On Fri, 13 Oct 2006 14:50:28 -0400, Harry Krause
wrote:

My sailboat experience stops at around 36'.

I ran a 50 footer weighing about 50,000 lbs for a few years. It had a
folding prop and all of the usual issues in reverse, but once you got
1 or 2 knots of way on, the keel and rudder would bite and it handled
just fine. I would get it going slowly in reverse where I still had
plenty of room to maneuver and then just drive it right into the slip
backwards, stopping with a quick blast of forward gear. It was a
piece of cake and always got a certain amount of attention.