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More on berthing-single screw and twins
On Thu, 8 Jan 2004 19:46:50 -0500, "Charles T. Low"
wrote: Jack, Excellent information, thank you. A few things: THANK YOU - one caveat: I am much more experienced with using this technique with sailboats. I am assured by power boat instructors that this works well on "keelless" vessels as well. -you will probably need a well-fendered bow for these maneuvers. Docking and especially undocking as you describe can entail sitting at quite an angle to the dock, pushing into that dock with the curve of the bow rather the "flat" of the topsides; If the aft docking line is positioned properly (after some experimentation) the boat will sit square to the dock. -I find in my past planing and semi-planing hulls that if you're talking about winds in the 15 kt plus range, that even the techniques you describe can get pretty hairy. By the time I get close enough to attach my lines, and then put the throttle to idle and the tranmission in neutral, go and attach the line, and return to the helm (just a few steps), all hell can have broken loose. There are clever ways around this (viz. a fascinating thread with Karen from Australia last year), but it's a bit of an advanced procedure, and I hesitate to recommend it to beginners, for fear of being complicit in causing them some grief. What are your limits for being able to do this? ISPA (International Sail and Power Association) teaches this a s standard method for all levels. As a crew member goes ashore, there is only one line with which to deal. Also, if you handing a line to a person on the dock (not recommended) you can tell them to tie off opposite the stern. -for the undocking sequence you favour, I have a question about uncleating the line: you say to push the stern away from the dock with power, forward gear, rudder turned towards the dock, and I can see the boat yawing, the after amidships spring holding the bow in to the dock and the stern swinging out - then how do you get at the cleat, on the dock, now out of arm's length from the stern, to uncleat it? Run a bight around the cleat or the ring back to your deck cleat. When ready to leave, uncleat and haul in the dock line. For those with their own docks, consider setting a permanent line of the proper length with hook that can be attached to the toe rail or attachment point on the vessel. -some of the docks I frequent use rings rather than cleats, and I haven't decided on the best way to attach quickly (and temporarily) to a ring in heavy weather, for the "power spring" techniques you're extolling, although I always figure something out, but it's a bit of an impromptu affair every time, with many variables coming into play. An old trick that I don't use very much any more but is handy to have in my armamentarium, is a line attached to the boat at both ends - a bight of this could be passed through a ring, quickly secured by a knot (or back over a transom cleat), and made to function as a variation of the after amidships spring you describe. Any of that gel with you? I have not tried this. Jack |