Dennis, your Pensacola docking sounds similar to my old dock in Horseshoe Bay Howe Sound in West Vancouver. That spot would get very strong wind and ferry wash coupled with a port prop walk that made getting our bow in starboard tie a challenge. I developed a technique that worked well with my wife and I and by myself single handed (on occasion).
I made a single line for combined spring and stern that was attached to the mid ship cleat via a loop at one bitter end for the spring line. This was just the right length for a spring that would prevent the bow from hitting the main dock when attached to the pad-ring at the end of the finger. Where it attached to the pad ring a carabeener was used and this was mid line, not at a biter end. The remaining line was used for the stern line, it fed through the stern chock and had a stopper knot. With this setup I did not use reverse at all, I used the spring line to decelerate us and I would pull stern line from the helm to stop the stern from swinging out when the spring became loaded. Once that was done the boat could remain in forward with the tiller pointed to the dock and it would just stay there in place perfectly. So once the line was rigged, it worked like this: 1) when entering the slip when the shrouds were at the cleat/eye at the end of the finger, jump off and quikly secure carabeener. Both the spring and stern line were attached to the doc once this step was done 2) as the spring loads pull the stern line from the cockpit to stop the bow from swinging into the dock, or the stern from hitting the neighbor to the port 3) turn tiller to starboard 3) increase throttle once secure as needed to keep boat in place while attaching other lines at leisure One important thing to ensure is that the bitter end of of the stern line has a stopper so it won't go through the chalk -- don't ask me know I know.... Let's just say it went wrong once when I didn't have that. Interested to hear others' techniques. Cheers, Jeremy ---------- Forwarded message ---------- From: "Dennis C." <capt...@gmail.com> To: CnClist <CnC-List@cnc-list.com> Cc: Bcc: Date: Tue, 31 Jul 2018 10:58:34 -0500 Subject: Stus-List Docking seamanship OK, after 20 years of ownership, I'm pretty good at driving Touche'. Touche's "home" slip in Louisiana is in a fairly protected bayou, has both outboard and midships pilings on either side and a port side finger pier. I can competently back Touche' in using propwalk, etc. without touching any pilings. Whoopee. However, the "temporary" slip I use in Pensacola is a whole different scenario. First, it has a starboard side finger pier which extends to just short of full boat length. Second, it is a double slip with NO pilings between Touche' and my neighbor, an IP 37. Third, the prevailing wind is from the starboard side. In Pensacola, I dock Touche' bow in for privacy and scenic view issues. Docking stern in isn't a desirable option because the bow will fall off towards my neighbor while docking and looking at a scenic bayou is preferable to looking at a working boatyard. So, docking bow in with a wind from starboard and prop walk which pulls the boat to port is a challenge. The wind pushes the boat dramatically to port when docking. The prop walk exacerbates the movement to port. The wind and prop walk both working against the boat sucks. I've tried several techniques with limited to moderate success. The best the Admiral and I have come up with is to approach at a slight upwind angle to the finger pier, have a spring/warp line attached a bit forward of midships, have crew leap off the boat and secure the spring to the outermost cleat on the finger pier to stop forward motion. Once the line is secure, we warp the stern in with forward propulsion and left rudder and secure a stern line. The stern still tries to swing to port midway through this process but we manage it. Now for my main issue. Docking single handed. I can't see myself approaching the pier, putting the boat in reverse, scrambling out of the steering station past the Bimini bows, securing the spring line, jumping back on the boat, warping the stern in and then securing the stern line by myself. Any secret tricks I haven't explored? Dennis C. Touche' 35-1 #83 Mandeville, LA
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