Docking for a Beginner please help

[Hugh]

I wish I'd found this thread last week!
Trying to dock with a wind 1/4ing onto the floating docks at a launch site, I tried to come around and through some moored boats, from DW. As I got close to the dock I couldn't get my to round up into the wind. After Many tries I finally found that I could back the boat around enough to get it to turn through the wind. We got lined up and docked. Never occured to me to just back in . I was so intent on getting the boat to face the "right" way.
Hugh

[DaveB]

You have a M that has a dagger board and I with a X that has a centerboard.
It all depends on water depth, if you have that depth to a least keep both rudders down than do so and drop your daggerboard 2ft.
This will give you control of leeway approching the dock. If wind conditions are to strong, keep your Ballast full and empty at ramp.(if trailering)
What this does is slowing down leeway so you can have more control.
I often have to enter a boat ramp I often use with 1 mile of open water exposed and with boat waves and winds 15 knots or less I have to enter the dock in 2-3 ft. seas.
These are following seas and makes for a rough landing if you are not prepaired.
Backing stearn to in a slip is not recommended unless conditions are good as there is prop. walk and control that is limited in a Mac.
With practice you will find what is best for you.
Dave

I wish I'd found this thread last week!
Trying to dock with a wind 1/4ing onto the floating docks at a launch site, I tried to come around and through some moored boats, from DW. As I got close to the dock I couldn't get my to round up into the wind. After Many tries I finally found that I could back the boat around enough to get it to turn through the wind. We got lined up and docked. Never occured to me to just back in . I was so intent on getting the boat to face the "right" way.
Hugh

[Berber Boy]

I have a 2008 Mac 26M and still find docking the most stressful part of sailing particularly where wind, tidal stream and jetty clutter are all factors. There are some really valuable threads here and everyone seems to have found their own comfort level. Just a couple of extra thoughts.

1: I always come in with full ballast and empty at the ramp. BUT the water ballast adds nearly a ton of weight to the boat that gives it stability but once underway it also gives the boat considerable momentum of its own. Try putting your boat in neutral and see how far it will go with no power. Yes you need momentum to have control but you also have to guage when to back off and leave enough time for the the boat to lose momentum on approach. I find with my ETEC 60 that giving small puffs of power gives better control over speed on approach.
2: On the ETECs the engine exhaust is blown out through the middle of the prop and if you put the revs too high (in panic mode ) it acts more like jet propulsion than giving your more reverse thrust. Again I find smaller bursts of reverse at lower RPM are more effective
3: I also back in when conditions are bad and have two springer lines fore and aft that I can use either to make the initial connection with the jetty

Having said that if you have not yet split your gunnel like I have ( ) twice then you are really doing well!

[Catigale]

Inching up to a dock at minimum speed is the intuitive way to do it but requires a perfect approach. If you are new to the boat the likelihood of a perfect approach is the same as getting Madonna into a nunnery...

You need to come. In with enough way to have rudder control, then use your motor to quench the momentum with a couple of throttle bursts...if your motor stalls or your linkage is stiff, FIXIT!!

The self proclaimed experts who promote sailing onto the dock will fail on a Mac due to the lack of mass and high wind age of the boat.

The only way to learn to sail a light boat onto dockage is experience..the intent here is to let the beginners enjoy their boats without wrecking them or trying to follow keelboat dogma....

[Berber Boy]

The only way to learn to sail a light boat onto dockage is experience..the intent here is to let the beginners enjoy their boats without wrecking them or trying to follow keelboat dogma

Catigale, I agree wholeheartedly with you and overtime and with experience it does get better. However there are moments and with your experience I am sure that you have faced them where conditions emerge (Such as a gusting 30 knots on the beam as you approach) that are such that you feel like dropping the anchor and riding it out but are not able to do so and so you try and get the boat in without damage. Does anyone have any tips about to handle those conditions?

Dave

[Kevgrn114]

The only way to learn to sail a light boat onto dockage is experience..the intent here is to let the beginners enjoy their boats without wrecking them or trying to follow keelboat dogma

Catigale, I agree wholeheartedly with you and overtime and with experience it does get better. However there are moments and with your experience I am sure that you have faced them where conditions emerge (Such as a gusting 30 knots on the beam as you approach) that are such that you feel like dropping the anchor and riding it out but are not able to do so and so you try and get the boat in without damage. Does anyone have any tips about to handle those conditions?

Dave

Move quicker, exponentially with the amount of wind. There have been times i have been what would seem to be plowing into the dock only to be drastically reduced in speed once the throttle is let off due to the wind speed.
The Mac is an interesting animal for sure. I find that I have to drive it like a 16' day sailer while docking. I try to dock as much as possible with empty ballast just so I can get used to it. That way whenever I do have ballast in it will be easier.

[Ormonddude]

I have bumper baskets that hold two bumpers each, I deploy them all to the landing side and do my best - have not made a mess yet

[ronacarme]

Foils down (in our slip CB line is only 25% out to avoid risk of touching bottom), about 2mph (3mph with a tail wind) to maintain steering control, reverse to a stop when in, fix the boat in place with a permanently mid-dock attached, short line which we grab and cleat to the adjacent jib cleat midships on our X. Boat secured in slip. Secure bow and ster lines at leisure.

Idle speed on motor must be set hi enuf that motor does not die when shifted into reverse....or crunch!!! May have to adjust idle speed to suit.
Trying to enter slip too slowly, particularly on a windy day, ensures boat will not be controllable and will hit something (undesired).

Permanently fixed fenders on dock and piles reduce risk of scrubbing off parts of boat during slip entry if helmsman's aim is off a bit.

Practice a lot....aids confidence and may improve accuracy.

luck and fun.....Ron

[mastreb]

I used to sail my Columbia into the dock all the time, and I can confirm that es no possible with a Mac (in the same marina). The mac simple does not have the momentum of a full keel rudder and is too fidigity with all the necessary controls to guarantee that you're not going to get blown into your neighbors as you sail down the fairway to your slip.

I go into my slip bow first. That way you can never hit your outboard on anything, and it's much easier to back out of a slip against the current and wind if you're tractoring in reverse rather than pushing from the back. In 10 knots abeam, It is not possible to turn the 90 degrees out of my slip and into the wind down the fairway in the width of the fairway. So backing out it is. A bit less glorious to be sure, but much simpler and more control-able.

When reversing down the fairway, I turn around at the helm and put my hands behind my back on the steering wheel. This way I face aft, can see exactly where the outboard is pointed (because that's where you go--crabbing is normal when reversing a mac) and my brain automatically reverses everything for me. When I'm out of the fairway and into the harbor, I turn out and a hole shot gets me going forward.

When coming into the slip, I'm running 3..4 knots for better control, with all boards all the way down. The boat will handle very responsively.

The next part is simple: When you're a boat-length from the slip, point the bow directly at the middle of the slip opening, and keep it there. The boat will follow it in. Once you're alongside the dock, a quick reverse thrust the the motor hard over angled to point at the dock will both stop the boat and pull you back towards the dock if the current and wind are drifting against you. If it's safe to hop off (i.e., less than 1 knot relative motion between the boat and the dock) then grab a dock-line and do so. Otherwise, have your boat hook handy and use it to grab a cleat and pull the boat towards it. Once you've got a boathook on the dock, you're fine.

If you are in a double-slip and the current/winds are pushing you away from your dock and towards the other boat, and you've failed to get close enough to make a safe hop or get the boat hook in position, then goose the boat into reverse and pull back out of your slip completely to try again. In these conditions, consider pulling up to the end of the dock finger perpendicular (wind and current are now behind you rather than abeam) and having a crew member jump off with the bow dock-line. This person can then walk the boat around, negating any current or wind.

If you're being pushed towards the opposite dock and there's no boat in it, just relax, wait till you get to the other dock, and tie off there. Then use docklines to pull the boat over to your side of the slip.

No accidents or even close calls thus far, fingers crossed.

[Miss_Dallie]

I pull up to the dock to have lunch in Los Alamitos Bay (not into a slip). I found if I nose up to the dock at a 45 degree angle, cut the throttle and let the momentum of the boat glide up slowly, and then turn the wheel toward the dock and lightly hit reverse, I swing right on up against the dock. Wrap up the stern dock line and then the bow dock line. This method took a lot of patience to perfect and even then, there are days when the current and or wind wants to fight my every attempt to dock. I guess that's just the way it is...

Ron
Miss Dallie

[Divecoz]

Practice Makes Perfection with EVERY .. Physical Endeavor.. The only one's who will laugh at you are, the idiots... I came down VERY Hard on my students for laughing at others failures.. Pretty easy for Any Instructor... to make any student ... look like a fool.. Once Burned Twice Shy..

[ALX357]

Dock in REVERSE gear. Search threads to see the many advantages of driving the boat in reverse going into dock.

[bscott]

A Power Thruster eliminates prop walking in reverse and increases stopping power.

Bob

[dlandersson]

Backing in is the "right" way in Europe.

I wish I'd found this thread last week!
Trying to dock with a wind 1/4ing onto the floating docks at a launch site, I tried to come around and through some moored boats, from DW. As I got close to the dock I couldn't get my to round up into the wind. After Many tries I finally found that I could back the boat around enough to get it to turn through the wind. We got lined up and docked. Never occured to me to just back in . I was so intent on getting the boat to face the "right" way.
Hugh

[chuck]

I Wish:

I wish that there were places that had rectangular practice floats moored so that you could practice docking in all wind directions. It would be nice if it had one finger slip.