[C320-list] Backing into slip

[Greg Battersby]

Randy,

 

Sadly, you are not the only person who has trouble docking.  When I first got my
32 (a step up from the 30), I figured that backing into the slip made a whole
lot of sense because the way it was configured, I could literally step off the
boat onto the dock.  I had been sailing for about 25 years so this wasn't my
first rodeo.

 

The first time I tried it, it was a piece of cake.  Also the second.  THEN the
wind picked up and the guy with whom I shared the slip decided to get a bigger
boat-big enough that there is now only about 18" between us.  On top of that,
it's a power boat with an anchor pulpit that projects into the channel and every
time I swung past him it looked like a big spear that was sure to pierce a hole
in my hull if I didn't do it just right.  It then became a Chinese fire drill
every time I tried to dock.  

 

One time I put my wife into the water as she tried to jump down from the boat
onto the slip (not a small jump because the 320 has a high freeboard).  Since
she really never liked sailing anyway, I just lost my first mate..forever.   

 

Last Father's Day I took my entire family out on the boat.  We had a great time
and then it came time to dock it-6 tries later and with the help of a couple of
bystanders on the dock, we managed to park it-not dock it, but park it.  While
happily no one went into the water and there was no damage to the boat (I had
put a bunch of extra rubber on the side of dock and a wheel at the corner), but
the old ego was mortally damaged when my younger son said, "Dad, that was really
embarrassing."  No comeback was possible because I agreed with him.  The only
difference was that I was the guy who was embarrassed, not him.  His only fault
was being the son of the guy who couldn't dock her.

 

I popped up a similar post on this website after the incident and someone
responded with advice that I'll never forget-docking is nothing more than a
controlled crash.  Boy, he got that right.  Since then, I've searched far and
wide for advice and I have read everything I could find on the subject.  There's
even a computer docking simulator on the web.  Candidly, I thought the post
either late yesterday or earlier today was one of the best I read.

 

Since then, I unsuccessfully tried backing in a couple more times, then gave
up..literally and figuratively.  I went back to approaching it bow first and was
able to get in a lot easier although it gets dicy backing out because there
isn't a whole lot of water behind me.  This year, I just finally gave up and
decided to sell the boat.  Bluntly, it was an admission of failure on my part-I
came to realize that there was no way I could single handedly dock this puppy
without an awful lot of practice which I just didn't have the time for.   The
reason why we're talking about single handed docking is simple-- no one really
wanted to sail with me anymore because every time we got close to returning to
the dock, I became a basket case.  As such, if I wanted to go sailing, it was me
and me alone.  

 

The whole experience has, unfortunately, damaged (no, shattered) my ego, but I'm
a realist.  My golf clubs are looking better and better because parking the old
golf cart isn't that difficult.

 

Hope your story has a better ending than mine.   I suspect, however, that if you
take the time you'll get it down.  It's like the old story, "Who do you get to
Carnegie Hall?  Practice, practice, practice."

 

Good luck.

 

Greg

Westport, CT