PAGE 24 • SPRING 2007 THE JOURNAL OF THE AMERICAN SAILING ASSOCIATION
INSTRUCTOR TIP
By Duntan Hood
A Tricky Slip ... Maneuvering at the dock
W
henever you approach a strange
docking situation there is a bit of
Destination
trepidation: “How do I approach?
How do I maintain control? How fast should I
Current 2k
go? How stupid will I look?” Your success
hinges on awareness of what is happening
around you, and the physics of steering.
Take her up and across the slipway to
the end and park her stern to.
In the following problem, you are presented
with a docking situation that is less than
optimal. At the same time it is surprisingly
easy if you work with the current instead of
against it. Try not to look at the second
diagram until you have done the exercise. In
the first diagram, try to draw the path that you Problem
would use to put your boat to bed.
Answer:
Destination
Slow forward, moving astern
Current 2k
Your solution will be to use the current by
heading into it enough so that you won’t get
swept onto the down-current slips while moving
in the direction that you want. This is
Take her up and across the slipway to
the end and park her stern to.
sometimes called “crabbing.”
Once you are up-current from your
destination, instead of putting the boat in
reverse, simply decrease your engine speed
and the boat will drift back, under control,
into your intended slip amid the cheering and
admiration of your significant other/s and all
bystanders.
Solution
AMERICAN SAILING ASSOCIATION
P.O. BOX 12079, MARINA DEL REY, CA
PRESORTED
90295-3079 TEL: 310/822-7171
STANDARD
U.S. POSTAGE
WWW.AMERICAN-SAILING.COM
PAID
ANAHEIM, CA
PERMIT NO. 514
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