I said that to a friend that had a Malo long keel (35?) .....have you tried?...upshot was we went out in open water no tide /wind and I demonstrated how to steer in astern.......but I didn't and I couldn't ...no matter in gear out of gear and any speed...
Try dragging a stout handled bucket about 5 to 10 feet off the bow. This tends to help directional stability. I didn't believe it either until it was demonstrated to me and I had a few goes myself. I saw it work.
Agreed. The motto “slow is pro” generally applies.Whenever I used to hear full rpm or rapid forward /reverse changes of gearbox, it was always wise to just happen to pop up on deck and have a large fender to hand..
As the ski instructors used to quip
Any fool can go fast
But the skill is in doing things as slowly as you can whilst remaining in full control
Having spent so many sailing years in long keeled boats and or with a quarter hung propellor, the wind, the tide, the current, a rope are your bestest friends. A gearbox and throttle less so.
Unless used judiciously in short ‘ straighten up’ bursts and even then….
The tale as told sounds completely daft, borderline shotgun mentality to parking-Bam! Ah, it is The Glorious twelfth
We have to move a bit quicker to have good control. The only time I get worried about manoeuvring and parking is when I’m stuck behind someone who pauses for 30 seconds between every sloth like move. And usually they’ve deliberately overtaken us at some point in the harbour entrance.
Yes that may help, but the problem he really had was trying to go stern to on the dock in a confined harbourTry dragging a stout handled bucket about 5 to 10 feet off the bow. This tends to help directional stability. I didn't believe it either until it was demonstrated to me and I had a few goes myself. I saw it work.
I know of at least one instructor who damaged a school boat and was never employed by the school again. It is my understanding the instructors are only employed for selected courses in the school I know well. They are not fully employed, many do courses that fit in with their life style, so it is not a career that can be destroyed. If you read my post #2 again you will see I am not vindictive. If a school receives a number of adverse comments about an instructor, including from students, then the school may make a decision to drop an instructor. This instructor was not teaching how to berth safely and gently according to the OP, then every student went "pontoon bashing". Surely he should be able to show the students how it should be done.
If I am dissatisfied with some service I have paid for, then I deal with it. I don't expect, or need, somebody interceding on my behalf.
I dunno...the old saying was ...it sells newspapers....I'm sure you used to buy them.
No guv!
Appropriate speed taking into account wind and tide is a better way of putting it.
One of my instructors always said "crash slowly".
I've had the privilege of coaching the nervous, the cocky and the vast majority of 'willing to learn' in berthing situations many thousands of times. Yup, that many. That's why I had 14 fenders on my school boat. And by the end of each course, 4 people who could tie a clove hitch in the dark, in the rain and probably stood on one leg if I asked.
They certainly do not park oil tankers, container ships or cruise liners at speed, so why do some people think pulling into a berth quickly and applying reverse is what the way it should be done. I normally berth bow in, but sometimes I berth stern in, my aim is to do it singlehanded and to brake my boat using a spring. I might be close to 6 tons in weight but it is very possible in all weathers.
I use a bow fender when entering a marina berth, as follows:
100%! And I unfortunately had to do exactly this after a week of hour building before my Yachtmaster exam. The school owner did not appear surprised or question my complaint. The instructor did next to nothing for a week leaving the other "fast track" students to ask me for advice on everything from sail trim to navigation as I had joined the crew just to get qualifying hours on a large enough boat and some refresher training before my exam. I didn't pay x hundred quid to instruct on behalf of the school and was not competent in the RYA methodology to do so. In contrast the next week we had a cracking instructor who made sure to correct all my bad habits and the test when well.