as a bit too much to completely man-handle, so I still had to do a very tight standing turn which seemed to take forever - like that scene in Austin Powers.

So, I'm not sure if it was better or worse being surrounded by friends.

Over the years, we have never had such an eventful departure and, of course, it happened in front of everyone.

What makes that sting, in particular, while my wife and I were discussing our departure plan, she asked, "Do you want to just walk it to the end of the dock and go from there?" The correct answer would have been, "Yes". Still would have been tight but we would have had the bowsprit on the correct side of the piling. But, my answer was, "No, it'll be fine. The wind will just blow us right out of the slip and we should end up right behind that second boat."

So, now that is part of the story and my skillful standing turn in a space measured in inches is overshadowed.

More speed Captain!

My bow blows off easily too, so when I leave the dock in a cross wind, that will blow my bow on to my neighbors boat, I use extra throttle in reverse to “drag” the bow straight.



Greg

 

[Foswick]

My bow blows off easily too, so when I leave the dock in a cross wind, that will blow my bow on to my neighbors boat, I use extra throttle in reverse to “drag” the bow straight.

Yeah, that is my intuition, but I still don't have a good feel for how the boat will respond. So, I am reluctant to commit strongly to that. I would feel better about it if, when I had some speed in reverse, the rudder would start to be effective when shifted to neutral. That is the behavior I expect. But, even in ideal conditions, the rudder is nothing more than a vague suggestion, in reverse.

Still, I think I will make a point of practicing what you suggest, so I can get a better feel for it.