[C320-list] Backing into slip

Tue Oct 30 10:30:07 PDT 2007

I meant to add. There are definitely still breezes which give me a cold sweat and racing heart when docking
believe me.  It's just that now it takes a stronger breeze to do that than it did in previous years.
I suspect each year the threshold will increase a bit - or I hope it will :)

----- Original Message ----
From: Bill Culbertson <billculb_a2 at yahoo.com>
To: C320-List <c320-list at catalina320.com>
Sent: Tuesday, October 30, 2007 1:20:15 PM
Subject: Re: [C320-list] Backing into slip

I've seen a lot of great advice so far - all to be used.  One thing I've not seen yet is mention
of momentum after the 90d turn into the slip.  

Boats keep going in the direction they were going after you turn.  When 
you have full steerage you can easily counteract this.  But for your final 90d turn
into the slip, you are intentionally bleeding off speed and losing steerage.  One common
newbie error is having significant speed down the fairway AND turning late enough to line 
yourself up exactly with the slip.  If you do this, the momentum will carry you down-fairway
which is now sideslipping given your new direction.  You will overshoot the slip.

If there is no wind, you can just slow yourself down enough that this is a non-issue, line up exactly
and head in perfectly.  But if there is wind of any kind such that you have to increase the speed
to maintain steerage, then this momentum will be a factor.  So you must start your turn sooner
and rely on the momentum to side-slip you such that you line up after side-slipping.  How much sooner
you turn depends directly on how much faster than normal you are going.

While I'm on the subject of when to turn, the other factor which affects this is cross breeze.  If you are
traveling down the fairway into a headwind it will become a cross-breeze after you turn into the slip.  In 
this case turn late and keep pointing the bow toward the far side (upwind side) of the slip as much as you 
can without hitting anything.  The breeze will blow the bow down to line you up.  Likewise, if you are 
heading down the fairway with a tailwind, you want to turn early and point the bow toward the near side 
(again the upwind side) of the slip letting the wind blow the bow down to finish lining you up. 

One other hint I've found very helpful is to steer the mast or main cabin hatch. That is, time your steering
and execute your steering such that the mast or cabin hatch follows the track that you want the boat to 
follow.  Once you have that on track, you can pivot the bow/stern into position at the proverbial last minute
with rudder action and goosing the throttle if needed.  But you can't easily reposition the mast/hatch area 
of the boat with any last minute rudder/throttle.

And as everyone has said, practice, practice, practice.  I get better every year.  Breezes that used to give me 
a cold sweat and a racing heart don't bug me anymore.

-bill

----- Original Message ----
From: Randy Averill <randy at averillnet.com>
To: C320-List <c320-list at catalina320.com>
Sent: Monday, October 29, 2007 10:42:12 PM
Subject: [C320-list] Backing into slip

Another new owner question.

I've had my 320 for less than a month and my biggest problem right now is
parking.  My previous boat was much smaller and lighter, and I learned to
maneuver it into the slip rather easily with its outboard motor and tiller.
Now I would greatly appreciate the voice of experience helping me out.

I approached my first couple times into the new slip with the 320 with great
caution.  This boat can coast a long way and I can't afford to overshoot my
slip (I'm at the end of the runway) so I slowed to a crawl.  I used a "Y"
approach in that I came forward down the runway to my slip, turned hard to
port (away from the slip), and then backed in after completing a 90 degree
turn to port.  I actually parked fairly well, but it took forever because I
was going so slowly.

Last time out was my first problem because there was some wind blowing me
into the dock.  I think if I came in faster the wind would have less effect
(i.e., it would have less time to blow me around), but I don't know how fast
is too fast.  Does anybody have a rule of thumb you could offer?  If you're
coming in a idle, how early do you put your transmission in neutral?  How
much time to stop the boat with reverse?  Any good way to get a better feel
for this on open water?  I'm not sure I trust my ability to transfer the
open water experience to the marina because it's so tight.  Any good stories
to make me laugh and relax?

Randy Averill
Tesoro (#29)

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