Petercatterall
New member
I would like to share this manouver with you. If you wish to practice please let me know the time and place.
It was a (rare) fine day in Ardrossan and I was introducing my brother and his son to sailing.
Little breeze so we just motored about a bit and headed back for the marina.
SWIMBO was aboard and the new potential crew had been drilled in the docking manouver.
With ideal conditions and the large crew I anticipated text book berthing....
Gently down between the pontoons, hard over to line up with my berth (next to a very new looking 41 ft Benetau).... looking good, touch astern to take the way off... funny we seemed to go faster...dont believe it....blast astern... now going really fast ahead.
No where to go but straight into the pontoon!!
When the dust settled I found no one injured and unbelievably little damage, the bow had been pierced by the pontoon girder but not shattered I guess I have the strength of the Colvic hull to thank for this?
You may guess that the gearbox had jammed ahead and a subsequent check revealed no oil on the gearbox dip stick, just half a pint brought the level back up and the gearbox started to work again. I do check the oil but not every trip (until now)... We live (if we're lucky) and learn!!
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It was a (rare) fine day in Ardrossan and I was introducing my brother and his son to sailing.
Little breeze so we just motored about a bit and headed back for the marina.
SWIMBO was aboard and the new potential crew had been drilled in the docking manouver.
With ideal conditions and the large crew I anticipated text book berthing....
Gently down between the pontoons, hard over to line up with my berth (next to a very new looking 41 ft Benetau).... looking good, touch astern to take the way off... funny we seemed to go faster...dont believe it....blast astern... now going really fast ahead.
No where to go but straight into the pontoon!!
When the dust settled I found no one injured and unbelievably little damage, the bow had been pierced by the pontoon girder but not shattered I guess I have the strength of the Colvic hull to thank for this?
You may guess that the gearbox had jammed ahead and a subsequent check revealed no oil on the gearbox dip stick, just half a pint brought the level back up and the gearbox started to work again. I do check the oil but not every trip (until now)... We live (if we're lucky) and learn!!
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