Beautiful Bridle

[Bigjim]

I bought a Columbia 10.7 in December 2018 and have been working on getting it into shape all year. This boat is much bigger than my old boat, a Cal 27 Mk3, and I didn't think it was going to be possible to single-hand it.

The only way I could see taking it in and out by myself was to build a bridle for my dock. So, here is my design:

#1: The main ring. A stainless steel ring rated at 25,000lbs. I bought a bunch of nylon thimbles to protect the ropes. I used my band saw to cut a slot in the bottom of the thimble and then slid them onto the ring.



#2: Rigging the port and starboard lines. Spliced them onto the thimbles. Here I used a temporary line on the front of the ring to hold it in place while I rigged the two back lines. I added pool floats near the ring to keep the ring from banging against the hull.



#3: Rigging the front lines. Spliced the front lines on the remaining thimbles. Rigged the starboard line with two thimbles at a fixed length. The other three lines are adjustable.



#4: Port side guys. The Columbia has a cut-away bow which concerned me. I was worried that the bow would ride up over the steel ring if we had too much way on. So, I added a rope between the two berths and ran guys from the center line to the back port bridle lines. The guys hold the bridle high and out of the water so there is less chance that the boat will ride over the ring. I will add similar guys to the starboard side too.



Of course, the proof is in the operation. On Saturday, we took the boat out for a sail after I had finished the bridle. On the way back in I instructed the crew to do nothing when we approached the dock. I turned into the berth with about a half knot headway. The boat hit the bridle ring and came to a solid stop.

The crew then took their time to get the boat tied up. Looks like I'm going out alone soon!