Although I'm a little experienced at sailing, I'm still learning a lot of
the little incidental things. Such as pulling out of a dock. We have a
Hunter 310 (a little "beamy" and our slip is narrow) that is moored in the
SF Bay area. We have less than 2 feet of total clearance between the boat
and the dock at the widest point. Our slip is about 1/2 way down the berths
with slips on both sides of the passageway. The passageway is probably 40 -
50 feet wide. We have an "upwind berth" which faces to the south (normal
summer wind direction).

The Marina is surrounded by homes and the wind is usually blocked pretty
well by the wind from the south by other rows of sailboats. However the
wind from the east, west, and north are not that blocked. To make things
more interesting our exit from the slip is to the east, which means I have
to back out of the slip to the right. The boat pulls to port when in
reverse.

Here is the fun part. During this time of the year, the wind comes from a
variety of directions. When the wind comes from the east (port side of the
boat when in the slip) it's a challenge getting out of the slip. The first
time I backed out under these conditions I was just out of the slip, and
turning the boat to starboard when the wind pushed the bow back around. No
matter what I did, I couldn't get the boat turned into the wind and was
being pushed by the wind down the marina. I finally spotted an open slip
and pulled in. We ran a line off the bow and I backed out again, but this
time had the bow held to the dock. I managed to get the boat turned into
the wind, picked up my partner (2 man crew that day) and sailed off.

A few days ago, we had the east winds again, but this time with a little bit
of north. After reading up, I tried to run a line off the starboard stern
to pull the stern around as I backed out. This SEEMED to be working until I
tried to pull next to the slip to pick up my partner, and the north effect
of the wind started pushing my starboard into the parked boats. We managed
to finally get some forward momentum and move foward while fending off the
boats. I couldn't pick up my partner and had to pull around to the downwind
side of the berths and pick her up there. The wind was only about 3 - 4
kts.

I know it's been a long explaination, but now I'm wondering how to pull out
under these conditions and pick up my crew before leaving.

Any suggestions???


--
John Lechmanik

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