You should (well, might) be able to control the boat without anyone
jumping to the the dock.

If you have an after spring already cleated at the bow such that the
eye just reaches a dock cleat, all you have to do is snag the cleat as
you go by. Admittedly, this is easier said than done, but I have a
line with 6 feet of lifeline cable fed into the single braid, and so
far, my wife has been able to snag the cleat if I can get the bow
close. With your lower freeboard, and more agile kids, it should be
easy, and they still have the opportunity to jump to the dock.

Once you're snubbed on that, you can stay idling in forward, and use
the rudder to swing the bow or stern in as needed. The dynamics will,
of course, vary from boat to boat, and you may needed to play some
with the attachment points.

Yesterday, I used this technique to come in with the wind blowing 10
knots off the dock. Once snubbed, we were stopped a few feet behind
the boat in front, and with a little throttle I could tuck in the
stern and hold the boat against the dock.



Roger Long wrote:
For those of you who read and responded to my docking angst:

It’s a great feeling when it starts coming together. We returned late
yesterday afternoon tired and burnt from our first overnight and
headwinds all the way back. The docking scenario was the usual for our
slip, strong quartering tailwind blowing the boat off the dock which
is on the side the reverse sternwalk swings away from. The ebb tide
also runs across these slips in about the same direction as the wind
so everything is resisting stopping the boat and pushing it away from
the finger dock.

We didn’t have the tide to cope with last night but the same method
has worked well on days that it did with the same shore breeze. This
docking began with the discovery that someone had docked a damaged
boat with the mast on deck sticking about ten feet out into our
already tight turning area. My wife has finally learned that yelling,
"You’re too close to that boat!" isn’t a necessary part of the docking
procedure and my kids interestedly inspected the masthead as it went
by about eight inches away.

As we swung into the slip, a neighboring transient boat owner ran over
and then just stood there as the lines went ashore and the boat
stopped. He said, "I was going to help but the young men seem to have
it completely under control. They really know what they are doing."
That made everybody feel pretty good.

Here’s what’s working for us if anyone else is still struggling with
this:

Bow and stern lines laid out along the rail amidships to the boarding
gate. Aft spring only coiled and ready to go. One kid takes each line
and jumps as soon as the end of the dock reaches midships. Their
instructions are simple, pull the slack out the line, get two round
turns on the cleat as quickly as they can, hold. Don’t wait for any
instructions.

With the stern line on, I can back as hard as necessary to stop and
hold the boat. I can get the boat so the linehandlers step off across
just a few inches of water but the boat still ends up about six feet
out by the time the lines are on. I then pull and release the stern
line as my son holds and takes up the slack to pull the stern in.
Intermittent applications of reverse keep us in position. When the
boat is close enough for the sternson to reach the spring line, he
cleats it and sets the spring. Then it’s engines off and pull the bow
in. Forward spring is set at leisure.

I’ve done this with just one line handler and it works just as well as
long as the stern line goes on first with a couple of additional
diagonal turns. We’re at the point now where we can do the whole
evolution without a word being spoken so we’re going to start looking
very smooth to the loungers on the other boats.

Here’s our undocking procedu

Cast off lines.

Brief application of reverse until boat starts to move and then
neutral as I learned from this newsgroup.

Son tending dinghy drops painter which he forgot to secure as ordered
(or maybe it slipped off the cleat).

Other son yells.

Stop boat which starts to swing into piling.

Son reaches down and grabs dinghy painter.

Resume backing out.

Snap hook (now replaced) twists in such a way as strain come on
painter that it pops off. Son yells. Helmsman gets that deer in the
headlights look.

Other son has presence of mind to grab boathook, snare dinghy thwart,
and hold on.

Continue reverse towing dinghy with boathook.

Watch bow swing and anchor miss piling by quarter inch.

Get clear, stop, and secure dinghy.

Motor sedately away as if it was all planned.

Yes, it’s great when it all starts coming together.

How large is your boat? Ours is fairly heavy for a 32 footer and,
even at the minimum speed for rudder authority, it would be quite a
jerk coming up against a hard loop like that with the current behind
us. Cushioning with reverse would draw the stern out assisted by the
springing effect. Big recovery with lots of forward power then to get
the stern back in.

Missing the loop wouldn't allow thought and action time to get the
engine in reverse before running up on the main dock. Our finger is
just the length of our boat.

I tried all sorts of spring line scenarios first because of my large
boat experience which resulted in some good shows for our neighbors.
When my kids are more experienced line handlers and know how to ease
and hold without shouted instructions, I'll probably go back to using
springs more. Right now, I'm trying to keep line loads, especially
sudden ones, to a minimum since inexperienced fingers are holding
lines close to cleats.

The nice thing about my current method is that the sideways sternwalk
force is the largest line pull aside from windage. Nice and easy, no
dock contact, no vessel inertia against the lines.

When the wind is from the northwest, it's easy. Just pull up, stop,
and blow in.

--

Roger Long



"Jeff" wrote in message
...
You should (well, might) be able to control the boat without anyone
jumping to the the dock.

If you have an after spring already cleated at the bow such that the
eye just reaches a dock cleat, all you have to do is snag the cleat
as you go by. Admittedly, this is easier said than done, but I have
a

Roger Long wrote:
How large is your boat? Ours is fairly heavy for a 32 footer and,
even at the minimum speed for rudder authority, it would be quite a
jerk coming up against a hard loop like that with the current behind
us. Cushioning with reverse would draw the stern out assisted by the
springing effect. Big recovery with lots of forward power then to get
the stern back in.

I have a 36 foot catamaran, with a fair amount of windage and not much
weight (about 10,000 lbs loaded) and not much keel efficiency at low
speed. My problem is that I'm on a face, with large boats in front
and behind, so I have to work the boat sideways, often against the wind.

You don't want to snub up suddenly, but if you can glide in and simply
burn off speed this technique might work for you. Once the boat is
stopped, you can use as much forward as needed to draw the stern back
in - in fact, you should be able to waggle the boat back and forth
with the helm.



Missing the loop wouldn't allow thought and action time to get the
engine in reverse before running up on the main dock. Our finger is
just the length of our boat.

You have the full length of the boat, which must be the same space
you're already using. Remember, all you actually have to do is bring
the bow to the tip of the finger and then ease the boat in. Once the
spring is attached, several degrees of freedom have been removed from
the system.



I tried all sorts of spring line scenarios first because of my large
boat experience which resulted in some good shows for our neighbors.
When my kids are more experienced line handlers and know how to ease
and hold without shouted instructions, I'll probably go back to using
springs more. Right now, I'm trying to keep line loads, especially
sudden ones, to a minimum since inexperienced fingers are holding
lines close to cleats.

I had to go to this because bystanders would tend to grab the nearest
line and cleat it randomly, often leaving use dangling 15 feet away
from the dock. By stay focused on getting one preset line on the
proper cleat, I then have full control from the helm.





The nice thing about my current method is that the sideways sternwalk
force is the largest line pull aside from windage. Nice and easy, no
dock contact, no vessel inertia against the lines.

Its fine as long as you have enough hands.


When the wind is from the northwest, it's easy. Just pull up, stop,
and blow in.


Yup. Murphy's Law, however. The wind is always worst when there's no
one on the dock to help.

Certainly a very sound method and probably the best option for getting
into a spot like yours. It's also one we need to learn. We're still
at the stage where I'm trying to minimize the feeding out of lines. I
have great respect for the inertia of 12,000 pounds at even minimum
speed if a loop takes a finger or foot into a chock.

--

Roger Long

In article ,
"Roger Long" wrote:

How large is your boat? Ours is fairly heavy for a 32 footer and,
even at the minimum speed for rudder authority, it would be quite a
jerk coming up against a hard loop like that with the current behind
us. Cushioning with reverse would draw the stern out assisted by the
springing effect. Big recovery with lots of forward power then to get
the stern back in.

Have you tried a short, hard reverse and noticed the effect on prop
walk? We're 7,000+ pounds, swinging a 16" 3-blade and that stops or
starts us straight with a quick burst. At minimum reverse and a
hard-over rudder, I can flip the boat in about its length with prop walk.

All boats differ, of course.

--
Jere Lull
Xan-a-Deux ('73 Tanzer 28 #4 out of Tolchester, MD)
Xan's Pages: http://members.dca.net/jerelull/X-Main.html
Our BVI FAQs (290+ pics) http://homepage.mac.com/jerelull/BVI/

"Jere Lull" wrote in message news:jerelull- Have
you tried a short, hard reverse and noticed the effect on prop walk?

Yes, we can do that. However, with the current behind us, stopping
relative to the dock means reversing direction and establishing a half
to three quarter knots of stern speed relative to the water. Getting
that flow reversed over the hull with a period of being motionless in
the water while still moving forward fast enough to bump the main dock
hard lets the stern start swinging. The current also runs at an angle
away from the dock. The dock slows the cross current for the front
part of the boat while the stern is still sticking out.

You've really got to get that stern line on.

--

Roger Long

In article ,
"Roger Long" wrote:

"Jere Lull" wrote in message news:jerelull- Have
you tried a short, hard reverse and noticed the effect on prop walk?

Yes, we can do that. However, with the current behind us, stopping
relative to the dock means reversing direction and establishing a half
to three quarter knots of stern speed relative to the water. Getting
that flow reversed over the hull with a period of being motionless in
the water while still moving forward fast enough to bump the main dock
hard lets the stern start swinging. The current also runs at an angle
away from the dock. The dock slows the cross current for the front
part of the boat while the stern is still sticking out.

You've really got to get that stern line on.

Oh! THOSE conditions change the equation considerably.

I'm even more impressed by you and your crew's performance the other day.

That spring line is your best friend...

--
Jere Lull
Xan-a-Deux ('73 Tanzer 28 #4 out of Tolchester, MD)
Xan's Pages: http://members.dca.net/jerelull/X-Main.html
Our BVI FAQs (290+ pics) http://homepage.mac.com/jerelull/BVI/