Four examples (and a blooper) under various conditions of docking my 40' Bavaria while solo. These occur in relatively light winds, but I use the same techni...

Closed Captions (CC):
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today I'm going to try to demonstrate my

normal solo

knocking procedure so that the technique

is the first thing I haven't quite

finished but I've got my mooring lines

three mooring lines on my starboard side

set I will put over the fenders in a

little while and I always lower the

spray hood because just to reduce

windage and it also improves my

visibility so I'm all set the way I do

this it's a bit shocking to some people

because it's kind of the crash method is

you come in it turned into your slip and

when you're so low you can't stop half

way in especially if the wind is pushing

you off off of the finger off of the cat

way you have to go all the way to the

end so I've got a Fender on the on a bow

and I've got two of those fenders that

are mounted to the

I'll show you our families later that

are mounted to the pontoon and I

actually have to crash into the Hat very

slowly so I try to think the key is to

keep enough way on all the way in and

then right before you hit it give a hard

reverse and then when you touch the the

fender all the way at the end then

immediately put it into forward gear and

turn the helm away from the pier that

would that away from the finger that

will lock your Stern into the Fenner and

then you can eat into the cat way then

you can take all the time you want to

put over your lines and I just leave the

engine running and your boat is locked

now the challenge is to stop you see

this is this is the view I have

you can see my anchor up in the front

there the anchor actually has to past

past the end of the pontoon when I go in

before I stop if you stop too early

especially on a day when there's wind

and I'm certainly going to show you

those on a day when there's wind if you

stop too early or people come to try to

help you and they give you this signal

slow down slow down if you do that it's

guaranteed if you you lose your nerve

and you stop too early the wind will

just push you over into that other boat

that's on the other side of your of your

your birthing space so you've got to

have the courage and the willpower to

resist people telling you to slow to go

all the way to the end

a big break reverse gear right at the

end to hopefully just glide in very very

slowly into the fender and then as soon

as you touch forward gear and reverse

helm that's what I do and you know

sometimes it's not real pretty but it

almost always always works so we'll

we'll see how this comes out okay I'm

coming up to the

final turn when I make the final turn

I'm going to have ten knots of wind

coming from four o'clock we're just

going to push me on to the other

still in first year but I'm gonna put it

to neutral right now because the wind is

gonna push me okay I'm in neutral

I'm gonna park right next to that blue

boat that you see up there

so I'm it's just the wind that's pushing

me down

down the channel now

first gear just give me a little bit of

forward gear just give me a little bit

of weight back to neutral

I start to turn in

okay now I'm eating for those two white

fenders up on the pontoon if they're on

the camera

now the trick is not to break too early

okay

now

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see I didn't touch the other boat here

and now when I put it in forward gear

I'm pressed up against the pontoon and

turn the helm away and now it's pushing

me into the finger now I just leave it

in gear I leave it in first gear and go

tie off my lines and the engines still

running so that's how it's done

now today wasn't a particularly

aggressive day Tim knots a wind which is

not too too hard when it gets above 12

or 15 certainly about 15 I

systematically touch this that's why I

put in an extra fender here to predict

so that's the technique sometimes not

very elegant but efficiently hello just

a quick recap on how I set up my boat

for coming in and out of port on the bow

I've got a bow fender here you can see

that and I'm now permanently here this

is my my berth here I mount these two

fenders so and I just drive it in I

Drive it forward until that hits it

won't knock over this water thing I've

already tested that quite thoroughly and

once it hits then I reverse the put the

helm away and drive the engine forward

the motor forward and that drives to

stern back against against the finger

here so they kept away as we call them

in France and that works fine obviously

when the wind is blowing only a few

knots or it's blowing me against the cat

way I only come down about halfway and

then I stop here and I just then step

down because there's no sense in driving

it all the way forward and this is the

same exact same setup that I use when I

visit other ports now obviously I won't

have this protection down here when I

come into other ports I just have my bow

fender and that's adequate you just have

to be a little more careful drive

a little slower but it works fine for me

now when the wind is more than 12 or

certainly when it gets to 15 knots when

I by the time I reach the end of the end

of the birthing space here the wind has

really pushed me that direction even if

I if I go with a certain amount of way

on so I try to go a little a little

faster but it's inevitable that I'm the

stern of the boat is gonna get pushed

over and quite often when there's 15

knots of wind I'll touch this other boat

here on the fenders so I've got my

fingers raked plus I bought one of these

big round ones here that you can see

there and it just goes over very gently

it may just tap that one and by that

time I've reached the end and then I

just power it across power back so

that's how I do my arrivals and

departures sometimes they're not real

real elegant I say so on some YouTube

sites that the guy at the helm picks up

a spring line and then ties it off and

it pulls the bow in but I can't do that

on my boat because you can see I'm

standing at the at the helm right now

that it's still another two meters until

I get to the end of the cat way so the

cat weighs not long enough to do that

technique here but I understand how they

do that so that's how I do it even in

visiting ports I just drive it forward

and just try to stop right before I hit

the pier works for me

now for this one I'm gonna have about

eight knots of wind that's actually

gonna be pushing me pushing me onto the

fender so what I want to do is stay a

little bit wide when I go in this time

because the wind will push me into the

fender if you into the finger if you hit

the finger you're bouncing off it and

then going into the other boat so

that'll be the challenge on this one

looking at 5.9 nuts on the nose so be

pushing me on to the onto the finger

just went to neutral

start to turn in but aim wide I don't

need to aim close to the finger because

the wind is going to push me onto it

the wind is pushing me nicely in into it

now I can just slow down and stop just

about any time

a little breeze that there is is pushing

these side of the enemy and I did just

push them push to put the motor into

gear

away

that slide in

and I just leave it like that and go tie

off the lines at my leisure with the

engine on let's go tie up the lines and

I'm all done so over to the ceiling

station here is only about three or four

knots of wind so it's this is not a

hugely challenging thing but so I'll be

back here directly into three or four

knots of wind and also there's about a

knob current that's coming as well

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well that's how I do the reversing

maneuver I love that reversing maneuver

especially if you can do it into the

wind or into a current you keep exact

control of the boat right up to the

point that you want you can just drop

the your lines over onto a cleat I

entered the channel that's leading into

they subdued alone which is a foot I've

been to many times before in fact they

don't even call them on the radio

anymore they always make a stop at the

visitors pump dome which always

irritates me so I'm heading down the

channel I need to tie up on the port

side up there and you see there's about

13 not to wind here 13 and a half knots

of wind it's gonna blow me directly off

when I blow me directly off the the home

tone that I'm trying to go tie up to so

it makes it kind of interesting because

I need to do is run up to the mid ships

I bring up myself up alongside parallel

and run up to me chips grab that line

and try to throw it over a cleat

sometimes I miss that cleat and so then

I have to go around in a circle because

up close it blows me off immediately you

don't get a chance you don't get a

second shot

you get one sometimes you get lucky and

there's someone there who will take take

the line for you and that makes it

easier but if you're over yourself

late at night or something like that

that's how you have to do it and I'm not

embarrassed to say that I've missed the

cleat and had to you know that the

baller didn't had to had to turn into a

360 and come back around the state for a

second time

twelve knots of crosswind off of the

dock and see the dock has pretty crowded

a lot of space now let me have that

space right at the end there

yes

signor

but I'm tied up now I don't know if that

came through on camera I'm tied up along

the pier you know it's one of the most

stressful parts of sailing is accurate

all these uh port docking maneuvers you

know and to get anything out of your

birth so now I have to go check in and

then they're gonna get me another space

up in the marina up there and I have to

do this again okay

that's you know I'm used to it now so no

big deal

mr. twice

so that's kind of the end of this series

of next spring I hope to make another

major sortie somewhere I'll try I might

film if I get a chance if it's any if

it's worthwhile I'll try to do that so

that's it for me and Isabel for the

immediate future I enjoyed making these

films and I don't claim to be an expert

or anything like that at all but that's

how I do it and if some of you got some

insights or inspiration or that built

your confidence that beginners and

intermediates can I actually go out

sailing alone well and it was worth it

so anyway best wishes to all

you