"P.S. If you twist my arm, I'll tell you how I'm working on getting out of
my
slip in a heavy wind, single-handed - a variation on the Karen method."

I don't know the Karen method, Charles, but it helps to know, in this case,
which way the wind is blowing or coming from ;-)
BTW I'm also twisting your non steering arm g Just in case you need it.
--
c ya Wim
www.cruising.ca/thousand/f-index.html


"Charles T. Low" wrote in message
...
: Jack,
:
: Excellent information, thank you. A few things:
:
: -you will probably need a well-fendered bow for these maneuvers. Docking
and
: especially undocking as you describe can entail sitting at quite an angle
to
: the dock, pushing into that dock with the curve of the bow rather the
"flat"
: of the topsides;
:
: -I find in my past planing and semi-planing hulls that if you're talking
: about winds in the 15 kt plus range, that even the techniques you describe
: can get pretty hairy. By the time I get close enough to attach my lines,
and
: then put the throttle to idle and the tranmission in neutral, go and
attach
: the line, and return to the helm (just a few steps), all hell can have
: broken loose. There are clever ways around this (viz. a fascinating thread
: with Karen from Australia last year), but it's a bit of an advanced
: procedure, and I hesitate to recommend it to beginners, for fear of being
: complicit in causing them some grief. What are your limits for being able
to
: do this?
:
: -for the undocking sequence you favour, I have a question about uncleating
: the line: you say to push the stern away from the dock with power, forward
: gear, rudder turned towards the dock, and I can see the boat yawing, the
: after amidships spring holding the bow in to the dock and the stern
swinging
: out - then how do you get at the cleat, on the dock, now out of arm's
length
: from the stern, to uncleat it?
:
: -some of the docks I frequent use rings rather than cleats, and I haven't
: decided on the best way to attach quickly (and temporarily) to a ring in
: heavy weather, for the "power spring" techniques you're extolling,
although
: I always figure something out, but it's a bit of an impromptu affair every
: time, with many variables coming into play. An old trick that I don't use
: very much any more but is handy to have in my armamentarium, is a line
: attached to the boat at both ends - a bight of this could be passed
through
: a ring, quickly secured by a knot (or back over a transom cleat), and made
: to function as a variation of the after amidships spring you describe.
:
: Any of that gel with you?
:
: Charles
:
: P.S. This and various other techniques have allowed me to go boating on
: windy days when lots of other boaters stand at their bow rail, gazing
: wistfully out at the open water.
:
: P.S. If you twist my arm, I'll tell you how I'm working on getting out of
my
: slip in a heavy wind, single-handed - a variation on the Karen method.
:
: ====
:
: Charles T. Low
: - remove "UN"
: www.boatdocking.com
: www.ctlow.ca/Trojan26 - my boat
:
: ====
:
: "Jack Dale" wrote in message
: ...
: Try using a single line docking system.
: -Find a point about one quarter of the distance from the stern to the
: bow. (You may have to experiment a bit)
: -Attach a line to this point.
: -Tie this line to the dock, opposite your transom.
: -Put the engine in forward.
: -With the rubber centered, the boat should pull itself into the dock.
: -Adjusting the rudder will move the bow into or away from the dock.
:
: When you need to dock single-handed (or with incompetent crew)
: -Attach bow and stern breast lines.
: -Attach the single as above.
: -After you dock, put the boat in neutral.
: -Tie the single line opposite the transom.
: -Engage forward gear - no throttle.
: -Adjust rudder until boat sits in desired position.
: -Attach breast lines and stern lines.
: -Disengage transmission.
:
: Voila - this works bow or stern to.
:
: When leaving dock (stern to) use the single line.
: -Run it around the dock or cleat back to aft mooring cleat.
: -Engage forward.
: -Adjust rudder for angle to leave dock.
: -Uncleat line.
: -Leave the dock.
:
: I have used it bow-to and stern-to single-handed in tight conditions.
:
: I like it (if you cannot tell).
:
: Jack
:
: