Coming alongside pontoons....

dom said:
Just an impression: I love the way these big ships (usually!) saunter up to their berths, then slide in gracefully and effortlessly as mooring lines are accurately dispatched from the ship.

By comparison, us yotties tend to engage in a lot more crashing, banging, leaping and swearing ;)

I say usually, because some like the QE2 with undersized thrusters can be more like us lot in the absence of a friendly tug :ambivalence:
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Roger that. Its a great feeling at the end of a course when the team on the boat come alongside or into a berth calmly, all in control and little said. Like a big boat..... actually a friend of mine spent a while in the jetty party at the cruise ship dock and bunker berth in Gib. apparently the bunker tankers have quite a lot of dings and a lot of shouty happens.

Anyway, 100% on going stern to alongside. Its simple with practice. Knowing that people often dont try it, examiners will invite the manouver, hence we give everyone a good few practices in prep weeks. Some people actually find it easier being at the 'front'!
 
I wouldn't go so far as to say that approaching stern-to-tide is always wrong, in fact I have done it on occasion, but I would assert that it is always wrong to approach the pontoon down-tide. My boat is very controllable in astern, but I would do my best to avoid this if the wind strength made it likely that the boat's bow would catch the wind and I would lose control. Ferry-gliding or slowly from downstream is acceptable, but I have too many painful memories of fending off inconsiderate helmsmen trying to raft up to me while moving downstream to recommend any approach facing that way to anyone not experienced in boat-handling.
 
Its difficult to know the limitations and needs of the observed boat. I agree a final approach against the tide is best unless wind absolutely dominates tides, and even then the tendency for the bows to blow off is unnerving. However going in astern against the tide is most useful for single handed to pick the mooring cleat without leaving the cockpit. I doubt it would work with my new boat, as its a long keeler and hard to steer astern, but I have done it on mooring buoys on a previous more nimble craft.
 
Big-Bang1 said:
Hi!
Out last weekend and watched a couple of chaps coming alongside a pontoon. All the boats already on the pontoon were facing into the tide although the breeze was in the opposite direction (Which is how I've always come alongside as it keeps a flow of water over your rudder to maintain steerage). But after a failed attempt they went around and eventually came alongside. Is there something I'm missing? Was there a good reason for going alongside stern to the tide?
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Whenever I moor down wind/down tide it's because I've guessed wrong which berth(s) will be free, put the fenders out the wrong side and can't be bothered to move them.
 
Mark-1 said:
Whenever I moor down wind/down tide it's because I've guessed wrong which berth(s) will be free, put the fenders out the wrong side and can't be bothered to move them.
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Isn't that exactly when you might execute the 180 deg turn that the OP describes and approach the correct berth, with the fenders on the side you already have them, but facing the opposite way to that which you originally planned?

E.g. You are heading upstream, fenders deployed to starboard, assuming there will be space available on the side of the pontoon ahead that is on your right. Turns out there isn't space there, but there is on the pontoon to your left. So, you do a quick about turn and reverse upstream instead. The fenders are now correctly set.
 
Angele said:
Isn't that exactly when you might execute the 180 deg turn that the OP describes and approach the correct berth, with the fenders on the side you already have them, but facing the opposite way to that which you originally planned?

E.g. You are heading upstream, fenders deployed to starboard, assuming there will be space available on the side of the pontoon ahead that is on your right. Turns out there isn't space there, but there is on the pontoon to your left. So, you do a quick about turn and reverse upstream instead. The fenders are now correctly set.
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My boat’s not great in reverse - at low speed manouvering it goes a bit backwards and lot to the left!
 
Yealm said:
My boat’s not great in reverse - at low speed manouvering it goes a bit backwards and lot to the left!
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I did say "might".

Clearly depends on how a boat handles. But might explain what the OP saw (if indeed we are talking about approaching the berth in reverse uptide and not downtide ahead).
 
I did exactly this in Fowey on one of the mid stream pontoons the other week. It was an ebb tide...my bow was pointing out to sea, my stern into the ebb tide. The pontoon I was getting onto had a number of boats rafted up, all at the upstream end. There was a small space on the downstream end, but as my boat carries her beam well aft, it was only going to work as a berth for me if I went in ar$e first, leaving my bow over-hanging at the downstream end.

It was a very easy manouevre to pull off as my AWB goes as easily astern as she does ahead. I even got a "nicely done" comment from the bloke on the outside of the raft I'd slotted around, but really, it wasn't worthy of any praise as the boat is so easy in this situation.
 
The conclusion I reached in my boat when broadly the wind and tide are in opposition is you need to understand your boat and understand for that point in time which force is dominating ...whilst I find that generally a reasonably strong tidal flow will dominate, a strong wind blowing the bow off angainst a weaker stern current may lead me to conclude a different approach is best

The dogmatic approach espoused by some may not be the right answer for all
 
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Yealm said:
Contessa32:)
Rather different to my previous AWBs !
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Used to drive them at the Joint Services Sailing centre in Gosport.

By putting the bow ten or twenty degrees off to port as you are slowing down, a good blast astern straightens the boat up, keep some way on and Roberts yer fathers sibling. ......but they do go much better forwards. :D
 
Bathdave said:
The dogmatic approach espoused by some may not be the right answer for all
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I would venture to suggest that a dogmatic approach is always wrong. Adapting one's approach to the conditions is far less likely to end in tears.

The "right" way to pick up my mooring is to approach up the stronger of the wind and the tide, stop the boat with the bow at the mooring buoy and pick up.

In strong winds, especially single handed, the bow's left the buoy long before I have a chance to grab the strop, so I have a line led aft from the bow outside everything. I pick up the buoy from the cockpit, clip on the line and relax. I'm attached. I can pull in the line at leisure and make fast properly. In really strong winds, I'm not strong enough to haul the line in, so an approach upwind, but going astern allows me to hold my position and get hooked up to the buoy while the engine's doing all the hard work. The last trick works really well with an outboard - I've driven a boat backwards treating the outboard like a motorbike's handlebars.
 
capnsensible said:
Used to drive them at the Joint Services Sailing centre in Gosport.

By putting the bow ten or twenty degrees off to port as you are slowing down, a good blast astern straightens the boat up, keep some way on and Roberts yer fathers sibling. ......but they do go much better forwards. :D
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Thanks will practice it!
 
capnsensible said:
Going back (!) to ahead, downtide, is very occasionaly something Ive had no choice with. So the odd practice can only be a good thing. As long as you arent going at the same speed as the water, you got rudder, even if its limited. A centre cleat with midships line are very good under such circumstances. :)
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If I am reading you right- stern to the tide berthing - then a midships line is not the thing I would recommend. As soon as one cut the engine the stern would most likely swing out from the pontoon ( I doubt the rudder would hold the stern in for more than a couple of seconds) & the bow would dig in & before you know it the boat would be at 45 degrees to the pontoon. Thus there would be great strain on line & spring cleat.

If mooring stern to the tide, then the first line must surely be the stern line.
It is a fair bet that one would attempt a stern berthing operation if single handed & wanted to hook a cleat on the pontoon whilst standing by the helm & lassoing the cleat with a stern line to save going forward. One can bring the stern in to the pontoon ( even with the bow out a bit) & lasso from the cockpit fairly easily whilst having the tiller/wheel & throttle close at hand.
When I go into locks I always tie the stern first as it is the easiest & quickest. Often one has the wind up the chuff as it blows into the lock, rather like having the tide with one
 
Daydream believer said:
If I am reading you right- stern to the tide berthing - then a midships line is not the thing I would recommend. As soon as one cut the engine the stern would most likely swing out from the pontoon ( I doubt the rudder would hold the stern in for more than a couple of seconds) & the bow would dig in & before you know it the boat would be at 45 degrees to the pontoon. Thus there would be great strain on line & spring cleat.

If mooring stern to the tide, then the first line must surely be the stern line.
It is a fair bet that one would attempt a stern berthing operation if single handed & wanted to hook a cleat on the pontoon whilst standing by the helm & lassoing the cleat with a stern line to save going forward. One can bring the stern in to the pontoon ( even with the bow out a bit) & lasso from the cockpit fairly easily whilst having the tiller/wheel & throttle close at hand.
When I go into locks I always tie the stern first as it is the easiest & quickest. Often one has the wind up the chuff as it blows into the lock, rather like having the tide with one
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Dude, check out 'ahead, downtide'!

Agree with what you say though about sternline under the conditions you describe. Add a bit of rudder and some revs, way to go.

Going back to centre cleat. On dock, tight plus again appropriate revs and rudder, the problem is solved. Secure the middle of the boat and you cannot possibly end up at a daft angle to the dock. But even thats recoverable!
 
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