mainsail
Active Member
It's all about the wind...
Changing from sail to motorboating I too, unthinkingly, bought a boat with a single engine outdrive - thinking only yachts need take the wind into consideration.I was wrong, of course.
Single-engine outdrive motorboats are by far the most difficult vessels to manoeuvre into a marina berth backwards - and they are also far more susceptible to the wind than any sailboat.
I experienced exactly the same phenomenon as you did when going astern into my berth. With a wind on the bow or on the port side, the damn bow kept careening off to starboard - no matter what approach I used and I invariably clouted the sailing boat next door. ( Happily (or unhappily) that happens to be mine too!) I thought there must be some kind of wind-gauge thingy in the chandlers that would tell me how much wind there was on the bow and what direction it was coming from. There isn't. So I cut a little tell-tale ribbon of sailcloth and tied it onto the bowrail. This does the trick.
The tell-tale is enormously useful. Instead of trying to rely on other people's flags and masthead indicators, my tell-tale ribbon tells me what the wind is actually doing to my bow. If the wind is across the berth or is on the bow I can now judge it's direction and strength much more easily - and prepare accordingly.
The key thing is to find a way of controlling the wayward bow of your boat.
Backing into a confined berth there are no clever tricks with the engine or steering that will work (believe me I've tried) . There are no magazine articles or internet articles which will tell you how to do this successfully. There are no instructors and no courses which will teach you how to solve the problem. In fact the instructors can't do it either.
What you need is is simple . It's ANOTHER force to act on the bow. If you - like me - can't afford a bow thruster, then I've found the best solution is a bow-rope (threaded through a port-bow fairlead or starboard bow fairlead depending on which side you are docking) . You HAVE to get this bowline around the outer cleat of your finger pontoon. I use an ordinary boathook with a "Dock a Rennie" rope-holder (£10) velcroed on it. The bowline is attached to this (allow plenty of slack).
When you're lined up to enter the berth and the steering wheel is midships, give a burst astern. Grab the boat hook (with line attached) with your free hand and get the bowline around the OUTER cleat of your finger pontoon. You now have a line from your bow running around the cleat and leading back to the stern where you are holding the other end in your hand. Pull the line taut (so it won't come off) and give the engine another short burst astern. The bow ( which wants to blow off to starboard) is pulled straight . You will find your stern will stop where it's supposed to, so it's easy to get onto the pontoon and secure the lines. You have now tamed your boat and shown it who's boss.
An alternative to the Dock-A Rennie is the "Dockhooker" - a metal hook which you just thread onto the bow line . You then just throw the dockhooker at the pontoon. It will usually catch the far side of the pontoon or a cleat (- but might just let go when you relax tension on the line) (see http://www.dockhooker.com/dockhooker/index.html).
Changing from sail to motorboating I too, unthinkingly, bought a boat with a single engine outdrive - thinking only yachts need take the wind into consideration.I was wrong, of course.
Single-engine outdrive motorboats are by far the most difficult vessels to manoeuvre into a marina berth backwards - and they are also far more susceptible to the wind than any sailboat.
I experienced exactly the same phenomenon as you did when going astern into my berth. With a wind on the bow or on the port side, the damn bow kept careening off to starboard - no matter what approach I used and I invariably clouted the sailing boat next door. ( Happily (or unhappily) that happens to be mine too!) I thought there must be some kind of wind-gauge thingy in the chandlers that would tell me how much wind there was on the bow and what direction it was coming from. There isn't. So I cut a little tell-tale ribbon of sailcloth and tied it onto the bowrail. This does the trick.
The tell-tale is enormously useful. Instead of trying to rely on other people's flags and masthead indicators, my tell-tale ribbon tells me what the wind is actually doing to my bow. If the wind is across the berth or is on the bow I can now judge it's direction and strength much more easily - and prepare accordingly.
The key thing is to find a way of controlling the wayward bow of your boat.
Backing into a confined berth there are no clever tricks with the engine or steering that will work (believe me I've tried) . There are no magazine articles or internet articles which will tell you how to do this successfully. There are no instructors and no courses which will teach you how to solve the problem. In fact the instructors can't do it either.
What you need is is simple . It's ANOTHER force to act on the bow. If you - like me - can't afford a bow thruster, then I've found the best solution is a bow-rope (threaded through a port-bow fairlead or starboard bow fairlead depending on which side you are docking) . You HAVE to get this bowline around the outer cleat of your finger pontoon. I use an ordinary boathook with a "Dock a Rennie" rope-holder (£10) velcroed on it. The bowline is attached to this (allow plenty of slack).
When you're lined up to enter the berth and the steering wheel is midships, give a burst astern. Grab the boat hook (with line attached) with your free hand and get the bowline around the OUTER cleat of your finger pontoon. You now have a line from your bow running around the cleat and leading back to the stern where you are holding the other end in your hand. Pull the line taut (so it won't come off) and give the engine another short burst astern. The bow ( which wants to blow off to starboard) is pulled straight . You will find your stern will stop where it's supposed to, so it's easy to get onto the pontoon and secure the lines. You have now tamed your boat and shown it who's boss.
An alternative to the Dock-A Rennie is the "Dockhooker" - a metal hook which you just thread onto the bow line . You then just throw the dockhooker at the pontoon. It will usually catch the far side of the pontoon or a cleat (- but might just let go when you relax tension on the line) (see http://www.dockhooker.com/dockhooker/index.html).
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