Advice for docking a boat that doesn't maneuver very well

[Don C L]

OR, for a larger boat:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dceYiJDQoNo

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6E_SX9gPJbM

[Cpt Pat]

You have given an exact description of my Pearson Ariel, and all of its docking challenges. I too sail single-handed with the same docking anxieties.

Here are some things I've done:

1) Install fore and aft docklines that are as long as the boat. Shorten the bow line so it is just-short-enough to not entangle the prop if it goes overboard. Now you only have to worry about a stern line entanglement. Leave the bow line always on the bow cleat and tie it up somewhere aft when underway. Rig the stern line just before coming into port. Stow it carefully so it doesn't go overboard and entangle the prop. Now have both lines in your hand as you approach the dock. If your boat is like mine, it has minimal astern propulsion because the prop is just blowing water against the rudder and keel when in reverse. I can't count on reverse stopping me in the slip. Instead, I hop off as the cockpit passes the end of the slip and use the bow line to stop the boat. Yes, it looks comical, with me sliding down the dock with the bow line in my hand. But even though my boat weighs in at 6,000 pounds, I've never dislocated a shoulder. I leave the engine idling in forward gear - just in case something goes wrong - so the boat doesn't back out of the slip without me. I have done this literally hundreds of times with no mishaps. it's just best not to have an audience.

2) Have an anchor ready at the stern at all times when in a harbor. If the engine quits, drop the anchor with enough scope and tie it off. Now you can troubleshoot the engine at your leisure. There have also been two occasions when my engine failed to start when returning, and I approached my dock under sail from directly upwind. I can't let out my main boom without whacking a piling. When 60 feet out (the water depth is 10 feet), I dropped the stern anchor with a trip line floated to the surface on a fender. I took in my main. I then let out the rode to slowly enter the dock. I later retrieved the anchor with the trip line. This works if there's enough wind and you can approach from directly upwind.

3) If you have tiller steering, practice sculling in no-wind conditions. I once sculled a mile in calm conditions when my iron sail failed. It took 4 hours, but I made three 90 degree turns to enter my slip.

4) My Carl Alberg designed Ariel is notoriously unsteerable in reverse using the rudder. The rudder is truly useless at anything below insane speeds. Fortunately, I can twist the engine 45 degrees or so in its port to steer astern. If you can spin your engine in its engine port, I recommend doing that instead, and just hold your rudder amidships.

5) Try to always approach your slip from directly upwind. You can then approach at minimal speed since you'll have a minimal need for steerage.

[petermjdavies]

I looked up your boat. I see what you mean. Some good advice by others.

A former nuclear submariner took a whining couple out for a weekend on board their yacht. The whining included complaints that the yacht did not go in reverse.

Nonsense he said. He proved it by slaloming in reverse through a series of empty mooring buoys. Then he made us do it. Over and over until we understood how our yacht worked in reverse. Then he made us do the slalom in forward. At a certain point in time he yelled stop and we did. Then we reversed back through the buoys.

After a few hours we got the message. We stopped whining. we understood how our boat worked, what prop wash meant, and how to deal with close quarter manouevring.

When we got our next yacht we spent some time doing the same thing with our new toy. Different characteristics, but same result.

My proudest moment was one sunday morning when my wife got out of an inner berth, reversed down a lane with about 60 yachts either side with not a wiggle and then turned into wind at the corner and set off forward. The racing yachties who were eating their breakfasts on the back of their boats could not believe it.

Your boat may be a pig, but you should be able to figure out how to make the best of what manouvreability it has. And of course call for help. Most marinas in my experience are happy to offer help if asked nicely.