[sciencebum]

My engine is currently busted on my 24' Dufour, but we're having fantastic weather these days out of Berkeley Marina on San Francisco Bay (sorry snow covered folks), so I'd like to master the art of docking under sail.

My berth is a downwind slip, but it runs along the walkway for the dock, so I have about 30' of upwind dock I can pull up next to and then simply walk the boat in backwards (love this for launching too). I've now done this maybe 15 times, always successfully, but always in very light winds, so going slow has not been a challenge.

Here's my question: in heavier wind, how should I position my sail to allow me to go as slow as possible?

As I'm coming in towards the dock, I should be on a beam reach (most days). My intuition is to let the sail all the way out until it luffs, but it seems that right before it luffs is the MOST efficient sail trim, meaning a shift in wind can get me going too fast. Conversely If I hike all the way in, the heel of the boat may make it difficult to control during the narrow approach.

The last option seems to be dropping the mainsail, but without lazy jacks, and sailing solo, it's messy. I also don't like the idea of losing all power, in case something does go south.

Any thoughts?

 

[Barquito]

Let it luff. Loosen the vang. Power down early. You can always sheet in if you need more speed. Plan an escape route if things don't work our right.

 

[Sailormon6]

When you sail into a slip, you don't get to choose the wind direction, so you have to configure the sail in a way that allows you the flexibility to either sail to windward, or downwind, or on the beam, if necessary, and you have to be able to control your speed so you don't get a sudden gust that fills a big sail area just as you're entering the slip.

With that in mind, the best choice is the mainsail, because you can use it to sail to windward or downwind.

The way you control your speed is to lower the mainsail partway. How far you lower it depends on how strong the wind is blowing. If the wind is light, you can leave most of the sail up. If it's windy, you can lower it about 2/3 of the way, or more. If the wind increases as you are approaching the slip, just lower the mainsail more.

Think of it as a way that you can reef the mainsail quickly, but you can reef it even more deeply than the reef points that are fixed in the sail. If you need to sail to windward, you need someone standing by the boom to pull the leech of the mainsail aft, since you don't have any sort of outhaul or reef point to hold it out. When the boat is close enough that it's momentum will carry it the rest of the way into the slip, just drop the mainsail the rest of the way on the deck. As always when entering a slip, go slow. Sailboats don't have brakes.

I wouldn't recommend trying to sail into every slip under all conditions. Be sure that, if something goes wrong, you have a plan B. Personally, I don't try to sail into a slip for fun. IMO, it's a skill you should only use when necessary, and in good conditions.

 

[hotdogs]

Controlling your power is one of the more difficult parts of a sail-only landing. Too much or too little and you have problems.

One thing that can make mainsheet control tricky is having the sheet run through multiple blocks. In some situations, it can be a struggle to sheet in/out rapidly enough. I have found it useful in some situations to sheet out and grab all of the line between the blocks. This allows me to rapidly power up or down as needed. This may not be practical on high wind days.

 

[SHNOOL]

Beam reach is about the hardest approach you can have sailing in... it's ok in light air you can usually just douse and coast. Heavy air is a bear... My take would be ease vang, traveler up to depower... drop the traveler to get speed... get it all twisted so you are only using a small portion of the sail at a time. I assume by beam reach you'll be head to wind as you hit the dock (cause you say you are backing up into your slip manually)... cause if you are downwind going into the dock all bets are off.

24 footer shouldnt' be catastrophic to have to use docklines to stop the boat (spring lines). You can get away with some stopping the boat by hand, but you wouldn't want to do it every time.

By the way, a cheap electric trolling motor (stern mount from craigslist) can be used for the last couple of feet nicely with a very small impact on battery. Drop all sails just before the slip and e-motor the last couple hundred feet.

 

[harmonic]

Sail in under a small headsail if your boat is controlable under it,go in slow and let sheet go when you can coast in,mainsail only is no good as you cant luff it if wind goes aft of your beam.Practice on a buoy out in clear water first .

 

[sailingfool]

With much of a breeze and the main not fully down, you wont be able to stop the boat if the wind is abeam or aft. So you need to plan to fully drop the main in those circumstances. Even if you can slow the boat on a beam reach, having the mainsheet sweep the dock risking hanging you up on a dock cleat. If the jib is on a furler, you're all set.

 

[RobGallagher]

Good advice so far. If it's really breezy you might consider reefing as deep as possible, you don't need much power. Luffing is best if you can and feather the main in and out to keep minimum steerage speed.

As you get close and you need a bit of lift, consider just keeping one hand on the boom and pulling it in for a few seconds to get that last bit of power.

Not sure about your dock configuration, but might try make your final approach at about a 45 degree angle and head up at the last minute as you enter the slip. Heading up and luffing at the same time might help reduce leeway.

 

[SimonV]

Fenders fenders fenders, and when you think you gave enough add more fenders. If I remember right at low tide the wind tends to swirl around in Berkeley Marina.

 

[Scotty C-M]

It's really common for a 24' sailboat to dock without a motor. Practice, Practice, Practice. Have fun.

 

[Sailormon6]

With much of a breeze and the main not fully down, you wont be able to stop the boat if the wind is abeam or aft. So you need to plan to fully drop the main in those circumstances. Even if you can slow the boat on a beam reach, having the mainsheet will sweep the dock risking hanging you up on a dock cleat. If the jib is on a furler, you're all set.

Personally, I think it's reckless to try to sail into a slip in very much wind.

When you're sailing into a slip you can't stop the boat. You don't have brakes or a reverse gear. You have to control your speed, and enter so slowly that you'll be able to stop it by pushing on a piling, or ideally, so that it will coast to a stop by itself.

If the wind is astern, you drop the mainsail completely before you enter the slip, and you drift in under bare pole. You don't really need a sail to drift downwind. A little wind against the hull and bare pole will do the job.

If the wind is abeam, and you do it as I described previously, you'll only have a small triangle of the mainsail raised up the mast. Most of the sail is on the deck. The boom is trimmed along the centerline of the boat, pointing at the backstay, but, because there is no outhaul pulling the leech of the sail aft, the sail will hang limp and useless unless you have a crew member stand on the coach roof and take hold of it at the leech and trim it by hand for the broad reach heading. When you are close enough to the slip for the boat to coast in the rest of the way, he just lets go of the sail and that spills the wind out of it. If necessary, he can just pull the rest of the sail down. The boom and mainsheet won't sweep the dock because the boom is centered at all times.

The benefit of using the mainsail is that you can use it to sail the boat on any point of sail, from DDW to closehauled, you can control your boat speed with the finest precision, and a partially furled mainsail acts near to the boat's CLR, rather than at the boat's bow. The last benefit makes it easier to steer the boat in some circumstances.

You're thinking about controlling the mainsail by using the mainsheet to position the boom. That's not what I'm describing. I'm talking about having a crew member stand on the coach roof and hold a small part of the mainsail out so that it will catch the wind and drive the boat. The biggest boat I have sailed into a slip in this manner was 40' and 18,000 lbs., and it coasted to a stop all by itself. Try it.

 

[engineer_sailor]

Assuming you have space to maneuver around your dock/slip the technique is (mostly) independent of wind direction:

1. Under mainsail only, sail towards your slip aiming for the upwind pylon/finger pier.

2. When you are a few boat lengths away, turn upwind to begin executing a 360 turn. Where you start your turn depends on how your boat handles and sometimes wind conditions.

3. When boat is head to wind, douse the main. Helps to have someone at the mast to help douse.

4. Use remaining speed to coast into slip. Have a crew member standing at the bow to step off onto pier with bow line or capture line

A few cases:

Wind parallel to slip, blowing out: Approach slip close hauled. Will need to turn as late as possible to have enough energy.

Wind parallel to slip, blowing in:
Approach downwind, drop main earlier, coast in under bare poles

Wind perpendicular to slip: Approach on a close reach or close hauled, tacking as necessary. A beam reach might seem tempting but often times too much speed. Aiming for upwind pylon gives you space to fall off or drift into slip.

Always turn upwind for 360 to avoid gybing.

Always have an abort plan for when things don't go as planned. I usually do a practice approach and come back around.

Many sailing clubs have small boats with no engines and exclusively dock under sail. Great skill to have. Not all dock configurations are conducive to sailing into them.

Last but not least, the key is practice. Get some friends aboard and practice for a few hours. After the 100th time, you will be a pro. The little things make all the difference like making sure you main halyard is free to run and timing of the turn.

Josh

 

[sailingfool]

Personally, I think it's reckless to try to sail into a slip in very much wind.

When you're sailing into a slip you can't stop the boat. You don't have brakes or a reverse gear. You have to control your speed, and enter so slowly that you'll be able to stop it by pushing on a piling, or ideally, so that it will coast to a stop by itself.

.

Actually when approaching a dock fast, shorts turns will slow a boat well. Close in, rapid turns helm turns lock-to-lock will stop a boat without much change of course. How effectively such maneuvers stop a specific boat depends on keel and rudder characteristics, but for example you can stop a Colgate 26 from 3-4 knots in a boat length with three or four full swings of the tiller as that rudder happily swings 180 degrees. We include docking the Colgate 26 under sail as part of the ASA 101 class. Raising the main again is a pain (for the students...).

 

[willyd]

I sail up to my slip all the time, but I don't see how you can give advice to someone without knowing how the dock is configured and how high the pilings are and whether neighboring boats' bows project beyond their slips. I'd love to "sail" into my slip, but the slips are perpendicular to the dock and the outer pilings are at least four feet high. If I tried to even sail out of my slip, much less come in with the main even partway up, the chance of catching the boom on a piling is about 94.7%.

I'm lucky in that there are no boats with bowsprits or anchors projecting beyond their slips at our pier, so, since my slip is perpendicular to the pier, what I do is furl the main and use the genoa (if I need power at all), douse that when I get close, then coast up to my slip parallel to the outer row of pilings, snag both the bow lines, which are longer than my boat by a fair bit, then warp the boat into the slip stern-first. I have lines set up running the length of the slip with loops on the end closest to the pier that I slip over the stern cleats, then I go forward and set the bow lines.

Perhaps if I had crew I could actually "sail" into the dock with the main up, but I really don't see how even that would be feasible.

It's interesting that all the textbooks I've seen that describe how to dock under sail assume that the slip is parallel to the pier, and if you google images for this, that's what shows up, but I don't know of any ordinary pier where the slips are configured that way.

 

[RichH]

Considerations and Suggestions:

Momentum is the bane of safely sailing into a slip (or backing out of a slip in order to sail). Too much momentum and you'll risk a crash, too little and you wont 'make it'. Keep the boat 'moving' at all times during the approach so to have 'steerage'

A boat with a tiller is ideal: You can scull the tiller to gain forward motion and speed. You can instantly turn the rudder to ~90° and then instantaneously 'partly reverse' to the other side to STOP the boat dead - takes some practice so you dont 'overshoot' the stop and with the boat not in line with the slip. etc. Sculling the tiller - rapid 'snap' swings to ~45° each side will move most boats forward. With a wheel ... too slow to react, sorry.

Sail SHAPE can be important in moderate to high winds ... flatten the main via strong outhaul tension - much easier to 'blade out' the sail to control forward motion and for less surprise 'power-up' when the wind is unstable/gusty/'rolling'. Use and 'time the lulls' in windstrength when making your turn into the slip (glide in with momentum). Backwind the main if needed to prevent 'crashing' but do not depend on backwinding if the momentum is too high for the 'drift' into the slip ... a crash means you havent become 'practiced' with the boat's momentum characteristics.

Set up 'sissy lines' between your slip and any boat adjacent to you in a finger-piered slip. In a worst case scenario, stop and lay the boat up against an outer piling and then simply PULL yourself in using a sissy line. Arrange a temp. sissy line along a full length dock if the slip has one; set up the temp sissy line high enough so you can grab onto it without fuss. If wind is 'blowin' use a tether with self closing shackle or carabiner to attach the boat (somewhere at amidships to the 'sissy') ... it will slide along the sissy and keep you 'connected'. A BIG carabiner can be 'twisted' on the sissy to bleed off momentum ... beats hell out of 'abrasion burning' a hand.

Generally, the jib is 'down' or simply left to 'flog', use only the mainsail to 'blade out' to control forward motion. I prefer to flog the jib and keep it up, as if you 'miss' you can then sheet in the jib to help more quickly and tightly turn/gybe the boat to go 'back out' and restart you approach. Vang is fully released and traveller at centerline, sheet is 'dump coiled' onto the cockpit floor so that it will 'fly' without tangles or jams in the blocks. With a 'heavy' boat learn to 'fore-reach' the boat with a 'bladed out' (flat) mainsail ... so you keep momentum up to the barest possible forward motion. Practice at a mooring buoy, etc. until you gain confidence. I would also suggest also practicing at a long-dock to hone your expertise in stopping the boat ... with 'violent' tiller swings (and backwinding the main). When backwinding you really dont have to bring the boom to 90° as that will also turn the boat ... just enough backwind to dampen forward speed; dont overdo the backwinding if you want to keep the boat 'straight'. Do all the sculling, sheet play, etc. etc. etc. yourself if possible ... prevents time-consuming miscommunication. ... the crew then simply serve as 'grabbers' to the sissy lines, etc. Your practice should be so honed so that none of the crew has to risk getting a hand or other body parts smashed, caught, etc. on a piling or dock, etc. ... all 'hands' inside until the boat is stopped!!!!!

If the wind is 'into' the slip and you have a bombproof anchor, approach for a stern-to landing, go head to wind and drop the anchor then pay out the rode until into the slip. When 'in', let the rode sink totally to the bottom - pick it up later on a 'calm' day. You can also 'loop' a piling on the far side of a fairway to do the same thing.

In general aviation, pilots readily practice 'dead stick landings' all the time; sailors should also probably do so .... sure beats hell out of 'calling for mommy' when you need to land a boat without an engine.
Practice, practice ... the learning curve can be steep at first, but then gets easier as you become familiar with the momentum and drift, mainsail 'blading out' and fore-reaching needed.
Practice on a day when the 'usual jury' isnt there. Practice vs. 'soft stuff' first. When practicing, include 'backing down' in a straight line and forcing a sideways drift .... with just a main, etc. ;-) Actually such is 'good fun' and 'supreme' boat handling. Enjoy !!!!!!!!!

Hope this helps.

 

[ccriders]

Getting into a slip single handed is a true test of sailing skills. If you are talking about getting your boat stern in into the slip in your avatar, then your best approach would be to furl the main well away from the dock and use the jib to sail up to the dock. Then luff the jib and let the last of your momentum power you through a port turn to come alongside the dock. This is where a roller furler would be very helpful in controlling speed by rolling in and out as conditions merit.
All of this is easy to do in light winds, heavy winds will make sailing into the slip much more difficult, like blowing you off the pier before you cab grab a line, or crashing you into it when all those sculling techniques fail to scrub your speed.
We have lots of wind here and you will find many local sailors have rigged a bumper system so that they can enter the slip with sufficient steerage, yet come to a gentle stop against their bumper. The bumper system consists of a nylon line laid in a V with the V pointing into the slip and fender rigged into the base of the V a few feet from the dock.
I used to chuckle at this arrangement thinking it nothing more than pathetic seamanship, but have since rigged one in my slip and I can now sail or motor into my slip with steerage to counteract a beam wind of 20 kts and still come to a gentle stop centered in the slip. Singlehandedly or with inexperienced crew. Normally I can get the windward bow and stern lines in place without much ado. But when the wind wants to blow me out of the slip, I can leave the engine idling in forward while I secure the bow lines or get the forward spring lines on. Getting into my slip on a windy day used to be very difficult. Now, no problem.
Hope this helps,
John