Leaving/Returning to a Berth Single-Handed...

[V1701]

Hi all,

I read a good thread on anchoring techniques when single-handed but couldn't find anything about leaving/returning to a berth single-handed, so it would be great to hear from anyone with experience to describe techniques, offer any tips, etc. to a relative novice.

(...and any recommendations for books covering single-handed sailing, one I've seen is "Shorthanded Sailing: Singlehanded or Short of Crew" by Alastair Buchan, published 2006.)

Many thanks,
David.

 

[tudorsailor]

What kind of berth are you coming back to? In the Med, stern to mooring is the norm, and requires different skill to coming alongside or to a finger berth

TudorSailor

 

[dratsea]

Plan it all well ahead, try to get berth with wind blowing you on, even if you know which berth you are going to put out fenders both sides and a mooring warp at each corner of the boat, tied on, bow lines brought back to shrouds stern ropes to hand (but make sure cannot fall over side because the prop will always find it!). Lastly have a spring made up both sides, midships cleat, bowline at end and long enough to bring boat to a halt if put on the end of pontoon cleat before front of boat is on the pontoon. If you can get your spring on as you go past cleat on end pontoon then gentle motor ahead and you will be held snug against the pontoon. Practice makes perfect so especially if it is a windless day have a go! (but it still goes pearshaped for me!)

 

[jimi]

my technique is firstly lots of fenders ;-)
then have a measured spring with made up loop from the centre led aft, drive into berth , pop spring on first cleat on pontoon , drive forward until boat taking oup strain on cleat , wheel hard over and leave prop on tickover driving against spring then sort out bow stern lines, springs etc .. dead easy if tou get the loop on the cleat with a boat hook first time!

 

[Stemar]

Assuming it's a standard sort of marina berth and with acknowledgement to posters above and before - I claim no originality:

1. Lots of fenders - both sides, plus a bow fender at the right height for the pontoon.

2. Always have a plan B.

3. Think about wind & tide and what they'll do to you as you manoeuvre. There's no shame in deciding that it's too risky to go in solo in present conditions.

4. Go "as slow as you can and as fast as you must" Slow gives you more time to think and means bumps are both less likely and less painful, but fast gives you better control, especially in a bit of breeze

5. A mid spring to drop over a finger-end cleat ready hanging on your boathook makes life an awful lot easier. If the cleats are closed loops, one of those gizmos on a pole that hooks on or puts the line though the loop with a quick stab is invaluable.

6. Once that's on, go slow as slow as you can to take up slack then idle in ahead with the helm hard over to pull your stern in while you step ashore and sort out the rest of the lines.

One last thought - beware of the bloke on the pontoon who wants to help. He's probably competent and willing to do what you ask, but he may turn out to be neither!

 

[Quandary]

What to do has been repeated for you well above, but if it is your permanent berth and you have a spring cleat at mid. deck you can rig a short spring from outer (first) cleat on the pontoon. Fix a metre of strong flexy rod,(bit of old grp fishing rod with a plastic hook, gutter bracket perhaps) on the pontoon vertically beside it, you drop your spring bowline over the hook as you leave and it is very easy to pick up as you return. Once it is on your spring cleat you are in. To avoid having to leave the cockpit, shorten the shoreline, a similar short line from the deck cleat with a carbineer can be snapped on to the bowline as you pass. When I did this the tail of the line from mid deck was unsecured at the cleat but led back to a ST cockpit winch to give me some control. The downside is that with the latter set up you have to replace it with a proper spring, so after practicing a bit I did the former.

 

[OspreyMarineBoy]

Might not be cricket? but it's easy!

Sail a Moody 44 single handed. Maxprop feathering prop provides great stopping and reversing with no kick, or walk. Bow thruster - yes I know! - and it has a wireless remote control. Can get a stern line on, get off the boat with the painter having been led aft, and blat the bow in from the pontoon with the remote. Is this cheating??

 

[Quandary]

Cheating? Definitely and bragging about it too!

 

[TQA]

Get competent help on the dock if at all possible. I found that a call to the office that I was singlehanded almost always produced someone on the dock.

The ones I hated were the ultra short finger piers [ < 1/4 boat length ] with two widely set posts and shorter posts at the dock requiring loops to be dropped over the posts. Lasso practice would have been useful.

Prepare well with fenders on the downwind side and a spareavailable, lines at the ready, cleated off on the boat and the down wind one led aft outside the shrouds from the bow and forward from the stern. The upwind bow line was draped over the pulpit. Make sure that if they are accessed from the dock they are not led around something. . Be sure you are aware of anything that could cause a hang up. Have a spare line with a big loop at the ready and decide in advance which line you will go for first. I always went bow to and as the boat had a centre cockpit planned to drop a spring line over the rear upwind post first, then when that was cleated off midships with the bow at or just over the dock would scamper forward, jump ashore with the upwind bow line and secure that. Then the other bow line. At this point the stern might be approaching the down wind outside post making it easy to drop the loop over that. The spring line could then be taken aft and the boat centred in the slip.

I did the ICW from Fl to Wa DC and sometimes you just had to use these post slips. I can still raise a cold sweat when I remember some of the pickles I got into. All this was made even more stressful by the ships cat who loved to go ashore but had a totally optimistic view of his leaping abilities.

However it was always a high stress operation, esp when windy and as the boat had a mind of it's own in reverse. I infintely preferred to anchor out.

 

[photodog]

I find that carefull thinking in advance, and this starts before you leave the berth... is the best preparation.

1) Ensure that there is no rubbish on the pontoon before you leave to cause problems upon return
2) prepare a secondary liine for use, already attatched to cleat, and leave on the pontton ready to pick up when coming back.
3) when preparing to return, carefully consider tide and wind.
4) prepare fenders before entering marina.
5) prepare one center cleat line ready to use before entering marina.
6) run this one line carefull back to the sprayhood area, clear of all obstructions and outside of the guardlines..ready to pick up and use as you come alongside.
7) slowly approach the berth, with engine at tickover.
8) as the boat enters the berth, engine into neutral
9) leave helm quickly, grasping earlier prepared line... (See step 6) and move to step carefully over guardlines and onto ponttoon.

NOW THIS IS THE IMPORTANT BIT

10) as the end of the pontoon comes alongside, step forward, placing right foot onto pontoon, but ensuring that left foot snares the top guardline on the boat,
11) tip forward onto pontton as gravity takeshold.. clenching line in one hand and desperatley attempting to arrest fall with the other, as the boat moves forward, piroeting you in a clockwise direction.
12) fall flat onto pontoon, dropping glasses over opposite side, and in an attempt to grab them lose line.
13) as you attempt to regain your dignity boat will come to a sudden halt with the bow smacking into the only 3 inches of pontoon with no fendering.
14) Stern will now drift across and rest on neighbors boat...
15) Boat is now parked.

16) Casually dust oneself off.. pick up line that was previously left on pontoon in step 2 above.
17) climb back onto boat via pulpit, use line above to haul bow across to finger.
18) retrieve line from center cleat, and leap across chasm to to finger. Retie as needed.


For real experts try leaving the boat in gear whilst doing all of the above.. this ensures that the bow will be firmly attatched to the pontoon.


THIS IS A TRIED AND TESTED AND ENTIRELY RELIABLE METHOD OF PARKING A BOAT SINGLE HANDED!
I find that this technique is quite dependable... and usually more so when being observed by your fellow berth holders, or visiting school boats.

 

[Searush]

Planning, preparation & even more preparation & planning, oh, & did I mention planning & preparation?

Get the fenders & lines sorted out early, preferably before you enter the harbour or whatever. I have a bow & stern line (about 1.5-2x boat length) I bring them outside of everything & leave the two ends coiled just ahead of the sprayhood.

Choose an approach against wind/ tide (whichever strongest- usually tide) and aim to stop alongside your chosen berth. A ferry glide is the best manouvre - it is what ferries use after all!

If you have suitable helpers you can throw the lines, if not step ashore with both lines tie one & then other. Then sort out springs & warps as required.

This will work on any quay, wall or pontoon & you can even climb a ladder with the two coils in your hand. Preset line lengths are fine if you only ever tie up at the same berth, but most of us move around a bit - otherwise we would buy houseboats or caravans.

If you are going slowly, it is easy to accelerate a little if needed. Be aware of what will happen when you go astern (prop walk etc) and of the effect of windage as you slow down, the bow or stern may get blown off course.

Always review what actually happens against what you thought would happen & try to understand what was different from your plan. Even if it goes exactly as planned, make sure you understand why & what might be different next time.

Oh & practice, practice & practice.

 

[Quandary]

I... (See step 6)

THIS IS A TRIED AND TESTED AND ENTIRELY RELIABLE METHOD OF PARKING A BOAT SINGLE HANDED!
I find that this technique is quite dependable... and usually more so when being observed by your fellow berth holders, or visiting school boats.

The only advice on this thread which demonstrates real experience and has clearly been fully tested in the real world.

 

[Danny Jo]

In the unlikely event that you manage one of your first hundred or so single-handed marina berthings without a hitch, don't be disappointed to find that it's midnight and there is no-one around to witness it.

 

[V1701]

In the unlikely event that you manage one of your first hundred or so single-handed marina berthings without a hitch, don't be disappointed to find that it's midnight and there is no-one around to witness it.

Nice one, yes marina spectator sport cannon fodder, that will be me for sure!

 

[doug748]

Hi all,

.... techniques, offer any tips, etc.
David.

Do not underestimate the comedy possibilities as you leave your berth.

It looks as if your boat might well perform well in reverse. If not, consider pushing the damm thing backwards, with the tiller locked in the desired direction, and leaping for the deck at an opportune moment. An established technique for a long keeler.

A good idea of how your boat will react to a burst of throttle is vital as well.

 

[Ex-SolentBoy]

Sail a Moody 44 single handed. Maxprop feathering prop provides great stopping and reversing with no kick, or walk. Bow thruster - yes I know! - and it has a wireless remote control. Can get a stern line on, get off the boat with the painter having been led aft, and blat the bow in from the pontoon with the remote. Is this cheating??

Definitely not cheating as I have a similar boat and do things the same way.

In fact, it was doing just this that I learnt what the range of the wireless remote was......... not quite enough it turned out!

 

[Norman_E]

Sail a Moody 44 single handed. Maxprop feathering prop provides great stopping and reversing with no kick, or walk. Bow thruster - yes I know! - and it has a wireless remote control. Can get a stern line on, get off the boat with the painter having been led aft, and blat the bow in from the pontoon with the remote. Is this cheating??

If it is the safest way to do it, cheating is to be encouraged!

 

[Blueboatman]

Gently does it

It can be helpful to pad the corner of your finger pontoon really well and even the main pontoon where the bow might ride up..Then you can come in really tight in a cross wind or downwind without fear of scratching the boat, or worse, drifting sideways and entangling on your neighbour..

Coming in I definitely favour Jimis method. Get that midship line on, tight, and sort the rest out at your leisure.

Getting out ? 'Fraid I can't help you there, I have a longkeeler so just prefer walking the boat out and letting the wind/tide blow the boat round until its pointing correctly. Anything else gets, er, unpredictably messy.

 

[Danny Jo]

A good idea of how your boat will react to a burst of throttle is vital as well.

A fellow forumite impressed me by his insistence on practising stopping and "turning on-the-spot" (the boating equivalent of the car-driving test's three-point-turn) out on the open water before entering a rather crowded dock. This was in spite of having sailed the boat for at least ten years. Then again, given that his boat is a long-keeler, perhaps it was because he had sailed the boat for a least ten years.

But whatever boat you have, it's a good idea to take it somewhere quiet for practising docking and casting off. The more difficult the manoeuvre, the more one ought to practise it, but I suspect that many of us find excuses to focus our exercises on the relatively easy manoeuvres - for example, practising man-overboard when the weather is fine and gazing at the horizon when the weather is rough.

Planning and practice are not only crucial, as Searush has pointed out; they are interdependent. Obviously, you cannot fine-tune your plan without practising it. My advice for the first few exercises is to: (1) have on board another competent crew (ACC), preferably not a part owner of the vessel; (2) hand ACC a recent copy of Yachting Monthly, Playboy, Financial Times or other medium sufficiently interesting to prevent him or her being perturbed by your occasional involuntary profanities and vocal self-admonishments; (3) instruct ACC to stay below and not look up from aforesaid medium until further notice, which in this context is either the phrase "Er, Frank/Julia, would you mind putting that YM/PB/FT down and giving me a hand?", or expletives accompanied by a splash loud enough to suggest that you have fallen overboard.

 

[mikehibb]

Do not forget to disconnect the shore power first when leaving.

Last year our neighbour popped out for a sail, luckily I was aboard and there was also a kind helper on the pontoon.

I yelled, owner put boat full astern (med stern to berth) guy on pontoon disconnected shore lead, passed to me and I passed to skipper, saved him getting his plug drenched. Also saved our shared pontoon power post taking a dunking.