T&T: manuevering a single screw

[Faure, Marin]

>This will also work with a midline if long enough but it is trickier
and dangerous surprises can happen.

We've found that using a midships line run back to the bullrail or cleat
is a much faster and more reliable way to get a boat alongside a dock
even in a strong adverse wind or current.  Going forward against the
line pulls the bow into the dock and putting the rudder(s) hard over
away from the dock moves the stern into the dock.  We use this method
all over the place in addition to our home slip (which has a permanent
spring line hung on a pole so my wife can reach it as we enter the slip)
and have never had it not work.  We normally use idle rpm when moving
forward against the spring line but we have used this method to
successfully pin the boat against a dock in a 40 mph direct crosswind
that was trying to blow us off the dock.  This particular instance
required more than idle power to move the boat against the dock and hold
it there.

Another very successful method of getting a boat to stay where you want
it when you first arrive at a dock is to put someone onto the dock with
a midships line at which point they secure the line as snug as they can
around the bullrail or cleat immediately next to the hawse the midship
line comes out of. While the boat will still be able to move around a
bit, it can't move very far forward or backward, nor can it move out
very far from the dock.  So it will stay pretty much put while the
breast and spring lines are put out and secured.  This is the method
used by the water busses in False Creek in Vancouver, BC.  At their
stops they simply attach a midships breast line, snug it up, and the
boat sits right where they want it.  Not the best technique in strong
adverse crosswinds, however, because the boat could move some distance
from the dock while the person on the dock is securing the line, so
there would be more play than one wants.  But in light wind and current
conditions, this method works great.


______________________________
C. Marin Faure
GB36-403 "La Perouse"
Bellingham, Washington