[C320-list] Backing into slip

[Rod Boer]

I do this often when the wind is howling.  We call it warping the boat into 
the slip.

Rod
Odyssey, #688
----- Original Message ----- 
From: "Warren Updike" <wupdike at hotmail.com>
To: <c320-list at catalina320.com>
Sent: Friday, November 02, 2007 10:52 AM
Subject: Re: [C320-list] Backing into slip


No one seems to have mentioned this yet; but, here is a strategy that has 
saved my buns more than once.  When the wind or current make a bow or stern 
approach problematic, I bring the boat alongside the pilings at the entrance 
to the slip - hull perpendicular to the slip.  Best done heading into the 
wind.  Then, using one of the dock lines from the pile as a spring to a 
stern cleat, back the engine and you will rotate the stern into the slip. 
Best done heading into the wind.  Once the bow is at a reasonable angle to 
the wind, let go the line and continue into the dock.  Once the beam is 
inside the pilings, you have it made.

Another trick with a safety line from the dock to the entrance piling is to 
have ready a piece of line with a loop on one end and a hook on the other. 
Immediately after entering the slip, on the windward side, hook the line to 
the safety line and drop the loop over a cleat.  Now you can forget about 
that side and concentrate on the rest of the process.

With our first sailboat, I was nervous about looking like a lubber in our 
new marina.  That is, until I watched the circus around some of the "old 
salts" making their landing.  I found that no one criticizes a botched 
docking, and everyone applauds a good one.

Warren & Pattie Updike
C320, #62, 1994, "Warr De Mar"
Frog Mortar Creek, Middle River
Chesapeake Bay