Short Wave Sportfishing wrote:
On 29 Oct 2006 21:52:38 -0800, "Chuck Gould"
wrote:

Here's one for the proofreaders out there. Want to make sure I didn't
get port and starboard accidentally reversed. Get a fresh cup of coffe
if inclined to wade into this. 2500 words. :-)

A critical consideration when rigging for a port or starboard landing
will be the type of approach a boat must make to the dock. If the dock
is parallel to the fairway, (such as a breakwater dock or must

must/most

fuel
docks), it is normally possible to approach an available berth from
either direction.

~~


Oops. Thanks for that. I type almost half as fast as a lot of people
talk, and a few missed strokes show up in the text. I normally blame
errors noticed post publication on a (fictional) editorial assistant I
call Miss Prince. Everybody needs an editor, and mine is Julie Andersen
who edits our sister magazine up in BC. She is very good, and always
makes me look a lot more accurate than I really am. :-)





Begin the approach

Sometime early in my boating experience, a kindly old salt passed along
a rather shopworn homily that surely endures because it is so critical
and succinct: "Never approach the dock any faster than you are
willing to hit it!" After "hitting it" a few times over the
years, I've not yet found any better theory for determining the
optimal approach speed. In calm conditions, idle speed is surely fast
enough and in many cases may be too fast. Some boats make several knots
at idle speed, and will require shifting in and out of gear to control
speed during an approach.

I can't remember if you mentioned this in previous articles, but a
common commentary I use when doing on-the-water instruction is "it's
easier to add momentum than remove it". Just a thought.


~~ I don't mean to be overly critical, but the following sentence
seems overly complicated - perhaps replace image with imagine? ~~
One
technique found useful by many boaters is to image the float extended
into the fairway and image during the initial stages of the approach
that one is about to come alongside the imaginary extension.


Thanks again. That was sloppy. The first incorrect use of the word
"image" has been mofied to "visualize" and the second corrected to
imagine. (I normally try to avoid the use of the same verb twice in the
same sentence).



I didn't notice anything egregious with the rest of it although I
would make one comment.

Outboards are defiantly better at maneuvering than inboards. :)

We will discuss how to get away.

Would that be after you wreck the dock and surrounding boats? :)
--

"What the hell's the deal with this newsgroup...
is there a computer terminal in the day room of
some looney bin somewhere?"

Bilgeman - circa 2004