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