T&T: Fw: docking without midships walkway

[Gil Johnson]

Rudy and Jill,
B 
I respectfully disagree.B  Once in a slip, which has nothing
to do with side decks, I can tell you that you should have a plan for line
handling that allows the boat to be held in place with a single dock line.B 
With only two on board, this is the only safe method of securing your boat.B 
Although due to calm conditions and/or available dock hands, you may not have
to use this plan, it MUST be your plan.B  With this said, it should be obvious
that side decks arenbt importantbalthough always nice to have.
B 
We have
never encountered a situation where our one line holding rule would not have
worked and we used it many times in very tough conditions.B  Our method was to
have a spring line pre attached to our forward midship cleat and readied in
the aft cockpit.B  Another line was readied to a stern cleat and available and
available at the same location as aft spring.B  Finally, a bow line is
readied.B  My wife walks off the boat with the aft spring in hand and secures
the line.B  Then placing the boat in forward and wheeled turned away from the
dock the boat will not move.B  She then walks to the front of the boat where I
hand her the bow line that she secures.B  She then walks back to the back of
the boat and secures the stern line and I then take the boat out of gear and
we complete our line management.
B 
Keep in mind that our boat was not an easy
boat to dock given its windage and limited bow thruster power.B  It was a 2006
Ocean Alexander Classicco 50, check it out and youbll see what Ibm talking
about.B  BTW, we almost bought a DeFever 45 given its side decks.B  We
intentionally evaluated docking when taking each boat out and decided docking
could be safely accomplished with the OA.B  For other reasons, we wished we
went to the DeFeverbbut thatbs another story.
B 
Ibm not sure what your
34-footer is.B  I can tell you our bigger concern on boat selection was to
make sure the boat was easy to get on and off from.B  An aft cockpit with
boarding gates on both sides was a mandatory requirement.B  This came from us
once owning a Monk 36 traditional aft cabin boat that required the line
handler to get down on the swim platform to disembark which is no where near
as safe as stepping off through the cockpit.
B 
Our differences are why there
isnbt just one boat model to choose from,
B 
Gil