First accident

wl745

wl745

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I have an 8 metre motor boat.Bringing it in to dock a gust of wind pushed the stern to stbd and I came up against the end of the pontoon,a local pushed me away and I bore to port to come round again when again a gust of wind pushed me into the yacht in the same dock as me still with some forward motion .Events happened very quickly and I put the throttle in neutral and tried to push the boat away from the yacht assisted by an onboard friend but we collided with the anchor empanage and while trying to keep us away from it my right arm became trapped between the top of the side screen and the roof support bracket forcing my hand back!!So after getting ourselves straightened out we came around and docked successfully!!Now,I fractured my wrist and my elbow swelled up with some nasty bruises ,cuts etc so I ended up with my wrist in plaster which has just this week come of!!
Any advice on docking when there are no people on the pontoon to help and the wind is gusting !!?? I don't think reversing in would be much improvement!?
See at 12degs 49'41.59N 100degs 54'27.67E
Wind from south to south west
 
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Single handing, there is nothing much you can do other than try allow a bit of leeway for wind and always plan an emergency escape procedure beforehand.
I feel for you, been there, done that, luckily without clouting another boat though.

Docking a single engine, shallow V planing hull crosswind is akin to pushing a supermarket trolley across a slope using one finger on the handle.
 
Having a loose fender handy to put between boats that are about to make "contact" is much better than using hands/arms/feet etc. which have an unfortunate habit of snapping at the wrong time.
 
Find a couple of unoccupied pontoon fingers, and spend a few hours practicing taking her in and out. The more you do it, the better you'll get, and your confidence will grow. Half the battle is confidence, the rest is familiarity with how the boat behaves. Obviously, practicing with the wind in different directions will add to your skills.
 
Although you say gust of wind, I assume the wind was blowing anyway. If you can, try to use that wind to your advantage where possible.. that might be moving the whole boat, or just the bow. If you place yourself in a situation where, before you can even move the boat as normal, you now have to counter the wind, then you are doubling your workload.
Otherwise lots of fenders, and nothing wrong with using lost of ropes !
And sometimes, it just goes wrong ;)
 
A couple of years back i witnessed a 30ish ft mobo entering Poole town quay marina with a following wind.
Was a breezy day with 25kt gusts, the chap at the helm slowly entered the marina with his misses on the bow ready with a boat hook to come alongside a finger berth.
All looked well until a small amount of bow thruster was applied, as soon as the wind became side on the boat spun around literally catapulting his misses across the bow. She was very lucky not to go overboard. The boat slammed into the finger berth and was lucky not to get holed.
What amazed me was just how quickly this 'event' happened. From applying the bow thruster to hitting the berth was just a couple of seconds.
I think the only way of preventing this sort of thing is practice with someone who's experienced at close quarters and slow speed.
Dont feel too bad as your not the first, and your certainly not the last person to cock up an arrival!
 
That was a good idea about the spare fender,duly noted!!Also another person near the bow who could "hook on"to the forward bollard.Thanks all for advice.Here in Thailand there are many good private hospitals,I actually used the Queen Sirikit naval hospital where the treatment was excellent and cheap!!Repair consisted of a new side screen and filling in the fiberglass frame ,cost me three hundred pounds !
 
I was always taught to fender both sides of boat when going onto finger pontoon in case of adverse wind - easier boat handling to go alongside neighbouring boat then warp across to own pontoon.

Of course, some people are not happy about it :rolleyes: probably the same oneswith no rafting signs on board.
 
No one can really tell you what to do as the conditions that you experienced were unique to you on the day. The thing is not to get too discouraged by all this, it happens from time to time! At least by asking the question it shows you are serious about trying to get it right in future.

I was with a very experienced YM instructor in Duquesa once and even he managed to collide, albeit lightly (take note) with an adjacent boat when a gust of wind took him by surprise. The key is to do things slowly and gently, albeit a blip of power is needed sometimes just to keep the boat under control but don't panic and go mad, no one minds (that much) if you gently nudge fenders, they should understand the conditions too.

When I see someone coming in wildly wielding boat hooks it sometimes worries me - we tend to use a roaming fender very useful to stop arms and fingers getting caught.

As has been said, there is no substitute for experience/training, next to experience confidence really is the key.

That said, two years ago I was launched from the boatyard in SCM, 70k winds the night before with 45k gusts on the day. First time moving to a new finger berth. Set it up very nicely for an adjacent empty berth twice (total plonker, I had only fitted dock fenders to my new berth the day before and the empty one had none), third time some big gusts took me quite close to an adjacent raggie, so I gently reversed out and used the wind to bring me into an empty berth opposite. Waited until later that day when the gusts dropped a bit and me and SWMBO simply slid the boat over with ease!

So, try to get her in but if you're not happy just take the boat out again and/or onto a visitors berth and go and get a coffee (well pint really, but coffee sounds much more responsible!)
 
If you are happy taking comments from the worst boat parker in the world:

Use loads of large fenders with at least one every 3 feet (no tenders = suicide. and that goes for boats left in their berth);
Always use a bow fender slung under the bow. Then you can be more confident in powering forward into the berth;
Keep a spare fender free and on a rope for inserting between your boat and whatever it is about to hit. Don't use fleshy body parts;
Never go any faster than you are willing to hit something;
Use fender pads all round your normal berth. Then you can be more confident and take her closer to the berth and farther from your neighbour;
Remove anything protruding that could damage another boat. Anchors should be in a locker not protruding like a scythe from the bow;
Be aware of reflective wind that will bounce of another boat and divert your bow at slow speed (that is always my excuse for a clumsy manoeuvre);
Get your lines sorted out before you start docking;
I guess you are familiar with the power-off, point in the right direction, power-on theory and that you can steer on the current or on forward motion;
Nudging in and out of gear at tick-over is usually all the power you need to dock (not always true of course);
Is your tick-over set up too fast? My 5.7 Mercruiser is set up to tick over at 650 RPM for easy parking;
Is your gear changing working perfectly without the engine stalling? That can be a pain in the bum.
Practice, practice, practice.
Good luck.
I have also seen a professional ram a customer's boat into the side of the dock when parking up. You can't see wind so it takes you by surprise. If you see one of those perfect manoeuvres it is just luck.

Terry
 
Thank you all!Yesterday was a good docking!Extra fenders out and another person at the bow who caught the bollard just right although my wife let go of the one, aft the wind behaved and I jumped ashore and got the mooring rope on!!!
Now before I start another thread how do you adjust an anchor windlass?Mine ran the anchor all the way out without stopping and then would not bring it in ,I had to haul by hand and then the windlass ran in all the slack chain on deck?Torque problem?
 
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