L124C,
I wasn't referring to any particular post...just a comment that lots of the suggestions seemed better for very low wind conditions and not cross wind conditions at winds of 15 kts or higher. Actually the OP has a very good situation for the most part, the one major problem being that prop walk wants to take stern in wrong direction and so does the component of crosswind. The slip is almost directly upwind (ideal for docking bow first) and wind (for the most part) wants to help him get the boat out of the slip with little assist from the OP except to keep the boat more or less aligned with the slip and off the dock and off the neighbor boat. With a 10-15 degree wind off the bow, his crosswind component is going to be in the 5-6 kt. range and quite managable. Now the problem areas: His boat is 36 ft. long, and assuming it acts like ours, in 15 kts. the bow is going to fall off to starboard quickly, and my guess is that the swinging bow is going to overcome the rudder to starboard when drifting backwards...but I could be wrong. As for turning the boat broadside, I stand by my comment that the boat is very hard to hold in 15 kts. on the beam, and may well get away from you if your crew is of small statue or not very familiar with boats. I also don't like the idea of people jumping on or off the boat in these evolutions. A misstep, slip, or timing error and someone is going to get hurt, or the crew is going to be on the dock while the OP is suddenly single handling (assuming only two people are involved). Moving the boat back in the slip before departure is a different matter, but once I start the actual departure evolution, I, for one, want everyone who is planning to go with the boat to be on board. I also, agree with you, that you have to take care with
lines, particularily with those which depend on running free around a piling or
cleat (as in my own suggestion), because
lines want to hang up on just about everything, so if you use this approach, some thought needs to be given to a subsequent escape option for the hung-up line (either to retreive it or cast it off). (In my previous suggestion, if the line hangs up, there should be no problem as the boat is safely moored to end
cleat and trailing off into the fairway...either redock and correct the situation, or cast off the line from the boat and proceed on your way.) Actually, I use a toggle arangement on a special departure line, that I control from the cockpit, to disconnect two loops of a single line at the piling or cleat so as to avoid pulling a long line around the cleat or piling. I agree that one should use both the propwalk and the wind to assist the maneuver whenever possible. On my boat, I find that, at 15 kts., drift down anywhere towards other boats or pilings happens pretty quick and so does the bow falling downwind. You have limited backing power and extremely limited rudder control when backing at low speed. Powering up hard in reverse agrevates the propwalk, and going to neutral momentarily to give rudder control is good, but, to me at least, is going to be tricky when the boat is going downwind in 15 kts. If the OP has room behind behind his boat (to downwind slips), using the wind, the natual tendency for the bow to fall off downwind, the propwalk, and good rudder control when powering forward, his best and simplest technique might simply be to do a 270 turn and depart the fairway. If unable to make the 270 in one evolution because he is too close to the other boats, he can break the evolution into two parts...first clear the slip going the wrong way in the fairway while positioning the boat better to complete the necessary 180 to get out of the slip in the desired direction bow first (for good control in crosswind). Some have suggested backing out the fairway is an acceptable departure, and I fully agree when winds are low enough to allow this, but in the OP's case, he now has roughly 15 kts. crosswind while trying to back and I don't think he is going able to maintain directional control of the boat at the low speed of departure....I can't with my boat.
In all of these suggestions where actual speeds are mentioned, keep in mind that sometimes people are talking about speeds in the river or bay and not at the dock, and others are correctly talking about at the dock. In a recent previous sail, the wind was 15-18 kts. out of the ESE judging from lots of whitecaps, while at the slip around the point and across the trees, the wind was perhaps 5 kts. gusting occasionally to maybe 8 kts. from the south. There is a great difference and how you would handle it.....one person might say it was 15+ when we docked, but in reality at the dock, it wasn't. Also, I think that we tend to over estimate the wind when we are in stressful conditions.
Actually, I can and would like to learn about docking and undocking from the SF sailors in the real high wind conditions (15-30Kts...it's documented well that they have lots of wind at these speeds) that you have. We don't normally encounter this, but the knowhow would be useful to me and others. So maybe you and others can share on this or another thread.