sherwindu wrote:

I can line up the boat with the slip, but a strong current will throw my stern down
stream. I can maintain steerage going in, but if I enter too fast I am in danger of
hitting the concrete wall at the front of the slip. These are slips with small metal
piers
pointing into the river. There are two slips between each pier, with a wooden post
at the head of the slip dividing the slip for two boats. I have to avoid hitting the
pier,
the wooden piling, and/or the boat in the downstream side of the slip.

Sherwin D.

I have seen people with crossed lines (i.e. ropes) at the front of a
slip that they are heading into. (assuming this is your slip). They
form an X at the pier end of the slip with the bow of the boat at the
middle of the X at the distance that you want to keep the boat from
the pier.

We also see lines strung between the pilings that delineate the slip
to separate our slip from the next one. Of course they won't help if
you ram them at warp speed, but they should slow you down a bit.
http://home.mindspring.com/~gmbeasley/id1.html

The top picture was taken at low tide (the water went up to the top of
the pilings at high tide and it is still about 18" above the dock)
just after Isabel when the boat in the adjoining slip had been hauled
and shows the lines between the slips.

The second picture shows when we were docked on the other side - you
can see a little of the chafe guards, and there's one of the X lines
at the front of the slip, going like /

We tie fenders to the pier where we normally exit the boat. When we
leave the boat it is crosstied in the slip so that it isn't close to
any edges, but when we want to get on or off, we pull her over to the
pier. The fender in the first picture isn't usually there.

And I repeat that we leave the lines on the pilings and cleats on the
pier so that all we have to do is pick them up, and the chafe guards
are attached to the lines where they go through the hawse holes or
through cleats (on the boat), so that I will know how close to cleat
the line in.

I would also come into the slip against the current.


Dick Locke wrote:

On Sat, 01 Jul 2006 23:45:20 -0500, sherwindu
wrote:

Unlike the gentleman who wants to single handle a bober pick-up, I have a
question about how to enter a slip with two crewmen aboard. Theoretically this
can be done under sail, but the first approach should be with an engine, an 9.9
Yamaha outboard
in my case. Problem is that our slip is on a bend in the river, so that with a
strong current flowing, we have to come in bow first to the narrow slip with the
current on
the beam. I have tried to come in a bit upstream of the flow and try to time it
so that
we are in line just as we enter. It's a bit tricky, and there is a tendency for
the stern
to swing downstream before we have a chance to get a line to it. Any
suggestions?

Sherwin D.

Can you/do you approach into the current? That would keep steering way
on while slowing speed over ground and speed relative to the hard
things you don't want to hit.