engsol wrote in message . ..
This has been likely asked before.

I'll be retiring this spring, and buying a sailboat, 30-32 feet. I have limited experience,
mainly two J-World courses, plus ASA through Advanced Coastal Cruising,
plus a two week trip off the Calif coast, plus a bit of racing on a Santana 20.

In my daydreaming, I have most things figured out in the locale where I plan
to sail (San Juan and Gulf Islands), except for this....

I'm approaching a slip with a cross-wind blowing me off the dock, and into another boat
sharing the slip. So what do I do? Being single-handed and all. One thought occurs
to me...toss a grapple and snag the dock. But this raises more questions....will I need
to use a winch? How do I route the line? Do they even make grapples, or will I
have to make my own?

Is this idea even worth it? Last year, we (class of 4 students on a 37 foot J-Boat)
tried to dock on the lee side of a dock in 35+ knots. It took all hands ( 4 men and a teen)
on the dock waiting to catch lines to snug us up, and it was a bit of effort.
I was amazed at how much force the wind exerted on the boat. It was obvious that
to dock a boat that size, in those conditions, a single-hander would have to be
lucky as well as good.

In case you're wondering why the concern...I'm too old to jump a 4 or 5 foot gap
between the boat and dock, and know I'll need to sail smart.

Thanks for any advice/imputs.
Norm

Norm,I´ve been in that situation twice singlehanding on my 29 ft
Columbia 8.7. What I always do when entering a marina with the wind
blowing crosswise to the boats is to put my fendrs on the leeward side
of the boat. When I see a free pomoon that is going to be on the
windward side, I approach it as close as I can and then let the boat
drift onto the other boat which is to leward. I then tie my boat
temporarily to it, the then throw the bow and stern lines forward onto
the "end ponoon" and walk with them to the windward pontoo where is
make them fast to the cleats. Going back to my boat, I use the
windward winch to pull my boat to windward after having progressively
slackened the temporary lines holding me to the leeward boat so that
at no time is there a risk of the two hulls making contact. When the
boat is about 2 feet off the windward pontoon, I stop and transfer the
fenders to the windward side. May be a slow process but when you are
in a strange marina, always proceed SLOW...
john