Browsing: Docking

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Superyacht Crashes into Dry Dock

Sooner or later, we all have a misunderstanding with a dock; a sudden shift in the wind, a misjudgment of current, or simply a day when things don’t go well, and the boat and the dock have a meeting sooner that we’d planned. But a recent incident at the Lürssen yard in Germany put that sort of thing on an entirely new level. Indeed, a 446-foot yacht, one of the largest in the world under construction, ran into the steel door at the Lürssen dry dock in Bremen from the inside, damaging the door and then wiping out part of…

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How To Dock in Wind or Current

Here some great advice from Skipper Tips about how to dock safely even when there’s a strong wind or current. Take heed: Imagine you need to dock your boat in a strong, gusty wind between two other boats. The wind is blowing from ahead of your bow and parallel to the pier. How can you make this docking challenge easier? Follow these five easy steps. Stop into any marina on a weekend and you’re bound to see several great and not-so-great docking approaches. The best approaches are never about speed or quickness, but about command and control. Keep your bow…

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A Docking Tip from the Pros

Here’s a tip that will help you dock easily and safely from Skipper Tips. Give this some practice on your own boat: You turn your boat toward the slip, but a gust of wind sets you downwind. How can you use your engine to pivot the boat faster and get her into the slip before it’s too late? Use this little-known boat docking secret from the pros. When I taught at the Chapman School of Seamanship, the US Coast Guard required that we teach emergency docking on both single- and twin-screw (propeller) vessels. Quite a challenge on a vessel with…

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How To Use Prop Walk To Dock Your Boat

Understanding prop walk, or how to use the direction the propeller is turning, will help you control your single-screw boat in low-speed and docking situations. Here’s a great primer from iNavX that tells how to do it: When your propeller spins in gear, it produces thrust that drives your boat forward. Indeed, most of the force of the propeller contributes to the direction of motion. But not all of it. A propeller is far from 100% efficient, and a simple unidirectional propeller pushes water in multiple directions. The primary direction of thrust is aft when the transmission is in forward…

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Boating 101: How To Throw a Line

You certainly already know this, but does your crew, or the guest you just invited on board for the first time who wants to help out with docking? Here’s some great advice about the best way to throw a line from BoatUS.: Based on the number of failed attempts we all see on any given day at the marina docks, it seems there has to be some sort of mystical trick to throwing a line. Not really! It’s all in practice, and a few simple techniques. Make a few practice throws to verify the technique below and you’ll have a…

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Three Tips for Easier Docking

Docking. A word that can inspire fear in inexperienced boat owners, and that can still raise a bit of concern, to say the least, among veteran skippers. Sure, there are all sorts of technological advances now to make docking easy, joystick-easy is some cases. But what happens when they don’t work? And even if they do, a responsible skipper needs to know the basics. Here’s some great advice from Skipper Tips: Before you make a final approach to your slip or a pier, make the three vital tests below standard procedure aboard your boat. That way, you know your boat…

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Twin Disc Launches Express Docking System

Twin Disc just introduced its new Express Joystick System that makes docking much easier for owners of shaft-drive boats. Indeed, the new system gives you fingertip control of your boat’s speed and direction from multiple stations on board. The Racine, Wisconsin, builder says the patented Express Joystick System simultaneously actuates and controls the engines, transmission and thrusters so you can move the boat in any direction. You just twist the knob, and the boat rotates on its center axis, giving you precise control while docking or maneuvering at low speeds. And the movements are seamless and instantaneous. The new system…

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Garmin Launches New Surround View Docking System

Garmin just announced that it’s launching a new Surround View Camera System to enhance situational awareness and help with docking. The new system uses six cameras to maximize visibility all around the boat. Garmin says that Surround View gives captains a bird’s-eye, 360-degree view around the boat. This visibility lets captains see what’s around their boat’s perimeter in low-speed maneuvers in real time. The technology uses six 1080p cameras located around the boat: a forward-looking camera in the bow, a rear-looking camera aft, and two side-looking cameras on both the port and starboard sides. It displays a full overhead image…

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How To Dock in Strong Winds

Here’s some great advice about docking from the British magazine Motorboat & Yachting. Whether you’re new to boating, or an old salt, it helps to review some basic maneuvers, particularly docking in less than ideal conditions. Read on: Harbour manoeuvres are a common nightmare among boaters. The anxiety that often characterizes the minutes before the berthing manoeuvre passes with a little experience. But if this is true in normal conditions, things get more complicated when wind (especially crosswind) starts to blowing. The following are some experience-based tips which, however, are subject to an infinite number of variables, such as wind speed and direction, spaces…

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How To Dock Safely and Easily, Even If You’re Alone

Here’s some great advice from Practical Boat Owner about how to tie up at a dock, and then how to leave it, even if you’re single-handing. It tells how to plan for the effects of tide and current and the presence of nearby boats, and how to use slip lines to help you get underway.   Casting off with confidence – safe ways for solo sailors to get off the dock Duncan Wells describes a number of easy methods to leave the dock with both sail and power vessels Getting a boat on and off the dock – coming alongside and casting…

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