Boat Docking Finesse

Agree, neatly done although wouldn't it be better seamanship to make a shallower angle (15deg) approach - looks like he had sea room to do it. That would allow a few more options if anything went wrong; throttle or now thruster failure, a poorly timed sneeze, etc!
 
just think positively:

being filmed for an ad, I can easily imagine that this is the 5th boat and 64th attempt in order to get it right. Most likely the 2 of the previous boats sunk on the spot, the other two went for serious repairs in the bow :rolleyes:

now, go back to mooring the way you like ;)

cheers

V.
 
In my view the manouvering itself is not the most impressive (although quite impressive) but how close he goes to the jetty without being able to see the bow. Maybe he has a camera mounted somewhere in the front, pointing downwards... :D
 
I think the skipper might be taking his point of reference from the shed. Bowsprit through the shed window = too close. :D
 
Philiz said:
Totally reckless in my view, if anything went wrong he'd be fecked.
Click to expand...
Agree. Unnecessary to approach at 90deg to the dock when there's no wind and too fast an approach too. Also if thats the helmsman's normal docking method, he should have a bloody great big bow fender for the inevitable day when he cocks it up
 
My technique these days has changed
Assuming wind blowing off, I WOULD now approach at 90 degrees and drop a bow line to the quay. Then work the boat round pulling against the bow line. Not using it like a spring but (in my mind) thinking of it as a bow thruster. First on one engine (Stbd forward in this case) then the other in reverse. Short bursts until the boat is parallel with the quay.

If the wind was onto the quay I'd probably cheat and line the boat up away from the quay eventually slowing it with the thrusters as the wind blew the boat into the quay.
 
Hurricane said:
If the wind was onto the quay I'd probably cheat and line the boat up away from the quay eventually slowing it with the thrusters as the wind blew the boat into the quay.
Click to expand...

+1, my method too, especially if the gap is one boat length.

Even with a sportscruiser and thus less windage, if the wind is anything above moderate, I slow it down with thrusters well before the dock as they pick up a surprising amount of sideways speed. I thumped the pontoon in St Cast in the summer when I relaxed and didn't realise how quickly the boat was moving sideways, fortunately fully fendered and no harm done.

That reminds me that in the basin at St Malo, waiting for the lock, with some wind, I decided to stop correcting and just see what the boat did. All of my tuition/reading suggested the boat would "weather-cock" I think it is called. The bow would blow off until the stern was into the wind. It could then be controlled on the engines ahead or astern as needed.

Nope. Didn't do that at all.

At first the bow blew off, but only got 45 degrees downwind before it stopped swinging and the stern started to follow it, until it eventually blew downwind with the wind abeam, the bow maybe 20 degrees further downwind than the stern, but we effectively blew sideways.

If you look at a picture of a V48 you can work out why I reckon. It has a low and long foredeck and not a lot of hull in the water forward. So though there isn't much water resistance, there isn't much wind on hull to push it round.

At the stern the hull, props and rudders give a lot more resistance, but then there is the hardtop to catch the wind. In all the two seem to cancel out and it slides sideways quite happily.

I've gone back to constant corrections to keep parallel with the wind when I am hanging around.
 
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kcrane said:
+1, my method too, especially if the gap is one boat length.

Even with a sportscruiser and thus less windage, if the wind is anything above moderate, I slow it down with thrusters well before the dock as they pick up a surprising amount of sideways speed. I thumped the pontoon in St Cast in the summer when I relaxed and didn't realise how quickly the boat was moving sideways, fortunately fully fendered and no harm done.

That reminds me that in the basin at St Malo, waiting for the lock, with some wind, I decided to stop correcting and just see what the boat did. All of my tuition/reading suggested the boat would "weather-cock" I think it is called. The bow would blow off until the stern was into the wind. It could then be controlled on the engines ahead or astern as needed.

Nope. Didn't do that at all.

At first the bow blew off, but only got 45 degrees downwind before it stopped swinging and the stern started to follow it, until it eventually blew downwind with the wind abeam, the bow maybe 20 degrees further downwind than the stern, but we effectively blew sideways.

If you look at a picture of a V48 you can work out why I reckon. It has a low and long foredeck and not a lot of hull in the water forward. So though there isn't much water resistance, there isn't much wind on hull to push it round.

At the stern the hull, props and rudders give a lot more resistance, but then there is the hardtop to catch the wind. In all the two seem to cancel out and it slides sideways quite happily.

I've gone back to constant corrections to keep parallel with the wind when I am hanging around.
Click to expand...

When hanging around, I often let the bow swing as you describe. I then find it much easier to hold the boat, stern into the wind - kind of "hanging on the props". It is the same technique I used at the sailing club years ago with the club's RIBS when we had to position ourselves at the end of teh start/finish lines to see when the competing dinghies crossed the line.

Using this technique, it's really easy to move laterally as well by using one prop rather and keeping the stern into the wind.

I was also taught years ago that you can use this technique to "ferry glide" down a fairway in a strong win/tide. At the time we were berthed at Mercury. Our berth/fairwar often had a huge tide flowing under and if the wind was strong and in the same direction as the tide, it could be almost impossible to drive down the fairway forwards without drifting to the downstream side of the fairway. Going in backwards and "hanging on the props" ferrygliding sometimes helped.
 
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