(re)Gaining Confidence

[Butch]

Bluey that location in my opinion is one of the toughest location to dock. If I were you I would borrow Carl, Lous or John's Boat and practice til I mastered it.
Seriously, what a location w/ currents.The key is to have fun. Enjoy!!

[Veebyes2]

Lots of good advice above. A single as a first boat is a handful. I have a friend who bought a Holiday Mansion 36 houseboat with a IO single as his first boat. Now THERE was a brave man.

Make the current your friend. It is not like parking at Walmart. This car is always sliding.

If your Admiral is just standing there in the boat watching make her crew. Help. Be ready with a springline & know how to use it. Once you have a springline onboard you can do anything you want with the boat.

For fun & experience take a fender, go to an open area in current, or wind, & anchor the fender. anchor it so it does not have much scope so you won't wrap the line around your prop. Practice handling the boat around the fender pretending that it is a slip pile. The thruster is a big plus but try to get good enough where you don't need it.

I am going across Kent Narrows bridge in a few weeks time. I want to look down & see you practicing.

[loubennett]

If you want to see some professionals docking go to one of the waterman docking contests. They are scored on speed. I was in Solomons last September and watched one. It's quite impressive how they handle a single screw boat. Afterwards I was talking to the owner of the marina where I was docked and told him that apparently what I needed to improve my docking was more speed. He looked back at me and said "and you can practice at any marina but mine"

[jcollins]

If I were you I would borrow Carl, Lous or John's Boat and practice til I mastered it.

[RobS]

If I were you I would borrow Carl, Lous or John's Boat and practice til I mastered it.

I was waiting for a reply from Carl, Lou or John

[Carl]

If I were you I would borrow Carl, Lous or John's Boat and practice til I mastered it.

Since John is getting ready to sell his, he needs to have a few marks to make it look like it was used on a regular basis. On the other hand, I think we can tie some red paint markers to the pileings and get Butch his red stripes back!!!

[Fogg~Dogg]

I learned to fly airplanes, ride horses, and play "par" golf by doing one thing...never, ever walk away when something goes wrong. Analyize what happened, determine what action would have changed the outcome, then go out and do it...over and over. There is something to the term "muscle memory"...and there is definately something to visualization (I learned to ski via Sybervision). Everytime a fighter pilot had a problem or "punched out" via ejection seat...he was up in the air the next day! The 28's are lousy backing machines...but, with the right use of lines, thruster, and power...you can do it fine...everytime. One thing my boating teacher offered was a drill of backing to a single spot on the water. He had me pick a post, and then back to it from four major compass points. Each time, I was to place the middle of the stern on the post. No points for "close", it had to be dead nuts on. Wind, current, nerves, and all other factors are there...you just need to see perfection a few times...and then visualize. Power is often underutilized. There is a YouTube video of some lobster guy docking competition. One guy is amazing...it's all about power to him. Check it out. Other than backing, the 28's have NO issues. You have a great boat...become its partner!

[fairtide]

Nothing I can add except a reminder to read the first post on the TE page. Collins's information has enabled me, after 3 years with my 28TE to dock without the use of the thruster. It's there, ready to go, if needed. That's like insurance and a confidence supporter. Keep the boat. When you are more confident of your skills, you will be happy that you did not cave in to beginner's disappointment.

[Mariner]

Whatever you do, DO NOT sell the boat just because you're afraid to dock it. You will take an absolute bath on the boat by the time you pay the listing commission, etc... You can buy a lot of instructional time with a professional captain for 10% of the value of your boat. I'm all the way out here on the west coast, or else I would happily spend a few hours with you going over the techniques and practicing, for no charge. Surely someone who is a little closer, and has experience with the handling characteristics of your boat will also be willing to do this.

If all else fails, put your boat in a different marina until you gain some more experience and confidence.

[jcollins]

Collins's information has enabled me, after 3 years with my 28TE to dock without the use of the thruster.

The credit for that goes to our own Ric Murray. I must have read that post 20 times. I still use my thruster. But, if it wasn't there I could still get into my slip. We have a few larger clorox bottles at our marina with twins. They have and use a bow thruster as well.

I was impressed with the docking skills of one our local crabbers. He told me if I had to dock a couple of times a day, 5 or 6 days a week, it would be no problem without the thruster. He also said "my boat aint as pretty as yours". "If I bump a piling it's no big deal".

[Bluey]

PROGRESS! Couldn't go out 8/22 because of the rain and winds (whitecaps at the Narrows!). Went out yesterday, cruised through Eastern Bay, practiced backing and turning. Went back to the slip, waited at least 10 minutes for the traffic to clear, did a 270 but the tide carried me away, went in aiming for a piling, gently brushed it. Admiral grabbed the line that normally was a bowline and we warped around the piling. Once the stern was in, no problem. Only had to use the bowthruster when the anchor stock was in danger of snagging the front starboard piling. Afterwards, the Admiral and I had a glass of champagne! [now if someone would just keep earl and his heirs/heiresses away....]

[RobS]

Excellent, with Progress comes Perfection... Glad to hear you're on the right track, now if we only knew what track Earl is on....

[DougSea]

PROGRESS! Couldn't go out 8/22 because of the rain and winds (whitecaps at the Narrows!). Went out yesterday, cruised through Eastern Bay, practiced backing and turning. Went back to the slip, waited at least 10 minutes for the traffic to clear, did a 270 but the tide carried me away, went in aiming for a piling, gently brushed it. Admiral grabbed the line that normally was a bowline and we warped around the piling. Once the stern was in, no problem. Only had to use the bowthruster when the anchor stock was in danger of snagging the front starboard piling. Afterwards, the Admiral and I had a glass of champagne! [now if someone would just keep earl and his heirs/heiresses away....]

Way to go Maurice! Keep up the good work!

[Capt Paul]

Hello Maurice,

You are doing well! I consider every attempt of entering my home port slip a practice session. Wind is always a broadside (port side) for me when I turn into the slip, which is a turn to port. That means the wind is at my stern when going down the fairway pushing me as well. I spent about 3 sessions with a licensed captain learning the back and fill technique to spin the boat and that was well worth it. My Slip is about 12ft wide, so that does not leave allot room for error as well. I pretty much always use the bow thruster at some point and always have fenders out. I have had my boat for 5 years and have tried different ways of approaching the slip. The broadside wind is a real PITA. If I totally mess up the approach, I just spin the boat 180 and go back out and re-enter. Like everyone has said , practice is pretty much it.

The good part about the difficult approach and narrowness of my slip makes everything else seem easy.

Paul

[jcollins]

I was getting worried about scratches on Afterglow.

I think Earl will be pretty far off DelMarVa. We may get some wind and high tides. Our friends up north may get it a little worse.

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