Wansworth
Well-known member
There’s a lot to be said for just sitting and watching how the boat behaves. Or has behaved to prop activity without rushing into something else
Sailing Yacht / Marine Boat Handling Skills
- Thread starter double-dutch
- Start date
Buck Turgidson
Well-known member
You have more experience than I had when I did my YM so you might think I would say just do it. However, the one thing you wrote that stands out to me is
“ I've charted in Greece a number of times but always end up with people more experienced in parking boats who just "take over" ”
Part of being in charge of anything is being in charge. Feel free to delegate as you see fit but just because someone has more experience doesn’t mean you just hand over control.
If I were you I would charter somewhere with lots of tide and wind and current with a crew who you understand your need for practice and spend a couple of weeks bashing pontoons until you do it with your eyes closed.
I always chartered with my teenage daughters or girlfriends ( not teenagers) with no sailing experience. The challenge to not mess up in front of them was highly motivating ?
“ I've charted in Greece a number of times but always end up with people more experienced in parking boats who just "take over" ”
Part of being in charge of anything is being in charge. Feel free to delegate as you see fit but just because someone has more experience doesn’t mean you just hand over control.
If I were you I would charter somewhere with lots of tide and wind and current with a crew who you understand your need for practice and spend a couple of weeks bashing pontoons until you do it with your eyes closed.
I always chartered with my teenage daughters or girlfriends ( not teenagers) with no sailing experience. The challenge to not mess up in front of them was highly motivating ?
RJJ
Well-known member
Yeah...but slowly means "the boat moves slowly" and can include a good short burst of 2500 revs for steering. On HARD and quickly off.
The mistake Mrs RJJ makes....which gives me the creeps....is to use the throttle gently but leave it there, which doesn't move the bows until, and you didn't notice it happening, you've quietly accelerated to 3 knots.
Gotta practice spinning the boat in her own length, both ways, in various wind conditions.
laika
Well-known member
Perhaps a YM examiner here can comment but I would imagine solid competence at boat handling under power is a given for YM. I recall in my exam my last task was to park the boat, backwards while being blown off the pontoon and with prop walk working against me. I suspect that if the OP thinks more practice is required, its quite a prudent insight. YM prep weeks, unless they've changed, assume your boat handling under power is fine so that's not a skill which would be emphasised and I reckon the OP is correct to avoid using a prep week for that. As double-dutch comments a number of schools do days of pontoon bashing, although you're one of 4-5 students (but you do also learn from watching others). Maybe an alternative might be to solicit co-operation of a boat owning forumite who wants to improve their own boat handling skills: You pay for the YM Instructor for the day, the other person provides the boat and you share the tuition. You'd get 50% of the instructor's time rather than 20% with a school and it would probably cost you about 50% more than a school.
roaringgirl
Well-known member
Spirit (of Glenans)
Well-known member
Post deleted.
Refueler
Well-known member
Silly question ...
What happened to the terms :
Berthing
Coming alongside
Docking
etc.
?
Every time I read 'Parking' ... I think of local car park ....
Anyway - as we all know - there is no universal answer to berthing a boat - unlike a car which has tyres gripping the road .. a boat is free to move in all axis directions - affected by wind / current / prop commands / moving weights about the boat / sails .... that no two berthings are exact same.
I don't care how many years or what boats you've had - NO-ONE has 100% answer ....
All I can say to OP - is plan .. test wind / current as much as possible on approach ... try and imagine what you would do if things start to go wrong ...
Don't be afraid to ask anyone on shore to take a line for you ... Don't be afraid to berth the boat NOT as finally desired - but safely and THEN work boat into position ... If you are not solo - Don't forget others are on board with you - let them know what you have in mind to do - LET THEM suggest alternatives - be involved in this - YOU make decision what to do. DO NOT DILLY DALLY WAFFLE ...
And please - make sure your crew do not start jumping off ... trying to be Godzilla / Superman ....
My Channel at home is a pain to berth my boat as pontoon sits across the channel. I have a very limited swing area to get her alongside. Approx. 40% of berthings / departures - I choose to 'warp' her out / in from the pontoon. This means nose into pontoon ... step ashore with lines. Departure - I use lines to move her off and swing bow out .. step on aft as she swings.
Just an example of unorthodox ...
What happened to the terms :
Berthing
Coming alongside
Docking
etc.
?
Every time I read 'Parking' ... I think of local car park ....
Anyway - as we all know - there is no universal answer to berthing a boat - unlike a car which has tyres gripping the road .. a boat is free to move in all axis directions - affected by wind / current / prop commands / moving weights about the boat / sails .... that no two berthings are exact same.
I don't care how many years or what boats you've had - NO-ONE has 100% answer ....
All I can say to OP - is plan .. test wind / current as much as possible on approach ... try and imagine what you would do if things start to go wrong ...
Don't be afraid to ask anyone on shore to take a line for you ... Don't be afraid to berth the boat NOT as finally desired - but safely and THEN work boat into position ... If you are not solo - Don't forget others are on board with you - let them know what you have in mind to do - LET THEM suggest alternatives - be involved in this - YOU make decision what to do. DO NOT DILLY DALLY WAFFLE ...
And please - make sure your crew do not start jumping off ... trying to be Godzilla / Superman ....
My Channel at home is a pain to berth my boat as pontoon sits across the channel. I have a very limited swing area to get her alongside. Approx. 40% of berthings / departures - I choose to 'warp' her out / in from the pontoon. This means nose into pontoon ... step ashore with lines. Departure - I use lines to move her off and swing bow out .. step on aft as she swings.
Just an example of unorthodox ...
Wansworth
Well-known member
It’s shame people cannot learn the nomenclature,can you imagine playing cricket if everyone had a diffent word for say….howzat
Fr J Hackett
Well-known member
What's wrong with stick it by that wooden thing in the water over there ?
johnalison
Well-known member
It’s certainly a matter of what is right for the conditions. 2500 rpm will only be needed when wind or current make it necessary. I was referring to the common nervousness about going dead slow and the sense that one needs to do anything in a hurry. I was put in the position of needing to do a 180 turn in the club harbour in Goes, leaving a foot or two at each end. This required a twenty-point turn, which the audience seemed to appreciate, but no harm done.
I agree that one should be able to turn in the boat’s length. I still remember the first time I was required to do this, it was in a 36’ motor boat on the Broads at the end of Thurne Dyke and I was 12 yrs old at the time. I just swung the boat round and gave a touch of reverse and it was done. I can’t do the same in my current boat against the prop wash and wind due to a combination of saildrive and limited rudder travel, but in other conditions I regard it as routine.
Wansworth
Well-known member
Stop taking the piss ?
johnalison
Well-known member
It’s just a joke; like ‘pointed end’.
Wansworth
Well-known member
Your be “going down stairs” next….?
Stemar
Well-known member
We do - every time we go to the galley or the heads. It is literally down a few stairs on Jazzcat, not steps or a ladder like most boats going below.
srm
Well-known member
I was berthing a "new to me" catamaran singlehanded in a marina I had not been in before. Someone on a nearby boat seeing the situation kindly came round to take my lines. Once secured alongside he commented that I was obviously used to heavier long keel boats. I asked why he thought that :"Long keelers do it slowly".
But, as @RJJ points out I will happily use short bursts of full throttle to thrust the stern one way or another.
I once watched an ex Norwegian passenger ferry with an MFV type hull, single engine, single prop, no thruster, being backed down a narrow marina lane, with no more than twice the ferry's beam of clear water and smaller boats moored both sides. The skipper used slow astern, then when he felt the stern start to swing off his line a sharp burst ahead with appropriate rudder to bring it back on line then slow astern again. They chose a still morning but even so it was impressive boat handling.
But, as @RJJ points out I will happily use short bursts of full throttle to thrust the stern one way or another.
I once watched an ex Norwegian passenger ferry with an MFV type hull, single engine, single prop, no thruster, being backed down a narrow marina lane, with no more than twice the ferry's beam of clear water and smaller boats moored both sides. The skipper used slow astern, then when he felt the stern start to swing off his line a sharp burst ahead with appropriate rudder to bring it back on line then slow astern again. They chose a still morning but even so it was impressive boat handling.
laika
Well-known member
Are you one of those people who uses a special word for the pointy end?
flaming
Well-known member
He's probably one of those people who has to, because their boat has 2 pointy ends....
Fr J Hackett
Well-known member
That would indeed need a special nomenclature, pointy end 1 and pointy end 2 or pointy end front etc. ?
Buck Turgidson
Well-known member
Hope he doesn’t need to fit a tiller pilot! ???
johnalison
Well-known member
Watching pros is always worthwhile. I spent (wasted) a lot of time in Kuhlungsborn watching an excursion boat similar to the one you describe returning, several times a day. He had to turn to port to moor starboard-to to load/unload passengers and be ready to leave. There was nothing like enough room to do it in one go, so he would turn as far as possible on the first run, reverse hard while keeping the helm hard over as before, then chug forwards when the boat would turn a bit more, and then repeat the procedure about four times, always achieving the desired result in exactly the same way.