Useful things tucked away in your mind...

[rgranger]

Hey All

I guess I could have also titled this thread "Redemption".

Here is my story....

Recently I read a West Marine article on using spring lines to maneuver your boat in and out of slips.... and some of that info had stuck in the back of my mind... I'm really glad I did and yesterday morning that info made my day...

On the morning of the fourth, we trailered our Balboa 26 to a marina in the Chesapeake Bay for a 4 day weekend of sailing. On the afternoon of the 6th we decided to sail from Kilmarnock to Tangier Island...

As I approached the "no wake zone" at Parks Marina at Tangier, my engine decided to stall unless it was at 3/4 throttle (I had trouble with this two weeks ago and thought I had it fixed).

So I suddenly became THAT GUY!!!! I'd gun the engine to get some steerage... then stall it so I would not come into the slip to hot.... only to have the wind turn my boat .... repeat.... repeat...

By the time I finally came into the slip (hotter than I would have liked) there were four people there to help me take the bow lines. I had made quite a spectacle.. Not a good first impression to say the least.

Anyway we had an interesting visit. Tangier is not what I expected... For those unfamiliar with Tangier... NOTHING IS OPEN ON SUNDAYS ... and even what is open is not really what we people in the consumer world are used to ... So I was unable to find any parts or supplies to work on my outboard. I suspected I had fouled the carburetor again.... I was hoping to find a place to sell me an external tank (I had left mine at home) ... no luck. I even had an extra squeeze bulb and line so even a lawn mower tank would have worked but... no luck... no one selling spark plugs... nothing.

The only way I could get my outboard to work was to start it and before it would stall... quickly put it in gear and gun it to 3/4 throttle. I did NOT want to try releasing my dock lines with the engine in gear at 3/4 throttle (reverse) and then try to swing my boat out, put it in forward (pray it does not stall with a strong cross wind to deal with) and gun it out of the marina... without hitting anyone else's expensive boat...

And I didn't want to spend another night at Tangier... hope to take the ferry across on Monday for parts on (that was the advice I got from Mr Parks).

Then I figured... people have been sailing in and out of marinas for centuries without outboards... and I had just read that West Marine article on spring lines..... so I thought it through coached my crew and ... smooooooth (see attached photo).

I let the wind push me out of the slip, used a spring line to swing the boat to a reach and quickly unrolled the headsail. We were sailing at 3 kt before we hit the channel. Man! did I feel salty! And the best part is that two other sailboats were preparing to leave (both witnesses to the previous fiasco) and they were using their outboards... I had regained a little pride...

 

[kpgraci]

Nice job. I've been fascinated with the concept of using spring lines for docking/undocking, and it's a simple concept, but you need a clear mind to pull it off, difficult when you're in conditions that require their use. I guess that's where practice comes in.

 

[WayneH]

OK, so this is not about spring lines but it is about looking salty in a difficult situation.

We had launched our trailerable sailboat and were preparing to motor downwind to a slip that was assigned to us for the day. Just as we cleared the dock, the motor died. I managed to get it restarted and in gear for 10 seconds and it died again. So I'm messing around with the engine and trying to steer with the tiller and you know how that works, don't you?

The Admiral says "It's time to steer, dear." And I look up and we are about to crash into someone's stern that is sticking out of his slip. I missed the other boat and we are gliding down the docks under bare poles. When we get to our slip, I wait until the last second then turn hard to starboard into the slip. The hard turn slowed us down a bunch and I turned the rudder hard several more times and we eased into the slip and the Admiral stepped off the boat and tied us off like we did this everyday.

And why would the outboard not run? Well, it seems you have to hook up the fuel line to the tank and not just the engine to get fuel to the engine.

 

[Chris Patterson]

Hehehe. Sounds like a couple of intact man-cards still intact, and safe in their pockets.
It is sweet when a "disaster" turns out looking smooth.

Especially when others are watching..

 

[rgranger]

We had launched our trailerable sailboat and were preparing to motor downwind to a slip that was assigned to us for the day. Just as we cleared the dock, the motor died. I managed to get it restarted and in gear for 10 seconds and it died again. So I'm messing around with the engine and trying to steer with the tiller and you know how that works, don't you?

Yep! I only told you about how I left Parks Marina... but I left out the story of my return to Kilmarnock.

 

[Indysailor]

I only had to use a spring line once to get off a dock and I kind of botched it. Worth practicing when you don't need it. My wife and I did perform a nice maneuver the other day, dropping anchor under sail and swinging around to set it. We couldn't resist showing ff to a group of pontoon boaters.

 

[rgranger]

I had misspoken... it was not WestMarine where I read this article but BoatU.S.

Here is the link if you want to read it.

http://www.boatus.com/magazine/2013/February/docking-with-spring-lines.asp