Springing in stern first.

Yes, I was looking for a technique where I power against a line. Like I said earlier, I can come in front on, loop my spring contraction onto the cleat while only a fraction of the boat is in the slip. I then power forward, boat takes up the slack and pulls me onto the berth....regardless of which way the wind is blowing or what angle I end up at when the spring is set. The way I have my spring....with a preformed loop and a metre plus of pvc pipe (that the line goes through), means I can snag the most seaward cleat on the finger from up to about 6 ft plus away.

It is virtually foolproof and really bumps up your confidence to come into the marina and know your not going to look like a melon.

Just wondered if there's a way to do this on my sailboat...in reverse.
 
I do exactly that procedure both going into my dock either forward or reverse. I have fenders all along the dock side of the boat and when the spring line tightens the boat pulls its self straightish.

I then get off and get my permanent mooring lines cleated off. The first spring is then removed to allow the boat to be aligned in the dock nicely. I don't have a plastic tube I have one of these mooring hooks on my boat hook as I can then extend or shorten the boat hook to the distance from boat to dock cleat.

My boat is a 50ft steel sail boat weighting 24 tons
 
Where do you locate the tying point when using the spring when your going to go in astern. I tried various locations and couldn't keep the bow in.
 
Really is not difficult. When you moor stern first you have two lines from the aft cleats to the pontoon. Have these permanently attached to the pontoon and with a loop the correct length. Simply back up until you can pick the line on the opposite side of the boat from the finger and attach it to the cleat. The boat now attached and cannot go forward. If the bow starts to blow off put in forward gear steering towards the finger or give a burst on the bow thruster. If you have all lines made up you can attach everything while still on the boat. Dead simple and perfect for single handing.

Amazed you need a diagram for something so simple.
 
Tranona said:
Really is not difficult. When you moor stern first you have two lines from the aft cleats to the pontoon. Have these permanently attached to the pontoon and with a loop the correct length. Simply back up until you can pick the line on the opposite side of the boat from the finger and attach it to the cleat. The boat now attached and cannot go forward. If the bow starts to blow off put in forward gear steering towards the finger or give a burst on the bow thruster. If you have all lines made up you can attach everything while still on the boat. Dead simple and perfect for single handing.

Amazed you need a diagram for something so simple.
Click to expand...

Might be not difficult for you, but your method still requires you to back into your slip...straight on and in complete control all the way, does not figure a novice sailor like myself, backing into a pretty tight slip in a decent crosswind and dealing with prop wash, tide and a crowd of people looking on.

Don't have a bow thruster on the Moody.

Practice will help, but just wondered if I can come up with a foolproof way of getting into the slip in reverse...taking into account all the above factors, just like I can do easily if I wanted to come in bow first. I can come in almost sideways, with the wind blowing me right off the finger and power my way to a perfect docking every time with the spring on.

Don't be too amazed that someone wanted a diagram of what you said...sometimes it is easy when it's in your own head, but you might not have managed to convey that very well to others in your post. :friendly_wink:
 
Paul_S123 said:
Where do you locate the tying point when using the spring when your going to go in astern. I tried various locations and couldn't keep the bow in.
Click to expand...

Further back on the vessel the spring line starts, the greater the leverage to pull the bow out, so ideally a centre cleat.
However, opposite rudder + lower revs, can work if the spring line is from the stern, but the rudder has less effect than if doing it coming in forward with a bow spring.
 
Tranona said:
Really is not difficult. When you moor stern first you have two lines from the aft cleats to the pontoon. Have these permanently attached to the pontoon and with a loop the correct length. Simply back up until you can pick the line on the opposite side of the boat from the finger and attach it to the cleat. The boat now attached and cannot go forward. If the bow starts to blow off put in forward gear steering towards the finger or give a burst on the bow thruster. If you have all lines made up you can attach everything while still on the boat. Dead simple and perfect for single handing.

Amazed you need a diagram for something so simple.
Click to expand...

Ah, no, now you have explained it properly, not much different to Med mooring.
The stern lines are not acting as springs, which was the OP.
 
Paul_S123 said:
Might be not difficult for you, but your method still requires you to back into your slip...straight on and in complete control all the way, does not figure a novice sailor like myself, backing into a pretty tight slip in a decent crosswind and dealing with prop wash, tide and a crowd of people looking on.

Don't have a bow thruster on the Moody.

Practice will help, but just wondered if I can come up with a foolproof way of getting into the slip in reverse...taking into account all the above factors, just like I can do easily if I wanted to come in bow first. I can come in almost sideways, with the wind blowing me right off the finger and power my way to a perfect docking every time with the spring on.

Don't be too amazed that someone wanted a diagram of what you said...sometimes it is easy when it's in your own head, but you might not have managed to convey that very well to others in your post. :friendly_wink:
Click to expand...

If you are having problems being blown sideways off the pontoon, are you able to berth alongside either the opposite finger, or alongside any vessel that might be berthed there (well fendered of course), then send lines across to your pontoon & pull/winch across?
Don't worry about onlookers, take it slow & pretend you know what your doing, just like seasoned sailors do. ;)
 
alant said:
Ah, no, now you have explained it properly, not much different to Med mooring.
The stern lines are not acting as springs, which was the OP.
Click to expand...

No different from my first explanation, which I thought was pretty clear that I was not talking about a spring. I tried a spring but that requires leaving the cockpit whereas my method can all be done without moving from the wheel until the line is attached.
 
Paul_S123 said:
Might be not difficult for you, but your method still requires you to back into your slip...straight on and in complete control all the way, does not figure a novice sailor like myself, backing into a pretty tight slip in a decent crosswind and dealing with prop wash, tide and a crowd of people looking on.

Don't have a bow thruster on the Moody.

Practice will help, but just wondered if I can come up with a foolproof way of getting into the slip in reverse...taking into account all the above factors, just like I can do easily if I wanted to come in bow first. I can come in almost sideways, with the wind blowing me right off the finger and power my way to a perfect docking every time with the spring on.

Don't be too amazed that someone wanted a diagram of what you said...sometimes it is easy when it's in your own head, but you might not have managed to convey that very well to others in your post. :friendly_wink:
Click to expand...

A cross wind does make life difficult. Fortunately my berth is east west and the finger is on the north side. We rarely get any north in the wind, which usually has a southerly component blowing the boat onto the finger.

It you are going to reverse then you should aim to get the boat square on and ideally with enough room to get some way on so you have steerage. Almost impossible to reverse in a turn as you would going forwards.

The bow thruster is a bonus and mostly used to get the boat square to the berth in the very tight space to the next row. Once the boat is straight reversing is much easier.
 
Tranona said:
A cross wind does make life difficult. Fortunately my berth is east west and the finger is on the north side. We rarely get any north in the wind, which usually has a southerly component blowing the boat onto the finger.

It you are going to reverse then you should aim to get the boat square on and ideally with enough room to get some way on so you have steerage. Almost impossible to reverse in a turn as you would going forwards.

The bow thruster is a bonus and mostly used to get the boat square to the berth in the very tight space to the next row. Once the boat is straight reversing is much easier.
Click to expand...

Ah, bow thruster, that explains all.;)
 
alant said:
Ah, bow thruster, that explains all.;)
Click to expand...

But now I have got used to the boat, rarely use it. As I explained its real use is in turning the boat to be square on to the berth in a very confined space with not much more than a boats length to the next line of boats. Go very slowly down the alley put in reverse about 3 boat lengths away then use the bow thruster to turn the boat through 90 degrees while virtually stationary. When straight and almost touching the boats in front open the throttle and reverse straight. Fortunately the wind is usually almost direct from astern so easy to control speed to stop at the pontoon to pick up the line.

Boats either side (Southerly 110 and Freedom 35) both have bow thrusters and use them in a similar way. Perhaps more important for them given their shallow draft, high windage and for the Southerly twin rudders!

Getting the boat in and out of the berth is the most challenging part of single handing and I virtually stopped using my old boat because of the difficulty. Hence equipping the new boat to remove this constraint.
 
Tranona said:
But now I have got used to the boat, rarely use it.

Getting the boat in and out of the berth is the most challenging part of single handing and I virtually stopped using my old boat because of the difficulty. Hence equipping the new boat to remove this constraint.
Click to expand...

I hear what you are saying. My super high sided light power boat was really hard to dock in a wind, I started taking it out on clam days only. After fitting a bow thruster, it gave me the confidence to take it out whatever. Must say...that confidence leads to better handling as I now RARELY use it.
 
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