Gould 0738 wrote:
I say, with the tide going out (in) and the wind going sideways (left ways,
no,
right ways), lots of times the boat can get a fair amount of way on while you
try and sort it out.


If there is substantial wind and/or current you wil be using the throttles as
well as the gears. 10th of a second? Long before you push the throttle as far
as it would take to make a gear change, you will indeed notice a pronounced
change in RPM. The error will be immediately apparent. There shouldn't be any
"trying to sort out" involved. If you screw up in the middle of a landing, you
have to know how what you did affected things and have a plan to counter or
recover. It's way too late to sort anything out. You either have a workable
program to recover or you abort and start over.

Situational awareness. Don't leave home without it.

Personally, I prefer single lever controls. On most that I'm used to,
there will be no RPM increase until after you are in gear, but this
varies between installations on different boats.
I've always worked under the belief that except in extreme conditions,
that if I have to use anything more than gears and rudder(s) (single or
multi screw), then I've screwed up the approach.
For all intents, I'd agree fully with the above .... you need to be 4-5
steps ahead of the boat, ready to alter your thinking because it's
extremely rare that you will ever dock exactly the same way at the same
dock with the same boat ... twice...... and never be afraid to go
around and do it again.

otn