[Rhodes22-list] Docking Issues

[cowie]

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My slip requires a 90 degree turn in order to fit between pairs of piles and
head directly into a wood pier.  Permanent lines strung between the piles
offers a handy soft rail to grab onto and manualy guide the boat in or out. 
I agree with needing adequate forward speed and reverse to maintain control. 
The motor/rudder connection is very helpful in assisting with quick turns in
both forward and reverse.  I attended a workshop demonstration last year
were the instructor showed us several spring line techniques.  There are a
lot of interesting ways to arrange a spring line to leverage your boat in or
out of a variety of conditions that uses the thrust of the motor against the
action of the line.  Holding both ends of the spring line and being able to
drop one end allows for easy retrieval when leaving the dock.  I have a
spring line arrangement to help prevent me from slamming into the pier when
returning to my slip.  enclosed is a plan sketch of my set up.  The long
spring line is wrapped around the Genoa winch then runs thru the bow pulpit
and the other end gets draped over the starboard pier as I enter the slip. 
This set up stops my forward movement and prevents the bow from hitting the
pier.   It also keeps the wind from blowing my bow to Port.  The opposit
pier can be used if the wind is from the opposit direction. 

John Shulick wrote:
> 
> Ron,
> 
>  If your slip is deep enough ( more than 5' ) you will have more
> resistance to side slipping with the centerboard down rather than in the
> up position. You can also turn the outboard to help control the boat,
> sometimes the rudder alone just isn't enough when you are going slow and
> approaching the slip. 20 to 25 mph wind is quite challenging for a novice
> who is new to boating in general. Stan suggests that over 30 mph. STAY
> HOME (especially if the wind is out of the west or northwest on Erie,
> waves can be 5'-10' in those conditions).  After 4 yrs of practice 20 - 25
> mph of wind is still a handful for me to dock and to much for me to handle
> when I'm sailing solo. (maybe not this year with a 2nd reef on the main
> and 350 lbs of lead in the bilge we shall see) Welcome to the learning
> curve.
> 
> Hope that helps
> 
> John S 
>  
> 
> butterchurn wrote:
>> 
>> As a new boat owner I am having docking isues in wind.  I would like some
>> suggestions concerning what steps to take in order to learn to do a
>> better job of it.  This weekend at Lake Erie it was quite windy.  We
>> wanted to sail but when we tried to untie from our slip the wind was so
>> strong we couldn't control the boat.  The wind was trying to blow the
>> boat away from us.  Our slip is has the wind blowing our port side away
>> from the dock instead of into the dock.  Perhaps we were trying to go out
>> in too windy conditions.  We saw other sailboats out though they were at
>> least 26 footers.
>> 
>> We don't want to use our Rhodes as a floating cabin, we got the boat to
>> sail it.
>> 
>> Anything you might suggest that might help us to get up to speed with our
>> skills?  Now once away from the dock I can sail no problem.  I just need
>> to get out and in.
>> 
>> Sometimes I feel dumb asking these questions, but I guess I can't learn
>> if I don't ask.
>> 
>> Ron
>> 
> 
> 

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