On Sat, 07 Feb 2004 06:27:42 GMT, Jere Lull wrote:

In article ,
engsol wrote:

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?

At foreign docks, a line from that same winch to a dock cleat -- and
back to the winch if I don't have much time -- works well.
As I mentioned in another reply, the area I plan to sail in uses
4 x 4 rails rather than proper cleats. That's why the idea of a grapple....
something I can deploy from the boat.

If the conditions warrant, the cleat at the shrouds will work better,
but I haven't needed that yet on this boat.
Good advice. I plan to spend a bit of time learning where the
"balance" point is on my boat...once I buy her.

Personally, the toughest docking is against a current. THAT can be
interesting.
LOL...well, I'd argue that "interesting" might be having the bow blow
off and leaving one with a 37 foot boat at right angles to, and between,
two finger docks separated by maybe 40 feet, and having a bit of
speed up. I've mentally replayed that one many times. My only defense
is that the instructor dictated the departure plan, but since I was on
the helm, the fault was mine.

Thanks...
Norm