Sailing into marina berth

[bilbobaggins]

A few years ago, sailed with a couple of friends on a lumpen 70s boat from Cardiff, just after top of an 11.5 metre tide. 15 minutes out from the Barrage, the engine failed - a Vetus plastic potty had melted. So, for the next couple of days, we worked out the Bristol Channel the traditional way, hooking up the start of the flood, before we got a fair breeze for Cork. ( It being Easter Weekend, and Wales was closed )

We had to short-tack up the Owenboy River to the Royal Cork pontoons ( no leccy, no sounder! ) - watched, as it turned out, by the club's new Admiral and his drinking team, taking bets on where we would run aground - and got alongside before the bar shut.

Later on the same delivery trip, the gearbox linkage failed off Malin Head, so we had to sail into unknown Port Ellen at night, in a rising gale, with only a MacMillan's chartlet and some bravado. We saw no HIDB moorings, so anchored under sail up close to the windward beach. The next few days saw us anchor under sail off a castle just north of Crinan, then sail through the Dorus Mor and the Sound of Luing onto a mooring off the Oban SC.

My older, grey-haired friend liked that mooring so much, he bought it, and trained home!

( This thread is beginning to read like the Four Yorkshiremen sketch! "....Think that was rough? Tha' had it easy!" ) /forums/images/graemlins/wink.gif

 

[Guest]

Used to sail my tallinn Race boat in / out of Pirita Marina all the time ... o/bd was redundant - just there as emergency.

Mooring was bow to jetty - with stern to bouys. So we had to turn her round before doing anything else .... then hoist whatever sail we felt best at the time .... haul like crazy on the line to the buoy to get boat moving .... steer out of moorings and then hoist other sail .... tacking out .....

All good fun ....

Coming back in .... glide in with single sail up .... gauge speed and point to drop last sail .... then its last bit of momentum to the bouy ..... pull her up to jetty, slip on lines.

I did make one change to the lines ..... The bouy aft line spans to the jetty so that it is continuous giving you that line to pull boat in. So I used it to also have lanyards fixed to that carried thge bow lines as well ... So pull up to jetty, the lanyards let you get hold of the bow lines and you slip them over the post. Before - you had to get them from the jetty and pass back to the boat ......

 

[Benbow]

I hear from a well-placed informant that last year, a certain well-known 70’ ketch sailed onto its berth in Ocean Village, as she often does.

Unfortunately, on this occasion, it went a bit pear-shaped as they were dropping the main. The skipper was distracted by a crew-member gushing blood from a mangled finger, and put the bow through the marina office demolishing an entire wall and ripping off a kitchen sink and a cupboard.

Oh Toddy, I would have given anything to witness that! And I would pay good money for the photos.

 

[Kilter]

Done it a few times. On the swinging mooring we often leave and arrive under sail, anchoring too.

 

[peterb]

[ QUOTE ]
( This thread is beginning to read like the Four Yorkshiremen sketch! "....Think that was rough? Tha' had it easy!" ) /forums/images/graemlins/wink.gif

[/ QUOTE ]

I've done it occasionally, usually due to engine problems of one sort or another. But the worst one was going out, not coming in.

On my Yachtmaster Practical Course, we had berthed up overnight in one of the Hamble marinas, just ahead of Yeoman XXI (a well known racing boat of those days). To get out, we had to squeeze between Yeoman and another almost equally big boat on the opposite pontoon. I was given the job, with the words "Peter, you can take her out. Under sail. <u>Backwards.</u>"

The instructor was Rod Carr, now CE of the RYA.

 

[Lakesailor]

I like to sail off and on my swinging mooring. It's getting a bit hazardous now as they keep dropping new moorings, so having the motor ticking over is a sensible precaution.
I usually manage it single handed, but there again it's only a tiddler.
(I could have put that better)

 

[Poignard]

"Many years ago", whilst living in Hong Kong, I saw a fleet of 22 Communist Chinese junks sail into the very congested Wanchai typhoon shelter together and raft up with no fuss and great precision. At that time it was becoming rare to see any sailing junks in Hong Kong, let alone 22. It was a wonderful sight.
The mystery of why they were there was solved when typhoon Wanda arrived and caused great devastation. What intrigued me was that these junks took shelter the day before the Met Office issued a typhoon warning.

 

[Grumpybear]

For ten years we sailed a Leisure 23 with a chronically unreliable petrol engine (and a very small fuel tank). On numerous occasions we sailed into our marina for various good or embarrassing reasons.

Last year we had to sail our 36 footer in after shedding a prop blade. Mercifully the lock was on free-flow and the wind direction and strength were perfect. Impressed the hell out of the audience of mostly stinkpotters.

 

[Thistle]

I've seen this from the other side. Motoring slowly through marina entrance and keeping well to the side of the channel was hailed by a yacht coming past me to the effect "Keep out of my way - don't you know I'm sailing?" Continued to keep out of his - and everyone else's - way and bit back the obvious comment about overtaking vessels.

 

[Guest]

Re-run ..... leaving Folly ...

Having had engine seize .... only thing left was to sail off the Folly Visitors pontoon .......

We were on the pontoon, inbetween two rafts of about 3 boats each. Sapre room maybe 15 - 20 ft each end.
So hold onto fwd spring (doubled back on board to be able to slip) ... slacking easy as boat moves stern out under main held in tight. Once stern out from pontoon ..... let go main sheets, unfurl and haul in genny to make bow swing out, letting go spring ......
Once bow pointing to open water ... sheet in main and sail out .... turn in mid-river to proceed downriver .....

Must say - felt really proud .... especially as you could hear certain Charter Co. skippers saying .... "Yer have to watch this ... etc."

Well much to their embarrassment it worked ........

 

[KevB]

Strange as almost all marinas along the south coast require you to use your engine when in the marina.

 

[Guest]

Considering the "squeeze-em" in style of most marinas especially on South Coast ... I would be a bit wary of any sailing into / out of berth by most you see out in boats !

 

[fisherman]

If you get the chance, read 'Last of the Sailing Coasters' by Ted (Edmund) Eglinton. ISBN 0 11 290336 3.

 

[Benbow]

Apologies if this is a granny/egg-sucking comment, but some may not have come across the trick of 'scandalising' a main. If the kicker is released you depower it significantly, but if you then pull up on the topping lift so that the boom sticks up at a silly angle, you kill the drive from the sail almost entirely when the wind is anywhere forward of a bit behind the beam. This can be very handy on coming in and on going out; its almost like having a main you can raise or drop in 2 seconds, and far better than sweeping a party of little old ladies off the pontoon with your boom when you suddenly realise you need to ease the mainsheet right off at the last minute.

Not so good with very swept-back shrouds though.

 

[Phoenix of Hamble]

And a complete no no for most modern boats with rod kickers.... /forums/images/graemlins/grin.gif

 

[Guest]

Rod kickers ...

As long as you have a topping-lift - disconnect the rod and learn to sail properly !!!! /forums/images/graemlins/grin.gif /forums/images/graemlins/grin.gif /forums/images/graemlins/grin.gif /forums/images/graemlins/grin.gif /forums/images/graemlins/grin.gif

 

[davidfox]

When you sail a Dinghy, you get into and out of very difficult situations quite easily, its just when you have the benefit of an engine for some time that you seem to forget/become frightened of doing it.

 

[StugeronSteve]

Somehow sailing a dinghy into a tight situation doesn't instill the petrifying fear of wrecking other peoples boats, that handling a cruiser does. I am sure that I could sail into my berth, but what would hapen to the adjacent motor cruiser when I dumped the main, or let the jib flog is another matter.

 

[RupertW]

Size and weight of the boat is a lot to do with it, certainly for me.

On bigger boats I'll happily sail up to a mooring but not into a marina, except perhaps the end pontoon if the engines dodgy. I went back to a smaller boat (24') last year partly because we'd missed being able to handle our boat like a dinghy.

I'm now often sailing within yards of leaving our marina berth, but admit that I do tend to have the engine in neutral until I'm completely clear.

 

[Phoenix of Hamble]

Re: Rod kickers ...

[ QUOTE ]
As long as you have a topping-lift - disconnect the rod and learn to sail properly !!!! /forums/images/graemlins/grin.gif /forums/images/graemlins/grin.gif /forums/images/graemlins/grin.gif /forums/images/graemlins/grin.gif /forums/images/graemlins/grin.gif

[/ QUOTE ]Thanks for those words of wisdom Nigel..... /forums/images/graemlins/wink.gif

Sadly, I suspect many boats with Rod kickers won't have topping lifts (I certainly don't, and use the main halyard when required)... plus, removing my kicker would entail removing split pins etc etc..... hardly practical really......

PS...... can sail my boat quite happily without having to scandalise the main..... so learn to sail properly yerself.... /forums/images/graemlins/grin.gif

PPS.... I'm with Steve on this one..... there just plain isn't room on my berth to do it safely.... and having been on Steve's berth, I agree that there isn't room to do it safely there either!