Need Docking Advice - How to when being blown off dock

After 8 years on same dock I decided to move to what I believed a better position. I felt like I was always blown off my old dock due to westerly wind. As Murphy's Law would have it, now that I'm on starboard side stern in, the wind is nearly always coming from the east. I'm having hek of time getting to dock stairs in time before boat is at least 2 feet off dock due to wind (43 DCFB - allot of sail area). I'm thinking of moving back to old spot, but I don't want to give up with out a fight. Per below diagram, how would you recommend backing into pictured slip?


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There used to be a useful docking simulator that helped me when I went to twins after 30 years of driving singles. The program was called boatmaster.com. Google docking simulators.

Do you have pilings on the port side? Is there a piling on the finger pier that you can lean on? The best approach is to use the wind or current to help. In this case, approach from the left, close to the dock and swing the stern in as fast as you are comfortable. If you are too slow the wind will blow you off, If you have some crew aboard, teach them how to warp the boat in. Another possibility is to leave the starboard after spring near the front starboard piling and plan to get that on the quarter cleat first and use the spring to bring the boat in.

Bobk

Not sure what you mean by "getting to dock stairs". Is it a typo for getting downstairs?

I would set up a spring line with the bitter end cleated on the very first cleat on your dock. Set it up to your nr 2 cleat (we always refer to cleats by nr with nr 1 starting at the bow) with the eye on the boat side and adjusted so that when it s tight, your stern is about 3' from the bulkhead or wherever it needs to be

If you don't have a piling to hang the line so that it is at a height making easy to grab from the boat, use a piece of fiberglass tube, PVC or something to hang it at the right height.

Coming in, you can grab that line right away and put it the eye on your cleat. You can even come in into the wind, perpendicular to the slip if it's really blowing. The reason I always put the eye of any spring lines on the boat side, and not on the dock, is that anyone can put it over the cleat. There is no adjustment and you know it is the right length.

With the spring on, back into the slip and as the spring will get tight it will pull th boat along the dock giving you time to grab bow and stern lines.

Now for now and stern lines, I always put eye on the dock and bitter end on th boat with a mark. This gives more leverage to pull the line in and the boat tight. You always eliminate the risk of injuring a finger between th line and th cleat. A zip tie or electrical tape makes a good mark to set it right. Either at the point where the line passes thru chocks or where it reaches the cleat.

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Originally Posted by Pascal

Not sure what you mean by "getting to dock stairs". Is it a typo for getting downstairs?

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This is where the opening in the boat rail (gate?) matches where I have the permanent stairs on the floating dock so I don't have to jump 4'. I don't have any useable pilings for pivoting on. When I have someone on dock, I've been doing as you suggested and having them tie the #2 spring line to forward most (bow) dock cleat and backing down with port engine to bring stern in. I like the idea of leaving a permanent line there held up on PVC to have crew member slip on.

Here's what I've been doing. Currently I leave all dock lines on boat cleats when I leave and adjust at dock level. I've usually single hand dock and found this worked best as once I'm on the dock as I don't want to have to think about getting back on boat to secure her. The single hand routine is I run the #2 spring line to gate and droop the stern line over stern rail so easy to grab once on dock. When I match location of gate to permanent dock stairs, I toss the #2 spring line onto dock, descend stairs and quickly secure the stern line. I then take #2 spring line laying on dock and quickly secure to bow dock cleat (stops backward movement and limits bow side movement). From there I get bow line properly secured, then properly secure/adjust # 2 aft and #3 forward spring lines. Note it's important to throw #2 spring line onto dock immediately once committed to leaving the boat as the bow will quickly get away from you if wind and/or current pushing off the dock. You won't be able to reach it if it's still on the boat and will be having an 'oh shit' moment in about 5 to 10 seconds. If I have help, I always tell them get line around cleat, do not think you can hold the line directly to boat. So many even experienced boaters make that mistake when handling lines to a larger boat and why I prefer to single hand whenever I can.

If anybody else has suggestions as to what works for them when docking in below scenario I would love to hear about it.

Velcro the floating dock and the same place on the boat. Use the technology available. Velcro has come a long way.

Personally I never ever get off the boat unless the lines are secured, at least the ones which prevents it from drifting away :)

In your case with a floating dock you could probably leave only the spring on the dock, again hooked on something so that it's easy to grab without messing with boat hooks.

For bow and stern, instead of stepping off the boat to secure them, why don't you cleat the eyes on the boat before approaching. Then after you backed down on your spring, you can simply throw each line on the dock behind the cleat, pull on the bitter end and secure it. That's what we do at almost every floating dock or fixed dock go to. It's an easy throw. Bonus is that the lines are already doubled up so when you re ready to leave you can untie from the boat and simply pull the lines back aboard. For the same reason as when docking, I always double up the lines before leaving so we can untie from the boat. It's kind of embarrassing when the boat leaves without the captain :)

Once you re on th dock, secure the lines by adding a half hitch on the cleat.

With small boats, you can get away with jumping off the boat and then securing the lines. By 40, it's not a great ida

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Originally Posted by Pascal

With small boats, you can get away with jumping off the boat and then securing the lines. By 40, it's not a great ida

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The same could be said for the age of the boater.

Never get off your boat until completely tied up. Look up ROBSHIP under boat hooks in West Marine or online. It is a great tool that allows you to hook cleats, rings etc from your deck. Once you get hooked and tied up midship you can easily tie up he rest of the boat with drifting. A little pricey but effective.

Thruster(s) make life a lot easier. Yes, it's $$.