Backing into a slip against a wind

[Seevee]

Is this your permanent Slip?

Leave a dock line coiled up on the finger, as you are coming in grab it with a boat hook, tie off. Then you have a spring to pull against.

Mark

Mark,

No, not my permanent slip, but two place I patronize on a regular basis.

 

[Seevee]

don't know if this will help but if you don't have one of these I highly recommend it....makes catching a dock cleat easy with the loop on the pole....

cliff

https://rsmarine.com/product/mt4-8?gclid=CNuSwuavjM8CFYs2gQodXLIIHA

Cliff,

That looks interesting.... I have a boat hook that I occasionally use, that has the non sharp hook for grabbing docks or throwing lines over poles.

However, in a strong wind, it's hard to hold the boat with one of these... 10 kts or less, doable. And I don't let my Admiral or any guest hold the boat off manually... AWAYS a secured line, on the dock or doubled back to the boat.

But.... could come in handy, thx.

 

[Offshore57]

we have a similar berth, and occasional sidewinds......you can get your boat to crab sideways, if you turn the drives to port, put the left drive into forward and the right drive into reverse, the left drive pushes the stern in and the right one pulls the bow to the right at the same time.....its tricky but it works...

 

[ttmott]

As Mr Webstee suggests you should be backing in across your neighbors bow at an angle in toward the slip. Drives aligned with keel or straight. Port in forward and starboard in reverse. Throttle starboard up to maintain back movement and port as required to rotate the bow. As the transom comes to the pier start rotating the drives into the pier so as to increase the bow rotation into the wind and hold the boat transom to the dock.

 

[HUMPH]

Agreed, I always see that backing into the wind or current is the way to go. I had to back into a very tight space a couple of weeks ago where the boats to my port had their bows facing my port side so damage would be substantial if I made a mistake. Back in at an angle into the wind then use starboard only to pull the bow around. Bump port forward to kick the bow to starboard even more. Do have a first mate ready to clear your stern then tap port forward and pivot off of that cleated line. Make a point to practice this when no boat is adjacent to build confidence. Outdrives will NOT handle as well as inboards, especially diesel inboards but this method does work. Good luck and let us know how you progress!

 

[Seevee]

we have a similar berth, and occasional sidewinds......you can get your boat to crab sideways, if you turn the drives to port, put the left drive into forward and the right drive into reverse, the left drive pushes the stern in and the right one pulls the bow to the right at the same time.....its tricky but it works...

I've tried that, but takes a ton of power and often doesn't work. The bow keeps getting pushed away from the dock. What am I doing wrong?