Helming from down below

iangrant

iangrant

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With the summer now seeming to slip behind us I keep looking down at the control that moves control of the throttles from the wheel house, the very reason for moving to the dark side from a cold wet saily aft steering position.

Bit nervous about all this but the call of the heating and dry wheel house is very strong, guess I just need to practice.


Ian
 
keep warm

iangrant said:
With the summer now seeming to slip behind us I keep looking down at the control that moves control of the throttles from the wheel house, the very reason for moving to the dark side from a cold wet saily aft steering position.

Bit nervous about all this but the call of the heating and dry wheel house is very strong, guess I just need to practice.


Ian
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What I do is berth and un berth, should that be the other way round, well you know what I mean,
From up top then as soon as rope and fenders away, retire to nice, warm cosy, warm, cosy, did I mention warm , lower helm for open water bit, .
 
iangrant said:
guess I just need to practice.
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Precisely. It's just a matter of practice, nothing else.
Since I'm mostly cruising in warm weather, I rarely need the internal helm for cruising.
In spite of that, quite often (always, when I'm alone with swmbo) I go down for mooring.
The reduced visibility is no big deal after some practice, whilst the possibility to quickly help with the mooring lines is more critical, particularly in crosswind conditions.
 
I have a similar layout to you, aft cabin.

I like to berth from fly but most of the time I will run from down below:
Better navaid display
Out of wind and wet stuff
Charts dont get wet
T shirt and shorts

We use the boat mid march to end of October and always intend to use it in the winter but, weather, daylight hours, tides, social calendar and lower enthusiasm levels generally do not allow this.

I have a hammer head berth and berth quite happily from below, if a tight berth in an unfamiliar marina I will manoeuvre from fly as better all round viz.

When berthing from below with a crew member the important thing is to make sure they keep an eye on your stern , distances etc and to notify you of other traffic coming from behind.
 
iangrant said:
With the summer now seeming to slip behind us I keep looking down at the control that moves control of the throttles from the wheel house, the very reason for moving to the dark side from a cold wet saily aft steering position.

Bit nervous about all this but the call of the heating and dry wheel house is very strong, guess I just need to practice.


Ian
Click to expand...

Being a wimp, I always retreat below to the lower helm at the first sign of spray, rain or cold wind. With practice, you will get comfortable helming from below but I am always aware that my vision is more restricted and that I am driving several tons of plastic and metal at 20kts or more. I do a few things to aid vision. First, I often trim the bow down a little so I can easily see over the bow when seated; whether you need to do this will depend on your boat. Second, I always keep a radar watch even in fine weather; it's a second pair of eyes especially astern where its difficult to see on most boats. Third, I instruct the crew also to keep a lookout especially to the starboard side from where an approaching vessel will put you in a give way situation.
You should also prepare before your trip if you think you might be helming from below at some stage during the trip. Make sure you have put the route into your lower helm chart plotter if it's not linked to the fly plotter. Keep charts and pilot book close to the lower helm and clear the lower helm area of all unnecessary clutter before you leave the marina
 
Our flybridge is never used, too much gear stowed up there, it amazes me to see you guys sitting up there in the open on a cold windy day, I have helmed from the loft, and it is pleasant in the summer, also engine noise is diminished, but to berth single handed I gotta be downstairs.
 
There is initially a certain sphincter-tightening sensation - I think due to the reduced visibility/looking through a pane of glass. It's a bit like conning the boat in the dark: everything seems at first to press in. Once you relax it's fine.

Probably the answer is to disconnect the f/b controls so that you have no choice. :D
 
Deleted User said:
I instruct the crew also to keep a lookout especially to the starboard side from where an approaching vessel will put you in a give way situation.
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Well, that's a very specific problem of boats whose internal helm is on the wrong side, I reckon... ;)
 
MapisM said:
Well, that's a very specific problem of boats whose internal helm is on the wrong side, I reckon... ;)
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Well there's 2 sides to that argument. One argument says that the helm should be on the s/b side to give the best view of boats coming from your give way side and the other argument says that the helm should be on the port side as you pass port to port in a head on situation. Personally I think you're right; the helm should be on the s/b side but, in my case, I can blame the Italians who designed my boat:)
 
The sides differ as well

MapisM said:
Well, that's a very specific problem of boats whose internal helm is on the wrong side, I reckon... ;)
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Wheel house is on the Port side, Flybridge on the STBd side, something else to get used to. Nelson standard.

Good tip about the Radar, ta

In
 
We always helm from the flybridge. When the weather is good, it's much more pleasant. When the weather is bad, we find that the combination of noise and restricted visibility, including the heaving horizon, rapidly induces nausea. As Billy Connolly once said, there's no such thing as bas weather, just inappropriate clothing. So it's upstairs for us.
And you can see better for berthing.
 
Interesting to see a couple of posters mention poor rearward visibility. It is my belief that this, together with the speed of MoBo's, that leads to many drivers seldom looking other than directly ahead - after all, "no-one will overtake me" (a dangerous assumption!). The consequence is that they never consider, or see, the devastation caused by their wash in calm waters on small low freeboard dinghies/ shetlands etc that are often drifting & fishing close to channels.

So even tho' it is difficult to see, please take care in the presence of small craft as you pass them.
 
Searush said:
Interesting to see a couple of posters mention poor rearward visibility. It is my belief that this, together with the speed of MoBo's, that leads to many drivers seldom looking other than directly ahead - after all, "no-one will overtake me" (a dangerous assumption!). The consequence is that they never consider, or see, the devastation caused by their wash in calm waters on small low freeboard dinghies/ shetlands etc that are often drifting & fishing close to channels.

So even tho' it is difficult to see, please take care in the presence of small craft as you pass them.
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This is an age old argument. For me there's a big difference between a small boat fishing or whatever near a busy navigational channel and a small boat in sheltered water like a river or harbour. I would certainly minimise my wake for the latter but IMHO, any small boat that puts itself near a busy navigational channel shouldn't be there if a mobo wake is going to put it in danger for the simple reason that the wake from commercial vessels like ferries, pilot boats, fishing boats etc is going to be far worse than any mobo and, for sure, no commercial vessel is going to bother about slowing down because it's passing close to a small boat
 
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