Near death whilst berthing! Advice needed!

[penfold]

Never worked for me. Gave up on that years ago in spite of what others say. It just does not suit my boat. I have been in well over 300 different berths & completed circa 275 lock passages, of which 80% SH. So I have had practice.
But I do seem to be able to manage Ok- fortunately.

There aren't many boats it won't work with, mainly where the rudder has no propwash over it or the prop heavily offset on the quarter which can have peculiar characteristics.

 

[Bouba]

If you come into port and fail to dock on twenty attempts and yet do not damage your own or anyone else’s boat..then you are a great boater! and don’t let anyone tell you differently. Docking is the most stressful part of boating...you will get better but it’s always a stressful time...when it goes wrong there’s an audience...and your success will be solo....but just occasionally...there will be an audience who will gasp and clap...and all your life’s effort will be worth it

 

[stranded]

Beginners stupidity! How do we come alongside a pontoon and berth? I literally just messed it up 20 times in a row and had to give up. Believe it or not I've had ownboat tuition so this should be easy.
I have a 7m powerboat.
This is how I believe we do it:

Approach at 20 degree angle at 2 knots. Reduce angle as we come alongside. Put into reverse for a click and stear towards pontoon.

Is that about right?

Caveat - I am a sailor - but if I were on a sail boat then 1. As you near the pontoon you want to steer away from it, not towards it; and 2. prop walk - if you wang it in reverse and prop walk is against you, without countervailing forces eg wind, the spinning of the prop at low/no/transitional speed will be pushing your stern away from the pontoon. But motorboats may be different!

 

[Daydream believer]

Docking is the most stressful part of boating...you will get better but it’s always a stressful time..

I disagree. It should not be stressful at all. I enjoy arriving-- at a new port in particular. One just needs to take stock of the conditions, size up how to do the approach & just do it. I make sure that all lines & fenders are rigged BOTH sides in case of a sudden change of plan. That way I am less likely to get caught out. People are often willing to catch a line if one asks.

In tight berths --St Peter Port,fingers on RH side is a good example- I simply ask the HM to watch me and ask him to give me a nudge if I get out of line. So far I have not needed it.

On the other hand, leaving can be a bit stressfull, because one can get "marina bound" & the sight of a few white horses can get the adrenaline going. But once the sails are up & one is settled down it all goes away..

In St Peter Port & similar tight berths, I usually give the boats nearby a shout, tell them I am SH & ask them to be ready in case I drift over near them. So far so good. But most owners will happily stand on the stern of their boat for a minute if you ask, so that there will be no damage. That gives one confidence & that is half the battle.

 

[Momac]

I had a single engined 25ft sterndrive motorboat. Often the wind or the flow would win.
I though it was me who was not so good at boat handling.
Then I changed to a twin engined 33ft sterndrive and realised my skills were above average.

 

[Supertramp]

Some observations from my experience as a beginner at marina berthing.

1. Practice at an empty pontoon or quiet fueling dock to get the feel of the boat and wind and current. Preferably without audience!

2. 2 knts sounds like a lot to me - going into astern hard causes unexpected things to happen on my boat. I favour as slow as possible, then gentle astern will stop you (gently). How slow depends on the boat weight, keel etc.

3. Stay in neutral at near idle. Engage gear briefly to steer and maintain momentum (appreciate this won't work in a light boat).

4. Use a midships line or a loose line rigged to fore and aft cleats. First job is stop the boat, then worry about other lines. I use a midships line in my home berth premarked so it will stop the boat.

5. Recognise there are some berthing manouvers that you, your boat or the wind and tide are not going to deal with!

The hardest thing is staying calm. I always fully prepare for any eventuality even at my home berth on a calm day.

 

[V1701]

To the OP, so what did you do after you had to give up?

Midships cleat - if yours is the sort of boat that could benefit from such and there isn't one there already it's usually easy enough to fit one (access to underside of side deck required). It can make a massive difference, certainly does for me singlehanding a very heavy long keeled boat.

Sounds like a bit more tuition wouldn't go amiss, once you understand all the variables - the boat related ones and the external ones, think through your strategy before you make your attempt. I don't know if any of that helps but you'll get there...

 

[Bouba]

To the OP, so what did you do after you had to give up?

Midships cleat - if yours is the sort of boat that could benefit from such and there isn't one there already it's usually easy enough to fit one (access to underside of side deck required). It can make a massive difference, certainly does for me singlehanding a very heavy long keeled boat.

Sounds like a bit more tuition wouldn't go amiss, once you understand all the variables - the boat related ones and the external ones, think through your strategy before you make your attempt. I don't know if any of that helps but you'll get there...

A midship cleat is probably one of the world’s greatest inventions

 

[stuartwineberg]

So much to be said for the midships spring line ..... come in at shallow angle ... drop line over cleat / bollard ashore ... ease ahead and as line takes up ... keep engine slow ahead and rudder over keeping stern in.

Rest of lines at leisure.

Doesn't matter if sailboat or mobo ... if under power ... it works.

+100 this is absolutely the way to go. To be clear refueller means turn the wheel to point the bow away from the pontoon as the tension comes on. Loads of ways to do this from the boat, a line with a big loop in it and some plastic tube on the loop to hold it open so it’s easy to drop over the cleat.

 

[johnalison]

Although the details of speed, gear, and lines may vary, the gist of the process is as stated, to approach at an angle and end up parallel. Ideally, the end product is that the boat is lying stationary at the dockside, or, better still, a few inches off. A common error is to approach at too fine an angle and to still have forward motion when contact with the dock or rafted boat is made. The aim is to cause the boat to be move exactly sideways at the end, and the process of achieving this needs to be practised. I often approach in my fin-keeled boat at as much as sixty degrees, make a sharp turn to roughly parallel and give a short burst astern. With this approach I can fit in between boats at both ends. Fine adjustment is needed to compensate for the prop effect and that of the wind, but providing I am not approaching a windward berth on my ‘wrong’ side, a neat arrival is usually possible (if not always achieved).

 

[steve yates]

Local problem is the entrance to Rochefort marina. The river flows quite briskly so one has to judge the point to turn into the entrance. It is not something done gently, turn, then plenty of reverse and quick mooring lines to secure to the short pontoon before the tide gate.

Aye but I dont think thats the op’s issue.

 

[William_H]

Here in west oz one must hold a recreational skipper's ticket to command a boat with engine. Training courses abound. The government department put out this work book for the training. https://transport.wa.gov.au/mediaFiles/marine/MAC_P_RST_Workbook7.pdf It conntains a huge amount of info for mobo owners particularly but any sailor. Page 100 gives instruction on approaching and berthing. However totally devoted to outboard powered boats (or with steerable leg). Lots of other safety stuff. ol'will PS rer another thead on anchor rope they specify actual length of rope (rode) required by law)

 

[Greg2]

As already mentioned wind and current/tide are key factors that have to be considered in close quarters manoeuvring but so too are the characteristics of the boat. A 7m powerboat could be on a shaft, outdrive or outboard, all of which will behave differently and will enable different tactics e.g. directional power from an outdrive / outboard can be very useful but out of gear steerage diminishes swiftly.

Hull form will also have an effect - a planing hull can be very different to a semi-displacement or displacement hull. This was brought home to me when I helmed a Broom 42CL, which is semi-displacement with a notable keel. At the time I was used to our Broom 41, which had a planing hull and a tiny skeg keel and when coming into an alongside berth a quick tickle astern on the outboard engine would bring the stern in quite nicely. I tried the same bringing the 42 onto a visitors mooring at Haslar and for a minute just couldn’t fathom why the aft end of the boat stubbornly remained several feet from the pontoon. Fortunately the penny dropped fairly quickly and I managed to bodge my way alongside.

A midship spring is a good tip but not always possible without an appropriately placed cleat.

Knowing a bit more from the OP would be helpful i.e. boat and propulsion type and what was going wrong e.g. were they consistently a few feet away from the pontoon etc

 

[Obi]

In tight berths --St Peter Port,fingers on RH side is a good example- I simply ask the HM to watch me and ask him to give me a nudge if I get out of line. So far I have not needed it.

Learning to berth an 11 tonne long keeled ketch as my first single handed yacht was dauting but actually easy once (as mentioned) the characteristics of the boat are figured out. I came into St Peter Port one summer after a trip down the race with no electronics. There was a boating festival on and SPP was rammed, there was one horrible space to get into. As mentioned above, I got the cheers and claps from hundreds of other boaters and spectators present, but no one could see the HM and his rubber RIB hidden behind the s/board freeboard pushing me around and into the berth

I agree:
1) There are often plenty of people to help, but don;t rely on that.
2) Midship cleat, very helpful.
3) Nothing wrong with aborting and trying again.

Comments 2- The first time I saw a gentleman twice my age gently dock his beautiful classic yacht (40ft) into a berth, and gently lasso and secure the midship, winch it in. It was amazing to watch, a thing of serene beauty. At this point I had not single handed anything but I knew I was going to have to very soon.
Comment on 3 - Your abort of a berth needs a back out plan, and the back out plan needs to be as carefully thought out, if not more carefully thought out than the approach into the berth. Why? because you do not necessarily know how the approach will go wrong, (it shouldn't but it does on occasion), so not knowing what will go wrong, means you might not know what kind of position your boat is in when you do need to abort. With that in mind, it is probably better to abort early than late. It is probably late aborts that cause the worst calamities. I imagine 99% of us have had at least one or maybe two calamities, it is part of the learning process. I recall being pushed sideways down the fairway, past my finger, and into a dead end with no room for manoeuvre. Prop walk working against me, wind and tide making it worse. That was caused by a lack of a proper back out plan. Your back out plan needs to factor in exactly the same factors that your approach did, but with the additional consideration that this time you are going backwards and what ever that introduces into the mix. My long keel 11 tonner had no steerage when going slowly astern, so I always had to get some speed up to be able to get steerage. That was something I had to consider in my back out plans.

As for Day Dream Believer not being stressed by it. I hope one day to get to that level of confidence. There are certainly times when it does not stress me, but I usually only find that out at the last moments when I look at where I am parking and think, "Yeah, piece of cake". Until that point I don't know what I will encounter and it is always at the back of my mind as a moment that can easily go wrong.

 

[capnsensible]

You may have had some off pontoon breeze to fox you. Watching a mooring cock up one day, a fellow forumite said to me:

"Sometimes power boaters forget they are a sailing boat at low speed"

.

They aren't. They are maneuvering a power boat with no keel. Suggest he/she tries it.....

 

[capnsensible]

Dear Yachties,

I'm sure all your tips are well intentioned. But however so, no use to a bloke with a 7m motor boat. Try it. You will find you need to re think it all.

Same for a twin screwed motor boat.

You need to keep moving.

Stop is not top. In and out of gear, use that helm. Keep moving.

Guess how I know?

 

[stuartwineberg]

Dear Yachties,

I'm sure all your tips are well intentioned. But however so, no use to a bloke with a 7m motor boat. Try it. You will find you need to re think it all.

Same for a twin screwed motor boat.

You need to keep moving.

Stop is not top. In and out of gear, use that helm. Keep moving.

Guess how I know?

Agree, when I was learning in a mobo a big mistake was not using the ability to stop quickly with a bit of reverse. That meant I tried to drift onto the berth at almost no speed. Inevitably got taken by wind, tide whatever. Your “stop is not top“ line says it really well. I do disagree about use the helm on a twin screw shaft drive boat, the rudders don’t do much at low speed, better to drive it like a tank on the 2 throttles. I crew on a motor cat for disabled people and under about 5 knots you centre the helm and ignore it, just work the engines.

 

[capnsensible]

Agree, when I was learning in a mobo a big mistake was not using the ability to stop quickly with a bit of reverse. That meant I tried to drift onto the berth at almost no speed. Inevitably got taken by wind, tide whatever. Your “stop is not top“ line says it really well. I do disagree about use the helm on a twin screw shaft drive boat, the rudders don’t do much at low speed, better to drive it like a tank on the 2 throttles. I crew on a motor cat for disabled people and under about 5 knots you centre the helm and ignore it, just work the engines.

I was taught to teach on twin screw motor boats by an absolute master magician! He showed me how to use the helm as well as the throttles.

However, I spent some time driving sailing catamarans with two engines and found the helm of less use.

The great thing about boats, for me, is moving from type to type and figuring out how they all work.

 

[stuartwineberg]

I was taught to teach on twin screw motor boats by an absolute master magician! He showed me how to use the helm as well as the throttles.

However, I spent some time driving sailing catamarans with two engines and found the helm of less use.

The great thing about boats, for me, is moving from type to type and figuring out how they all work.

I get that. It was a Hardy 36 the weight of a bus with massive props and tiny rudders. Now sailing an 8 ton moody 36 with a relatively long chord fin keel. I knock that out of gear about 50 yards from home berth and drift in under momentum, steers just fine. Like you say horses for courses.

 

[capnsensible]

At the moment I'm hopping between an Alpa 9.6 long keel yacht, a Sigma 33, a Beneteau 331, a Fairline 47 targa and.....a 7m motor boat with a 150hp outboard!

Enjoying them all.