Tradewinds Sailing Blog

If you didn’t think about it 10 minutes ago you waited too long!

When it comes to fairway turns, you never get to select the timing, therefore, always be ready.  I had this reinforced in a Basic Coastal Cruising class yesterday.  We were exploring the limits of the BCC practice area including “destinations.”  While checking out the docks at Sam’s, a boat backed out of a slip in front of us.  In this case, we were able to just put it in reverse and back out, however, in another case a fairway turn might have been required.  Knowing ahead of time what to do “if” something happened prevented the need to make a snap, and possibly incorrect, judgement.  This time, We knew ahead of time we were in the middle of the fairway, with little wind, on a boat with minimal prop walk.  Just the right conditions to back out.  If any of these three factors had been different, a fairway turn probably would have been in order.  Always think about the situation when pulling into a fairway or for that matter, any close quarters situation.  It’s all part of the Location, Orientation, Transition process.  Plan out ahead of time what maneuver(s) you are need to do, and what options are available in the event of a problem.

Let’s say you are in the fairway approaching the slip you plan to dock in.  There are a number of things you should know before you need to.

• Port prop walk vs. starboard prop walk?  Which direction will you most likely turn while executing a fairway turn?  Turning away from prop walk allows the prop walk to assist in the turn.  Turning the other way is possible if other conditions are there to assist.
• Is the intended slip to port or starboard.  Turning into a slip located to port means you are most likely set up on the starboard side of the fairway.  If so, you may not have room to make a normal fairway turn to starboard.  Will the boat you are on and the conditions execute a fairway turn the opposite direction?
• Where is the wind.  Wind from ahead generally helps a fairway turn.  Wind from astern hinders it.   With the wind coming from the side, turning towards the wind is generally easier than turning away from the wind.  When you start the turn, the momentum of the bow will help get the bow through the wind.  Once the bow is through the wind, the wind finishes the turn for you.  All you need to do is keep from blowing backwards.  Turning away from the wind pits several forces against you.  The momentum of the boat is downwind.  The wind blows the boat downwind.  When you think you are “almost done,” and shift into forward throttling up, the boat surges downwind!  As you make the turn trying to get back to the middle of the fairway from the lee side, the stern slides downwind.  There is only a certain about of room downwind before something hard is encountered!  The same problem happens when you back out of a downwind slip, and don’t get the bow oriented a bit to windward.  I personally have seen more collisions at that point of a slip departure or a fairway turn than all other reasons combined!
• Are you looking for telltales a boat is about to move?  Coolant exhaust, crew at the ready handling dock lines, and a helms-person standing behind the wheel are all clues that something is about to change.

The moral of the story … “stuff” happens, plan ahead to avoid anxiety and possibly expensive damages.

We all recognize there are “laws of nature.”   Things like “what goes up, must come down.” Or, “spring follows winter.”  While watching a great number of docking maneuvers the past 10 years I have come to the conclusion there are also Laws of Close Quarters Boat Handling.  There are probably more, however, I think these sum up most of the “situations” I have seen.

1. No matter what you have been told, it does not drive “just like a car!”
2. Slow is pro … too slow won’t go!
3. Given two or more options, a scared helms-person will nearly always pick the wrong choice!
4. The first and last 100′ are always the most nerve wracking!
5. Spring is a beautiful time of year … and spring lines are a beautiful things to use!

It’s not a car!  I enjoy teaching teenagers how to sail.  Teenagers young enough to have never driven a car.  They just seem to get it.  They have no expectations as to what the boat is going to do, so they just go with it.  I can’t tell you how many times I have seen an adult put the tiller over the wrong direction, and when the boat turns the wrong way, move it further the same direction. Don’t laugh.  I don’t think I have had more than ten students of all the Basic Keelboat students I have taught that did not do it at least once during class. If you put that same tiller into the hands of someone that has never driven, when the boat goes the wrong way they reverse the tiller, and the next time do it the correct direction.  I believe part of the confusion is boats do not handle like cars.  For example;

• A car steers from the front while a boat steers from the stern.  If the stern moves to port, the bow moves to starboard.  We tend to look at the bow and think we are steering into the slip when actually, the stern is moving laterally, and the bow is just going along, in the opposite direction, for the ride.
• With a car, the front end follows the back end.  A boat pivots on a point near the middle of the boat … and, that point moves.  The faster you go, the further forward the pivot point moves.  When stopped, the pivot point on every sailboat is different, however, generally just about the mast.  As a matter of fact, if you visualize the mast extending all the way through the boat and down into the mud your fairway turns will improve dramatically.  The goal of a fairway turn is to turn the boat in it’s own length.  It works on a boat because of the pivot point.  That will never happen in a car, where the best you can hope for is a “doughnut.”
• By it’s very nature, a boat is never sitting completely still.  Even in a slip with dock lines secured a boat moves.  Take the dock lines off and the boat is at the mercy of wind, current, and momentum.  You might think you are stopped.  You are not.
• A car has brakes.  The closest thing to a brake on a boat is shifting to the other direction, and when you do, the boat doesn’t just slow and stop.  The stern is going to do some lateral movement, with the bow moving the opposite direction.  As an example shift into reverse and as the boat slows its forward momentum, the stern will move the direction of the prop walk.  Shift into forward while turning and prop wash moves the stern away from the direction of the turn (tries to point you back the direction you came from.)

Enough of the examples … just remember … it’s not a car, never will be a car, and doesn’t handle like a car.

Slow is pro!  Don’t go any faster than you are willing to hit something, and don’t hit anything any harder then you are willing to sign a check for.  Sadly, there isn’t a hard fast “go XX knots” for every set of circumstances.  With no wind and current, it works great to bring the boat to a stop with the pivot point even with the center line of the slip and then “rotate” the boat 90 degrees to line up with the slip.  In that case, zero is a great speed.  Don’t ever try that in wind and current, it doesn’t work well, especially when turning to an upwind slip.  A bit of speed is needed to control the turn, all the while knowing that the faster you go, the faster things go wrong, and the more damage is done.

Speaking of things going wrong, a scared helms-person will nearly always do the wrong thing, and often, that “thing” is more power when less is better.  You see it over and over.  During a fairway turn, the boat reaches a point where it is sideways to the fairway, and begins to blow to the lee side of the fairway, which also happens to be the direction the bow is headed.  The helms-person realizes there is a problem, but instead of just shifting into reverse and “pulling” the boat back to windward, he throttles up in forward trying to spin around before hitting the boats in front.  When that happens, wind and momentum are both pushing towards danger, not away, and unfortunately, even if the bow makes it around in time, the stern swings wide and impacts a boat or two and maybe a concrete post.  How do you overcome the tendency to do the wrong thing?  Plan ahead.  Location … Orientation … Transition.  Where do I want to be?  How should the boat be oriented?  What are the steps to my transition to whatever I am transitioning to?  Using the same example, the transition is from a fairway turn where the boat is rotating in place, to motoring in forward down the fairway.  When you start to transition you should be located on the windward side of the fairway.  You should be oriented straight down the fairway (or possibly with the bow a bit to windward).  Definitely not still pointed to the lee side!  When you have proper location and orientation, the transition is a simple as straighten the rudder, shift into forward, and throttle up.  The more planning you do and the more “this could happen” preparation you make, the more likely you will not get scared, and you will be much more likely to make the right decision under pressure.   As I write this, I am still wet from a small rain “squall” that came across during a docking class.  During the time is took to motor down the fairway between the dock and the rocks, turn into the correct fairway, and negotiate into the slip, the wind went from less than 10 knots from the SW to nearly 25 knots from the NW (right down the center of the fairway).  Ten minutes later, after the next student departed the slip with 22 knots on the beam, the wind shifted again.  Before we could get the boat turned around and back to her slip the wind was back from the SW at 2 knots.  In both cases, our original docking plans needed to be changed during the process.  Planning ahead made for a non issue.

The first and last 100 feet are the challenging part.  Always plan for the first and last 100 feet before actually getting into them.  Again, Location, Orientation, Transition.  Before leaving a slip, know what you are going to be doing every foot of the first 100 feet.  When docking, know what you are going to be doing every foot of the last 100 feet.  An adage to live by is, “if you didn’t think about it 10 minutes ago, you waited too long.”

A spring line is a wonderful thing!  I’m not sure how I handled docking and departing before learning how to use a spring line!  This isn’t the place for detailed instruction of use of a spring line, however, you should be proficient at each of the following spring line maneuvers.  In describing a spring line, aft and forward refer to the direction the line travels away from the boat.  Bow, waist, and stern refer to the boat’s cleat used.

Spring Line Departures:

• Use an aft bow spring to spring out the stern.
• Use a forward stern spring to spring out the bow.
• Use an aft bow spring in a slip to control the tendency of the wind to push the bow to leeward while steerage speed is obtained.

Spring Line Docking:

• Use an aft waist spring to “pull” the boat to a leeward side tie.
• Use an aft bow spring and prop wash to bring the stern to the dock.
• Use a bow/waist loop as a spring to bring the stern to the dock.  This is really two springs in one … a forward bow spring and a forward waist spring.

These are just the beginning … there are other great uses for a spring line. In a  situation where strong wind and prop walk are both “forcing” the bow the wrong direction during a slip departure, an aft waist spring (in the hands of qualified crew) running to a dock cleat at the end of the slip on the side opposite of wind and prop walk forces the boat to turn the correct direction.   The same spring line (again, in the hands of qualified crew) works the other way if backing into a challenging slip location (fender up … the boat will be rotating around the dock!)

Here is a sixth “law” to consider.  The person yelling the loudest is most likely the one that screwed up.  He is trying to get others to fix his mistake, all the while blaming someone else.

Keep these laws of close quarters boat handling in mind and your boat handling skills will improve!

Earlier, we looked at  the D dock Pontoon Pump Station Bowen Basin.  In this installment, we explore docking to leeward of the same dock.  The choice of going to windward or leeward is entirely the skipper’s.  Docking to windward is very easy, however the departure requires some effort.  Docking to leeward can be challenging, but the departures are a piece of cake.

There are two basic techniques while going to leeward.  Interestingly, the boat handling process is nearly identical.  The only difference; with one the goal is to stop the boat parallel to the dock and with the other, try to stop with the bow almost touching and the stern a few feet out.  The primary difference is how the lines are set up and handled.  Both options require a dock line of about the same length as the length of the boat.

To begin either docking option, approach the dock in forward at an angle.  Depending upon circumstances, the angle can be anywhere from about 20 to 90 degrees.  As the boat nears the dock, start a turn with the goal of bringing the boat parallel to the dock.  To help me know when to turn, I use a simple visual trick.  When the boat visually “touches” the dock, I begin my turn.  When coming straight at the dock, this seems to be the spot that leaves just the right amount of space to complete a 90 degree turn without hitting the dock.  All that is left is figuring out how fast to turn.   Once the boat is along side the dock, option 1 or 2 below comes into play.

Option 1:  Cleat hitch the line to a waist cleat.  Bring the boat to a stop parallel to the dock and get the line around a dock cleat more or less even with the transom.  Secure the line at the waist cleat (or a convent winch) and place the boat in forward at a low RPM.  The force of the propeller against the line moves the boat towards the dock. Slow the approach by turning away from the dock; speed the approach by turning toward the dock.

Option 2:  This option only works when placing the “prop walk side of the boat” against the dock.  Tie a loose loop of line from the bow cleat to the waist cleat. Bring the bow as close to a dock cleat as possible and hold position.  Use a boat hook to place the loop around the cleat.  Reverse at a low RPM and let the prop walk bring the boat slowly to the dock.

Departures can’t be any easier.  Cast off the dock lines and let the wind blow you away.  Once cleat motor off.

My own personal choice is to dock to leeward whenever possible.  I find it easier to dock to leeward than depart to windward.  Your choice is yours, however, as you can see, the choice doesn’t involve “U turns” in close quarters situations.

Someone asked me once where I get the ideas for the skipper’s tips.  My answer was, “watching the docks.”  If you watch, it doesn’t take long to see something tip worthy.  On any Saturday you will see at least one instance were someone has to fend of from the dock, another boat, or a concrete post.  Generally body parts are used for the purpose.  Once in awhile a boat hook will be placed into service.  Neither is a good idea.  Body parts break and boat hooks are not at all secure.  Here is a better way!

Part of the Tradewinds pre-cruise check list is to verify the location and number of fenders.  Don’t check that item off the list until you have placed one fender “at the ready.”  What’s that mean?  Remove it from the lazarette or untie it from the stern pulpit so that it can be placed into service as a roving fender without delay.  Never depart a slip, begin a docking, or operate in close quarters without having a fender ready to fend off in the event of a mishap.  I assure you, sooner of later you are going to need it!

Kind of a strange way to start a conversation, however, that’s just what happened the other day.

It seems a club member was missing.  He had left the house the previous morning for a day sail.  He called in that afternoon indicating they were having some engine problems, his cellphone was almost dead, and he would be calling the Coast Guard.  That was the last she had heard and his phone was going straight to voice mail.  Needless to say, she was quite worried.  To compound the problem, she did not know who he was sailing with, where they were sailing from, the name of the boat, or their destination.  She had no idea where to even start so she called the Coast Guard and Tradewinds hoping we could tell her what was going on.  We couldn’t tell her (or the Coast Guard officer who called later), because he wasn’t on one of our boats.

In this case, there was a happy ending.  He was sailing with a friend on a boat that isn’t part of the Tradewinds fleet.  The boat did have motor problems, however, they were able to make it to a marina where they spent the night.  The boat was repaired the following day and they make it back to their home marina.  Unfortunately, because his cell phone was dead he wasn’t able to contact her with an update.

Much of her concern would have been eliminated had he filed a float plan with her before leaving.  If you aren’t sure what information is required, there is a great example of a float plan on the Tradewinds website.  It can be completed online, saved as a PDF file, and left where a concerned person can find it.

During the Advanced Coastal Cruising class, a float plan is required.  Anytime a Tradewinds boat goes outside the gate, a float plan is required.  Tradewinds does not require a float plan in any other circumstances, however, common sense does.  Never leave the dock without filing a plan with your loved ones.  At a minimum, include the following information:

• Vessel name and description
• Skipper’s name and contact info (including the skipper’s emergency contact person and contact info is also a great idea)
• Crew members names and contact info
• When are you leaving
• Where are you going
• Planned stops along the way
• When will you return
• Any backup plans you might have

One more thought.  I know where I am and that everything is OK … my loved ones don’t, so any time I leave the dock, I have in my possession a satellite based GPS tracking tool. I can use it to check in when out of cell phone range.  With it, I’m able to send a simple message to let my wife know I’m OK, and what my exact Latitude and Longitude are.  Using it has greatly reduced my wife’s worry when I am out enjoying this great sport.

Note from Matt: Here is a link to a fillable .pdf float plan from the USCG Auxiliary: http://floatplancentral.cgaux.org – along with instructions! Fill it out, download the completed document, and email it to someone who will want to know your whereabouts if you are late!