Dan here. There’s little about sailing I don’t like. Perhaps the one exception is anticipating docking in an unknown harbor in strong wind or current. It’s not so much the docking itself as much of the half hour of anxiety leading up to the event during which all kinds of doomsday scenarios run through one’s mind.
Well today was one of those days. We had a great crossing with 20 knots of wind pushing us from Martha’s Vineyard to Hyannis on the south shore of Cape Cod. The forecast called for to gusts “only” into the low 20s. As we progressed toward Hyannis, it actually lightened up to low teens. However, that was just the calm before the storm. As we approached the harbor, the wind settled in at a steady 28 knots. So did the anxiety of docking in those conditions.
Knowing it was going to be “sporty”, we prepared as much as we could before leaving. I called the marina to figure out which side we would tie up, prepared docking lines on the port-side accordingly, and discussed a plan with Sandy.
When we arrived in Hyannis Harbor, Sandy set our fenders on the port side while I drove through the very narrow channel. We put on the communication headsets and were ready. As we approached our assigned slip, we saw another boat in it. I radioed the marina and was told that we were reassigned. The boat in our assigned slip was supposed to leave but held back because of (you guessed it) too much wind! The new dock required tying up on the starboard side. This last minute change may seem trivial but, on Fregata, it takes a good 15 minutes to move 4 dock lines and 4 or more fenders from one side to the other. When needed, we usually we just turn in a slow circle outside of the marina to buy time to set fenders and lines. That was a challenge. Hyannis Harbor is tiny with about 200 feet of width in which to manoevre. Although doable under normal conditions, with 28 knots of wind blowing, the boat drifts to the downwind side of the circle, and at slow speeds, steering isn’t easy. Sailboats can only steer when there is good water flow over the rudder, which at slow speeds there is not. And, to add insult to injury, there’s a fleet of ferries serving Nantucket and Martha’s Vineyards coming and going every few minutes, and they weren’t shy about blasting their horns at us as we circled the harbor.
Anyway, Sandy bravely held the helm and kept us within the deep water. This was particularly stressful knowing that beyond that radius were rock ledges only a few feet under the water!
I got the fenders and docklines set and we were ready to approach the dock.
Like I said, anticipation of docking is often more stressful than docking itself. As a sailing instructor and experienced captain, I’ve learned how to remain calm in the worst of situations (or at least to provide the illusion thereof to my crew). Normally, you approach a dock at a 45º angle, pointing the bow at the spot you want the middle of the boat to wind up. Then, you turn the rudder so that the stern moves toward the dock and the boat winds up parallel, close enough to get on and off, but far enough to avoid hitting it.
In this case, it wasn’t possible because there was no space for such a maneovre. Given the 28 knot wind pushing toward the dock, I turned the boat parallel to the dock out in the harbor and backed in about 50 feet away from the dock, knowing that the wind would push us sideways. It did that, but when cross-wind hits a sailboat, it tends to push the bow sideways more quickly than the stern where the rudder provides lateral resistance. I used the bow thruster to “twist” her in such a way as to keep her parallel to the dock as we backed up and drifted sideways. And I modulated the speed of reverse to try to wind up at the appropriate place on the dock just as the wind pushed us into the dock sideways (with lots of fenders out to protect the hull). Well it worked, more or less, and we were able to tie up without any major disasters. The dockhands weren’t very helpful, but I used the engine and bowthruster to keep the boat safe while they fussed with the (wrong) lines.
All ended well, but I think I aged a few years in the process.
