Getting off the dock

[Amgine]

Just got back from a very brief day on the boat, and realized I'm getting a pattern for getting off the dock pretty well set.

Lots of checklists - engine, seacocks, instruments, sails, etc. Once the engine is running and everything's ready, I slip the dock lines and push the boat straight back. Holding onto the bow pulpit, I climb aboard the piermate's boat (he sticks out about 3' feet from the end of the finger), climb onto my boat once the bow is clear, giving a bit of a shove. Race back to cockpit, engine in gear, tight maneuvers, then into the fairway and out of the marina.

Doing everything by hand, not using the motor, usually saves me moments of complete panic as my full-keel prop-in-aperture boat decides to do something random when trying to back. The marina is subject to tidal current, which parallels the shore so my slip is either up- or down-current; this can make getting out of the slip nerve-wracking as I get onto the neighbour's stern and the keel is suddenly broadside to the current, but the current is usually fairly mild and I'm pretty cautious.

There are always fun days watching people come into or depart the dock, and everyone seems to have a different technique, especially when the wind is playing tricks. What're some of the sailfarer's techniques?

[thistlecap]

Wow--dangerous.  One slip of the hand and the boat is gone; one slip of the foot and you're gone.  Here are a couple things to try that will keep you on the boat and maintain full control.  Also, you should never race on the boat, or get in a position where you feel the need to start yelling.  Both are clear evidence that neither boat nor skipper are properly prepared.

Rig a continuous line (static line) on both sides of the slip for its entire length.  If it has a finger pier on one side, you have the pier to hang on to, so the line would go only from the outside pile to the pile on the end of the finger pier.  Going out, if the air is light, release the leeward or down current lines first, then any spring line, so you are down to just the weather bow and stern line.  If the wind is stronger, release the spring(s) so the boat can move a bit fore and aft.  Take a spare docking line from a mid-ship's point around the nearest pile and back to the boat.  This is meant to be a slippery line, so make sure it's below any fittings on the pile (electrical boxes, faucets, etc) that can cause it to snag.  This will hold the boat to the weather side while you tend the other lines.  If you're returning to the slip, bring the bow line aft and hang or loop it over the next pile aft.  Bring the stern line forward and loop or hang over the next pile forward.  Remember, your docking lines should always be equal to or more than the length of the boat.  This puts the docking lines right at your finger tips when you return.  With the slippery line holding the boat to weather, remove all the other lines and hang them.  If they won't reach the next pile, make a half-hitch around the static line to hang it in place for your return.  In light air, just cast off and walk the boat out along the static line until you reach the end pile, hold the pile or line as you walk to the bow, and as the bow clears, shove it the way it needs to go, and you are all set.  While hanging on the slippery line and tending the other lines, just use the static line from anywhere you can reach it by hand or with a boathook to keep the boat aligned in the slip.  If it's really windy and you can't tend the static line continuously, take a spare line, make it off to the weather quarter, throw it over the static line and back to the same cleat, so you now have two slippery lines, and they will hold the boat.  When you're ready to go, release stern slippery first, mid-ships last, and walk her out.  Now, I know this sounds like a lot, but after you've tried it a few times, it will become second nature and go like clockwork.  If it still sounds like too much, compare the time for tending lines with the time needed to file insurance claims.

When you return, use the last of your headway to steer to the weather side of the slip, leave the helm and grab the weather static line.  Pull into the slip until you reach the stern line and make it fast--same with the bow.  If it's windy enough you feel the boat will get away, just walk into the center pile and put a slippery line from amidships to hold you to weather.  This all works the same whether pulling or backing into the slip.

As for making sure the boat turns the right way every time, your boat should also be equipped with at least one warping line which is a line of some length more than double the length of the boat.  If you want the bow to swing to starboard, make the warp off to the port stern or quarter cleat, throw a loop over the outside pile, make the bitter end off to the same cleat, and flake the rest on the port seat or side deck.  As an alternative, if you want the bow to swing to starboard, flake the warp on the port quarter with one end on the outside pile or made off to the port sternline, and the bitter end made off to the boat.  If you are singlehanding and there's no one to tend the line, take one turn around a sheet winch so the friction makes the line pay out as needed rather than all falling overboard.  The advantage of the first method with the warp doubled is that the loop can be flipped off the pile from some distance without actually having to pull or back the stern up to the pile as you would in the second scenario.  When the boat leaves the slip, the warp will take a load and pivot the boat clockwise, making the bow fall to starboard.  Pull the warp in and take it off the pile or release it from the stern line and hang that line, and off you go.  I hope this helps.

[Amgine]

Only sort of, as I share my slip with another boat and there are no pilings whatsoever. There's a single pile at the end of each dock float, but none for the fingers. This is the unfortunate standard here on the left coast.

Some of your techniques I use, and now that you've talked about using the aft quarter warping line to force the bow to pay off I think I'm going to try using that on my slipmate's aft cleat. I should be able to back out, snub the line to get the bow to pay off, and then haul it in. I'll use a polypro double-braid line, though, so I don't get a wrap.

I did warp part way into the marina once, in a bit of a small gale, but I got to a point where there was no way forward without fouling a series of outboard motor props so I went back out and anchored until the weather cleared a couple days later. It's another problem, in my opinion, with the left coast marinas: it's completely impossible to warp in safely, and one is also not allowed to sail at all in them. If they'd just require that boats not extend beyond the fingers it would be no problem, but all those outboards propped forward on transoms already a foot or two beyond the end... it's like looking at teeth on a saw.

In a couple weeks I'll be done with docks for a few months, and complaining about picking up a mooring. But until then I'm still trying to learn how best to get in and out of slips.

[thistlecap]

I agree with you whole heartedly about marinas putting over-sized boats in under-sized slips, leaving all those obstructions in the fairway.  The only way it would make sense is if the marina also brokers liability insurance.

Well, here's another one you might consider.  This is an adaptation of a method you'd use if docking at a pier with the wind onto the pier.  In your case, you'd make a wide approach and drop a stern anchor in line with your slip and as far out as possible to get the best scope.  Set the anchor on your way into the slip by snubbing it lightly by hand.  If you make it off with the idea you'll set it harder, you'll snatch it out of the bottom and drag it.  Easy does it does a better job.  Normally I recommend against ever entering a slip with fenders out, as they can get caught between the boat and a pile and trip the boat causing loss of control.  However, in your case, if the wind or current are across the slip, put fenders or a fenderboard on the leeward or down current side of the boat.  Take the boat in and let it come to rest against the other boat (with fenders) or against a pile or whatever is on the other side with a fender or fender board.  Leave the engine idling in gear to hold you in the slip until you pick up the weather lines.  If the wind is into the slip, your stern anchor is ideal, or if it's out of the slip, ease the stern anchor rode until you can pickup a line from the pier ahead.  In whichever case, as soon as you have lines to stabilize you, run a sentinel (a weight) down the anchor line to hold it flat on the bottom so you don't have to worry about another boat picking it up.  For a sentinel, I use a 25 lb. lead pig with an eyebolt in the top. Putting a bit of strain on the rode will take all the slack out so even a stinkpot going over it won't pick it up unless the waterway is extremely shallow.  I don't have any way to say how much clearance the screws would need before the suction would be a problem, but I've used this method any number of times without any trouble.  The one time I was concerned, I had used an anchor to ease me into a slip in 45 kt. winds.  The next morning the large motor vessel next to me got underway.  There couldn't have been more than a foot or two clearance over the nylon rode, and he went right over it with both screws in gear.

When you get ready to leave, retrieve the sentinel, pull yourself out of the slip with the stern anchor, and walk the rode up onto the same side you want the bow to point, and break it out.  If you want the bow to swing to starboard, walk the rode up onto the starboard side, and that will pivot the boat around.  If the wind is also blowing you out of the slip when you leave, use your warp to control your leeway while you retrieve the anchor.