Close Quarters Handling - What Would YOU Do?

[Eleven]

Love those 'Check Lists'. They don't provide all the solutions but they sure do stop you getting LAZY.

[rebel heart]

My knee jerk reactions for any situation like this come down to a choice between:

- Haul the main up (because if you motor around without a sail ready to hoist you should hand over your sailor card). Get away from the rocks, get some sea room, and figure out what's going on. Call vessel assist or a friend's boat and get a tow in.
- If I know the bottom well enough (or even the depth), drop the hook and put an anchor ball up. Yeah you might get honked at and be the butt end of some jokes for the afternoon but who cares.

This story makes me love the Pardeys' sculling oar.

[dcstrng]

Originally Posted by rebel heart

My knee jerk reactions... Haul the main up... If I know the bottom..., drop the hook...

Yep – that’s me… I don’t know squat about multihulls, so I may be all backwards, but I generally try to sail “unless…” then anchor and take the time to leisurely sort out whatever is giving the boat fits if I can… I’m sure having only one engine on a multi gives really forceful asymmetrical pull, but even if I have the motor running, I usually keep the sails up (but droppable) and anchor handy…

I try to not get into situations where I need the kicker to save me – of course it doesn’t always work that way, but…

[Pelagic]

Good reminder Mark to always have the anchor on standby when maneuvering in tight corners. That has got me out of a few equipment failures or tight turns both commercially and with yachts.

I would question raising a sail in 18 to 25 knts in a dead end marina situation with little sea room. A stuck sail in a crisis situation with all that expensive hardware around you has a high probability of going very wrong.

[thinwater]

Originally Posted by Eleven

I'd go with LtBrett, just hope he's on board when it happens to me!!
Raising the main would help to balance the boat fore and aft, to a small size wouldn't overpower the boat, i.e. prevent the single engine from stopping the boat. It might generate some space around you too, some sailors would recognise that you are not going to be able to stop easily, most boaters will recognise an idiot that's trying to sail into a compact and busy situation and give the idiot in charge some room to crash.
In my second year I'm getting into those sort of 'advanced' boat handling situations and recently spotted a pontoon provided by the Cowes harbour Authorities for 'Practicing Mooring - No Stopping'. Perhaps I'll try that solution in light winds, and also work out how to fast my boat goes sideways using the engine to stop any forward motion (i.e. will the fenders burst on contact with the pontoon/neighbour). I'll pretty soon find out how much sail it will need to keep the bows pointing in the intended direction too.
I think, in that situation without pre-thought, I'd have reversed across to the chosen parking space, hoping to get somewhere near enough for the land crew to haul me in. Dropping the hook, wait 'till it's quieter then dinghy to shore with a long line the haul her in to a berth.

Let me start by saying I'm funny to watch in a monohull. No insults are intended....

But those are monohull answers. Most cats are not that agile at slow speed under sail. You'll end up in irons and hit something. No time.

The asymmetrical pull of engines 20 feet apart is more than you imagine. At slow speed, you circle.

Once, years ago, I had a Laser sailor a the helm of my beach cat and was returning to the dingy dock. He started to shoot between the rows, certain that he could turn and come back out... but my turning circle was triple that of his laser. I lept across the boat and got us out of there. Very good sailor... just different.

[wolfenzee]

Even if you could drop the anchor instantly, it takes time/distance before it would grab. The first time I brought my boat into a slip the shaft coupling broke just as I threw it into reverse to slow down...17,000lbs and no brakes in an extremely tight marina...all I could do was choose what to hit (no damage to the boat, but it left a noticeable dent in the dock).

[thinwater]

Originally Posted by wolfenzee

Even if you could drop the anchor instantly, it takes time/distance before it would grab. The first time I brought my boat into a slip the shaft coupling broke just as I threw it into reverse to slow down...17,000lbs and no brakes in an extremely tight marina...all I could do was choose what to hit (no damage to the boat, but it left a noticeable dent in the dock).

Your basic no-win situation happens sometimes.

Though I have had more than a few problems and found many solutions, anchor solutions, including the clever one given by the OP, have the advantage of slowing things down. They won't always save the day - not at all - but they should be on the a-list, ready to go.