Sailing inside the marina

[rpwillia]

Good one Roger! Here is my $0.02

Maybe it was just the marina I used to keep my boat at, but my impression is that most boater shouldn't be allowed to operate inside the marina under power either.

Roger, that was pretty funny! :dance:

At the marina in Quantico and most others I have been in, sailing inside the marina is discouraged. On a few occasions I have had to sail in and out. One time a marina manager did look at me with a dead motor (after Isabel we had no power on the docks for months and no way to recharge batteries) and told me I knew what I was doing and he had no problem with me sailing in and out.

On a return trip I came in under sail on my job, furling it up little by little as I approached my slip. Two very experienced sailors saw me coming in under sail and took off running for my slip. I finished furling my jib, made the turn and ghosted right into my slip in front of them (note at this point they were witnesses). One of them, a fellow named Mike Fallon who was one of the top sailors on the river in his day, looked at me and said "That was some fine sailing." I thanked him politely and tried to figure out a way to keep my head from swelling too much. :2cool:

Usually the dock is loaded with people when I screw up and no one is around when I do something great.

 

[LuzSD]

Re: Good one Roger! Here is my $0.02

......Usually the dock is loaded with people when I screw up and no one is around when I do something great.

rpwillia......exactly!! That is why we felt so great, because we came in so smoothly and though my heart was racing I felt like it was exactly as normal except I had no reverse if needed. I loved that I was relying on things I always do when coming in....watching my speed, we were lowering the main at incriments and it all felt very comfortable. The small successes in life.........

 

[rgranger]

If the wind is blowing in the right direction I raise the jib sail at the dock and sail out of the slip.

 

[Alan]

For sure there is a vast difference in the skill levels of skippers out there. For marina operators to ask that sails be lowered before entering the marina is simply a matter of prudence and an attempt to avoid problems. However there is no way the marina can require sails be lowered. As RichH has said there are still a many sailboats that simply don't have engines. I crew regularly with a fleet of Swedish Match 40's none of which has an engine. We have also brought our boat in to dock under spinnaker. Of course it takes a little knowledge of your boats characteristics to know how to anticipate a douse at the right moment and I certainly don't recommend newbie skippers try this.

Sailing in tight quarters is a skill and can only be maintained with regular practice, something far too few do.

 

[Freedom77]

There are few things prettier than at the end of the day when everyone turns into the harbor at the same time. It is usually a leisurely down wind with sails wing-on-wing.
It sometimes gets a little crowded but when everyone is going in the same directions at pretty much the same speed, things happen slowly.

Hey Frank: I couldn't agree more. Sailed out of MDR for years before becoming a desert rat. Used to sail in under spinnaker right up to the launch ramp. Only thing ya had to watch for was the newbies trying to tack out. Hobie punched a hole in my hull once. OUCH I sure miss the ocean. Fair Winds and Full Sails...

 

[jeromeddd]

I sailed solo all last summer, 3 and a half months from dock to dock and 44 locks on the trent-severn canel, and my outboard motor would just cavatate in reverse. I would jump off the boat with a spring line and stern line in hand and grab a secure cleat... after a few near mishaps I made it look perty slick.

 

[kenn]

I adore sailing on/off a dock, slip or mooring. Part challenge, part show-off. My shy bride just hates it when I do this.

Nonetheless, I wouldn't do it without first knowing that I wouldn't impede other boaters or create any risk to people, boats, or docks. And I would be furious with a sailor who did inconvenience other boaters when sailing in, especially if they expect to have right-of-way in a narrow channel over boats under power while they do so.

Technically, in the narrow channel between rows of slips, it's a restricted channel and the under-sail boat wouldn't necessarily have right-of-way... correct?

 

[WayneH]

The one time I sailed into a slip was under bare poles. We had just towed the boat 500 miles to get to the marina where we were staying overnight. After launching the boat, we started up the outboard and headed for the slip. About 30 feet from the launch dock, the outboard died. I messed with the motor a while till the wife said I needed to steer and quit messing with the motor. Yes, we were headed towards more boat than I could afford so we drifted downwind under bare poles to our assigned slip.

There were indeed people around to watch me screw up but I waited to the last second to turn sharply into the slip using the rudder to turn and slow us down. The wife stepped off the boat, threw a loop around a dock cleat and tied us off. It looked like we did this every day. But I knew it was just a fluke.

The reason the motor wouldn't run? It seems that you have to have BOTH ends of the fuel hose attached. Just hooking up to the motor isn't enough. LOL

 

[Todd Smith]

Most of the slips in my harbor couldn't be sailed into by boats bigger than 15-20 ft. They are just too tight. I did do it only once in my Sunbird 16. Under jib only, which I furled just before turning into the finger slip. It felt really good.

 

[caguy]

Hey Frank: I couldn't agree more. Sailed out of MDR for years before becoming a desert rat. Used to sail in under spinnaker right up to the launch ramp. Only thing ya had to watch for was the newbies trying to tack out. Hobie punched a hole in my hull once. OUCH I sure miss the ocean. Fair Winds and Full Sails...

If you're ever in the area, you're welcome to hitch a ride.

 

[mark_swart]

I think it's cool that nobody has come right out and said you should 'never' sail into your ship! I've done it a few times, depending on the marina and the conditions of course. It always seems to surprise people when they see you get it right! I have to zig-zag around a big mean seawall in my current marina and hope I don't ever have to try as long as I'm there!

 

[Ducati]

When I did a J-World course we sailed from the dock and back every day. In my opinion it should be standard training to take off and land back at the dock without the use of a motor. And we all know that there will be a day when you have to do it so why not practice.

It's actually alot of fun.

 

[JerryA]

I'm always amazed to watch the guys in the marina next to ours. These guys are over there sailing J-24's around the marina as if they were powered. Backing in and out of slips and stopping the boat in less than a boat length over and over. Last year they were doing this in about 18mph wind. Several times I cringed thinking "oh that's going to leave mark". But it never happened. They made it look so easy. That's when I feel like I have so much to learn.

JerryA

 

[NYSail]

Here in Mt. Sinai Harbor, Long Island NY, lots of people do it... I will take it so far. My friend who I race with sails in and pulls into his slip always... cheap bastard doesn't want to waste gas. Very impressive!

We have a roomy harbor... tight places forget it unless you have no options.

 

[Indysailor]

Boats with working motors are required to be under power within the buoy field and slips at our marina. There are a couple people who frequently insist that their motor just quit and they needed to sail into their slip, and it's a running joke that no one takes seriously because these folks have been members for decades and have proven themselves as quite capable, experienced sailors. But I suspect that as a relatively new member and less experienced sailor, I would not get as much slack.

My wife and I like to practice close quarter handling under sail, which we do by retrieving beer cans tossed overboard by the college kids on pontoon boats.
There is no shortage of practice, for sure.

 

[Gail R]

We keep our boat on a mooring, in a harbor with a very narrow entrance. The prevailing winds generally do not make for a fun sail out of the harbor, but quite often we would sail back in and pick up the mooring under sail.

Our most memorable sail-onto-the-mooring was during the first season with our Pearson 30. We had been battling electrical demons and somehow, the noise filter that the captain had installed in hopes of disabling those demons had drained both batteries. This happened while we were overnighting in a little hurricane hole in Maine called the Basin (New Meadows, for those interested).

So we had no motor, but we did have a nice breeze the next day. After tacking out of the Basin in a fine northwesterly (NOT the typical prevailing direction), we headed back to SoFreeMe. Nice sail, till we got to the narrow harbor entrance. Under prevailing conditions, it would have been a piece of cake, but a northerly component always makes sailing into SoFreeMe interesting. The only other boat nearby was another sailboat, she could see what was going on, and she gave us plenty of room. So far so good.

The other thing about SoFreeMe is that there can be very strong currents, so along with wind, you need to take current into account when sailing onto the mooring. I did mention this was the first year with our new-to-us boat, right?

We like to approach our mooring from downwind or downcurrent. So we make our first approach... sail beyond the mooring, turn, and don't have quite enough momentum to drift up to the mooring. I'd say we were maybe 8 feet short. CRAP!! My anxiety level is peaking, but the captain adeptly maneuvers Rita P away, we circle around, and try again. This time, we were about 4 feet short. Closer, but not close enough. Another circle around. Take three, we come up about two feet short, and I can hear the captain say to me, "grow!" as if that will magically stretch my arm the two feet it needed to snag the pickup buoy. By this time, all anxiety was gone and I was laughing hysterically. We circled around again, and finally snagged it on the fourth try I think.

The funniest part about this was that we had wind and current from about the same direction (at least within about 90 degrees of each other) so on each approach, we had a full, pulling main, but the boat was standing still because the current was keeping us from making enough forward motion.

As for witnesses: It was a Sunday afternoon, there were plenty of people around, including a guy we sometimes crewed for racing whose boat was just across the fairway from us. Not once did anyone call over and ask if we needed help. When I mentioned it to our buddy later on, he said, "Oh, you were having trouble? I thought you were doing that just for fun!"

LMAO. In hindsight it was fun (except the part tacking out of the Basin, that was stupid). We learned a lot and gained a lot of confidence that day.

 

[Alan]

Gail, that's a great story and good for you guys for sticking with it. As you say, you learned from it and next time the anxiety needle wont climb nearly as high. Kudos!
My thought while reading it was, why don't you use the boat hook to extent your reach? A 5' boat hook will give you a better than 12' total reach area. You wont be able to pick up the stick but you will be able to drag it within arms reach.

Your point is well made though and doing these sorts of maneuvers builds skill and confidence.

 

[rgranger]

My take on rules

We need to have rules, and your marina has them for a good reason. To keep idiots from doing what idiots do. But my take on rules is that they should be enforced only for the purpose they were drafted.

So if a marina operator sees a novice skipper sailing in the harbor he can walk over and remind them of the rules. And if someone dings up another's boat we have a rule violation that can be enforced.

If you sail in and out without incidence the rule should be ignored by the dock master.

(in a perfect world)

 

[Richard Bryer]

Re: My take on rules

As one who has had his boat damaged twice by people sailing around in close quarters when they did not have the ability to do so I would agree with the rules. I recently witnessed a very experienced skipper on a 35 ft boat try and sail in, bail on a tack in a narrow channel and then panic and sail into an empty dock ( narrowly missing our boat) and only by luck not injuring any of his not too experienced crew. Maybe the world sometimes needs to be protected from those who misjudge.

 

[wonkodsane]

On the Potomac with a varnish-clogged off-idle circuit in the carb meant we could start the OB, but if we tried to put it in gear and give it throttle, it would go lean and die. It also meant that we sailed into our new slip (after a couple of hours sailing from her old slip) in our 23' Sonic masthead sloop. We doused the main and made the last few yards from the fairway into the slip using the rudder as a paddle.

Fortunately our sailing class had spent a couple of hours doing touch and go docking on a long outside dock, and some slip docking under sail, so we were pretty comfortable with the closer quarters, despite being green.

We wouldn't have even tried to move her in contrary wind, also due to greenness.

It was a great first cruise on our own in our first sailboat, even if I did go home cursing the poor maintenance on the Mercury 8HP 4 stroke.

At our current marina, the conditions would really need to be perfect to sail in. Take a look at the satellite view of our marina [LINK] and you'll see why they don't allow it.