Single Handed Motorboating

[Guest]

Hi all - looking for suggestions.
Have any of you tried Single Handed Motorboating and what would you recommend.
Circumstances dictated that I have been boatless for a couple of years although have kept my (tidal) swinging mooring. I long to get back into it again (mad fool I know) and thinking of getting a cruiser like a Fairline Holiday or similar to start with. I wish to take two youngish children with me (they have been sailing before).
Question - Picking up the mooring - is this practical - singlehanded using techniques such as picking up from the centre of the boat with a line roved to the bow feasible / easy or should I wait another few years when the children would be teenagers. Would a marina berth be easier, any other (unforseen by me) single handed problems? Are some boats easier than others. It could be a big mistake without knowing the pitfalls or is my desire clouding my judgement.

 

[byron]

I have been single-handing for over 30 years, even my 435 I recently brought from Ramsgate as far as Henley on Thames on my own.
It is just a question of tecnique, you will have to develop your own. Naturally smaller boats are easier to handle than bigger ones and the freeboard of a vessel is a natural pitfall which is why craft like a Turbo 36 or 435 do not lend themselves to single-handing where-as Broom Oceans & Crowns do because of the step-able rubbing strake half way up the freeboard. Certainly a boat like a Fairline Holiday would be a doddle or should I say 'doddleday' /forums/images/icons/wink.gif

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[martin]

Single handed should not be a problem. However, have found flybridge boat difficult with children as when driving from above cannot tell if shrieks from below are laughter or horror and had to keep running down staifrs to check on them.

 

[tripleace]

What age are the children?



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[Guest]

The children are 7 and 10 and are used to a sailing boat with lifejackets harnesses, jackstays etc. and have been "weekending" so like being on the water, (but dont like the "gusting").

 

[tripleace]

the ten year old should be able to use a boat hook and collect a line with a loop on it and put that over a cleat.. why not try it out?

once you are secure then you can pull the boat in a fastern correctly.

I was thinking of a stern on initial mooring so that you child is near to hand etc. from there moving the line should not be a problem.





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[byron]

Blimey! I thought they were toddlers. At 10 my lad was single handing a Broom 35 European himself. You gotta start them young and give them credit... you'll be surprised at how good they are, MikeTs kids were handling boats at 10 and I suspect ChrisPs were too. I can think of other boaters too

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[hlb]

You stop and home and do the gardening. Just tell them to get on with it./forums/images/icons/laugh.gif

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Haydn

 

[Deleted User YDKXO]

I single hand my boat regularly and the key to it is having everything ready to hand ie. fenders, lines, boathook. Picking up a mooring should be easy as even if you dont get it right first time you can keep trying whereas in a marina, you have to get it right otherwise you risk damaging something
Your 10 yr old should learn very quickly and, normally at that age, they're very keen as well - just wait until they're teenagers! Always wear lifejackets and let somebody know about your trip so that they can alert the Coastguard if you dont return on time

 

[BarryH]

The only problem I have single handed is the boat list to one side. Easy so I move the weight(beer) to the other side. The problem arises when I can't reach it!!

If its a swinging mooring why not get a mooring mate thing. Or better still make one, it'll work out a hell of a lot cheaper.

OK, to hell with it. Unbolt it and we'll use it as an anchor!

 

[Guest]

Hi i have been on boats all my life (im 20) i would go out sailing on my parents 25ft boat sailing and i went out to sea when i was v young, cause i started young i got confidence.i have got 20ft sailing boat which i went out on it on my own,but i have now got a fairline 21ft and i feel alright due to being on boat from a young age
hope that made sence

 

[oldgit]

I always seem to boat single handed( bit over 30ft boat)even when accompanied by hoards of ungrateful members of family or fiends only along to get at my beer stash.
As mentioned previously its all a case of getting everthing to hand,And if you do get it wrong at least you do not have a bunch of people jeering at you.

Just hold tight dear it will not be so rough when we get round the corner,trust me.

 

[jointventureII]

I just slowly move the boat up to the buoy and then use the boat hook and hitch up.
If it is windy i tie a rope to the from cleat and bring it round the side and loop the rope thru the handle of the pick up buoy.
Much cheaper than marina.

 

[DepSol]

I single hand my 26 footer alot of the time getting bouys with the boat hook off the bow is no problem (Clive dont you say a word) even in trong currents around the CI.

Practice makes perfect.

Dom

I am boating again ;-)

 

[Chris771]

Singlehand my Antares 760 a lot of the time. Find easiest way to pick up buoy in windy/current conditions is to rove line back from bow to round aft cleat before approaching mooring (that way it cannot fall in water and foul prop). Approach buoy into wind or current with wind or current about 15 degrees off bow. Put boat on up current/wind side of buoy. Have boat stopping just as buoy comes aft of cabin doors, then into neutral and step smartly outside. Pick up buoy with prepared boathook, loop bow rope through buoy and slowly walk back to bow as the wind/current slowly cause boat to drift back.
Being SLIGHTLY on the upwind/current side holds the buoy into the boat as it drifts back making it easier to hook. Do not go upwind/current ACROSS the buoy as it will then disappear under the boat with variable consequences.

Very often when one has landlubbers aboard it is still easier to do it oneself, saves the boathook from going through window or being dropped overboard. Though if one has a nice new bit of totty on board it can be interesting to put her on bow with boathook, studying her botty whilst the buoy mysteriously remains elusively out of reach, despite all attempts to manoeuvre into position )


Chris

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[ChrisP]

By 10 years old they were fighting me for the controls and making a better job of it than me.. Still I hade the pleasure of sending them to bed early.

ChrisP ;o)

What do you mean the sea gull in front's walking !!!

 

[byron]

That I can believe /forums/images/icons/wink.gif, I recall my son when he was 13 taking my Ocean 37 from Ostend to Calais while I was in my Bunk with a headache brought on by a session the night before. He did all the courses and even picked up the swinging mooring in Calais. Dunno if any one remembers Water Magic's daughter she could bring a boat alongside with a force 8 blowing it off. It was a pleasure to watch her handle a boat.

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[Guest]

Thank you.
Many thanks for your responses it certainly has given me enthusiasm to start looking over the winter months.
Most of you are correct when you say that even though you may have a "platoon" of people on board you still are "single-handed", but with lots more worry!