Docking with two

[Minnewaska]

Originally Posted by Brezzin

I can't speak for the OP but on my boat, no amount of rudder can overcome the bow being pulled into the dock and the stern being kicked out. The basic problem is the mid ship cleat is forward of the extreme beam of the boat so once the spring line has tension the bow gets pulled into the dock.

That may be what I'm missing. He said his boat turned to starboard. If he is docking to port and bow first, that would be opposite of what you describe.

[welshwind]

I'm the OP and I'm back ... sorry I went silent... work got in the way ...

My first reaction to 'why not just adjust the rudder?' was 'Duh ... I'm such an idiot!'. That could indeed be one approach. My only issue is that on a powerboat, a taut spring line and hard to starboard and throttle forward leaves you 'locked in'. It can't move whereas my feeling with simply adjusting the rudder is that something ... wind? ... may come up and affect it. That it is not really locked in. Not sure why I feel that way but ... I'll have to think more about it.

As far as leaving the lines on the dock and grabbing them, that would work for the home dock but we like to visit other places.

Using the short line running from mid cleat on boat to mid cleat on dock sounds like it could work on a non-breezy day (as would simply stepping off and holding the boat at the beam). When it is breezy at the home dock, it typically is coming over the starboard side and I'm not sure my wife could prevent the boat from bowsailing such that the stern would be sticking out and the bow would be tight to the dock. Though I could easily throw her the stern line, step off the boat, and pull the stern back to the dock.

Having said all of this, as always, I appreciate the responses from everyone. I will talk things over with the admiral and see what she feels most comfortable with. We'll likely test out a few things.

[DRFerron]

Originally Posted by welshwind

As far as leaving the lines on the dock and grabbing them, that would work for the home dock but we like to visit other places.

We like to visit other places, too, but your original post seemed to be focused on your home dock so I went with that.

Some marinas that we visit have pictures of the docks on their websites or a line drawing of the configuration. We like to look at these ahead of time to prepare a strategy if we can and if we get a slip assignment ahead of time, all the better.

Most of the time which line goes on first doesn't change much but it really depends on the dock configuration, wind and current at each individual dock. What we do sometimes when the lines are on the boat and the dock has cleats, is to use the boat hook to take a turn around the cleat on the dock and tie both ends of the line around the cleat on the boat. This way the lines can easily be adjusted without getting off the boat. Once we have the lengths the way we want them, we tie off on both cleats as normal. While the engine is warming up to leave, I do the same in reverse. Untie the lines on the dock cleats, take a turn around the cleat and tie the other end onto the boat cleat. Once we're ready to leave, I can undo the lines from the pilings but the boat is still held with the lines with the turn around the cleats. I then get on the boat and I can undo the lines on the cleats simply by taking one end off the boat cleat and swinging it away from the dock cleat.

It's much easier than that reads.

And then, of course, some marinas have people to help with docking so that helps, too.

I think it's good to be a little nervous about each docking situation. It keeps us cautious and on our toes.

[welshwind]

Originally Posted by DRFerron

It's much easier than that reads.

I followed it... thanks.

Originally Posted by DRFerron

I think it's good to be a little nervous about each docking situation. It keeps us cautious and on our toes.

I agree.

[smallboatlover]

i'm not sure if this can apply to sailboats but when docking the motor boat i bring it up to the dock grab a bow line and tie it to the cleat and use it as a fulcrum kinda. then turn the motor the other way than the dock and put it in foward and the stern stay up against the dock in gear and you tie it off and then shut the motor down thats how i do it with a motor boat not sure of it on a sailboat. hope that helps

[jjablonowski]

The OP said, "we tried the 'spring line to the aft dock cleat, hard to starboard, leave in idle forward' method," but wasn't happy with the way the boat settled in.

I wasn't either. At first.

But my midship cleat is mounted on the genoa track, thus moveable. After repositioning it aft a bit, the procedure works every time!