[C320-list] Backing into slip

Tue Oct 30 10:46:00 PDT 2007

Guess I am the odd guy out on this one...I only had problems in the
beginning when I went too slow and cautiously and lost steerage.  Now I have
confidence to go pretty fast into the slip because I know that a blast of
throttle will stop the boat very well.  That way you have steerage
practically until the last moment.  Works for me every time, and especiallly
if there's a crosswind.  This is even more important if you are backing up -
the boat steers fine if you keep it moving.

Dave M

California Girl #342

-----Original Message-----
From: c320-list-bounces at catalina320.com
[mailto:c320-list-bounces at catalina320.com] On Behalf Of Bill Culbertson
Sent: October 30, 2007 1:30 PM
To: C320-List
Subject: Re: [C320-list] Backing into slip

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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