Singlehanding to and from the dock

[mgiguere]

All these suggestions are needed when going in and out of a slip...which I use to have...but if you singlehand as I do on my Apache 37 sloop with hank on sails, you cannot beat the simplicity (and pleasure) of being on a mooring.

Sail on, sail off. When on the mooring, the boat is head to wind and you can lower all sails at a leisurely pace. Even if the cost were equivalent, I would not go back to a slip.

Moe (originally from Marblehead, now on the Ches Bay)

[jbanta]

Hi

I can see how a mooring has alot of advantages over a slip. I also see that being in a slip has advantages over a mooring. Things I think I would miss like shore power and water. Access to move my stores aboard. Access to my boat without a dinghy. It''s the power and water I would miss most.

[sprega]

One of the most useful lines you can have while docking in any situation is a breast line. You can control the boat at the dock with just this one line. Have it attached at a mid point on the rail or midship cleat. Run it outboard of everything and back to the cockpit. Step off onto the dock with the breast line in hand and spring the boat to the dock. With properly placed fenders, you can now walk forward and tie the breast line strait from the midship cleat to the dock. Your boat is now safely secured and you may take you seaman like time to tie the perminate mooring lines. I used to use this method with a tartan 30 and now use it all the time with my 28 ft Maxi Fenix. I even do it with guests aboard. There are certain responders to your message whos advice you can take to the bank. Mine is only one suggestion that works well for me....
Good luck and happy sailing. P.S. there is nothing that will give you a feeling of satisfaction like single handing your own vessel well......

[Billpjr]

Methods vary greatly depending on boat design, fins, full keels, light heavy, etc. A Cal 27 should be an easy one except for the wind in SF. Practice your docking maneuvers first in open water around a buoy or marker jug.

Nobody mentioned this but it is important. Have a big anchor ready to drop over the side if it looks like you are going to ram the dock. Secure it from the bow with the minimum depth rode that will hook the anchor up at your location. Bring it back to the cockpit area so you can get it overboard quickly. Timing is everything but you will learn the threshold on when it''s time to drop the anchor instead of raming the dock.

[jlmarra]

I have not tried to singlehand into and out of our slip yet. Our slip has a 5.5 tidal range between tides. We dock bow in, the floating finger pier is about 2/3''s the length of our 35 LOA boat. The bowsprit usually overhangs the main dock by about 16". The finger pier is to port and usually this is the windward side. When my wife and I come into our slip we come up the narrow channel and turn to port into our slip. We have lines and fenders rigged. I steer the boat in and my wife stands just forward of amidships with a spring line attached to midship cleat. The other end of this line she ties off to the toerail so she has a loop which she throws over the cleat at the end of our finger pier. While she''s taking in the slack I at this point have the engine in reverse to stop the boat. Once she has that line cleated we secure the rest of the lines. Since we have no outer piling only the one at the end of the floating finger (It would be hard to get a line over at low tide) pier singlehanding into would be a nerve racking experience. Did I mention that the there are no pilings that separate us from the boat in the next slip. His finger pier is on his starboard side. We rig fenders on both side. We are usually dealing with a crosswind across the port side when coming in.

John
S/V Sailor Dance

[NbyNW]

wow that situation sounds very familiar to ours. We have a 36 ft boat and setup almost exactly the same (except we have a finger pier on starboard side also). We have 4 lines permanently rigged to the pier which we drop when we leave. The two on the bow prevent the boat from going forward, two on the stern attach forward to the end of the finger (only 2/3 of the way out the boat also) and prevent the boat from going backward. As you may guess its the two on the bow that we worry about most when pulling in. However when its windy from the stern - which is often and a pain in the &^%$ to manage, my wife will pick up the line at the end of the pier first and use it on the middle cleat to slow the boat on the way by or pull us tight if there is a cross wind pushing the stern sideways.
I have never single handed into the slip but have thought about it. How about using a permanent long line on the end of the finger, come out of the cockpit when the center of the boat passes, take the line over the port side middle cleat and carry it back to rear cleat then into the cockpit. you then have a spring line in your hand and can pull the boat tight to the pier as needed or stop it all together while still at the helm.
ps - we have a bowthruster also which is nice when the wind kicks up.

[Daria]

Wow, lots of great suggestions, yet I am with Moe. Nothing beats a mooring in my mind. But, that's why both are available.

Two additions, a comment and a question:
1) If the conditions were troublesome, I used to bring my boat in to the main fuel dock then find someone to help me get into the finger pier .
2) Does it ever stop being a heart stopper?

[PBzeer]

I don't know how it would work on a tidal area, but on the lake, many people set up a "catcher". They run 1/2" line from the rear pole of the pier, to the main pier, tie it off in the center, about a foot out from the pier, then run it back to the rear pole on the other side. We have 25 and 26 footers, so I don't know how well that would work on a larger boat.