Single Hand Docking with Bob Stay-CD30 Cutter

[dean]

All,

I'm a relatively new owner of CD30 cutter. Wonderful boat, very pleased.

I do single hand fairly often, and one of my concerns is docking the boat. If I'm coming in kinda hot to my wet slip, on a windy day, the Bob Stay could hit the dock, and ruin the Bob Stay and/or the wood bow sprit.

BTW, I'm 65 and to this point, I have sailed mostly 22' boats. The CD30 is probably the easiest boat to sail single handed, particularly with the stay sail... But, docking is kinda eating my lunch....

Hence, any solutions that works for y'all??

Thanks and Cheers,

Dean

[Jim Walsh]

I have something which is no longer marketed but it was called a “dock tender or dock minder”. It’s a fiberglass pole mounted vertically to the dock amidships and has a hanger to hold your spring lines about four feet up vertically. I pull in to my slip, as slowly as possible…just maintaining steerage, and I grab the two suspended spring lines and drop the loops onto my mid-ship cleat. Now I can’t move fore or aft. Based on the prevailing wind or tide I’m able to stay in forward or reverse and adjust the rudder to keep my bow or stern against the dock. That allows me to move forward or aft with a boat hook to grab my bow or stern line, whichever is needed first, based on the aforementioned wind or tide, to make it fast before attending to the remaining dock line.
It’s much easier done than said. I’m always singlehanded and I’ve got a couple years on you. If you look closely you can see it in the old photo.
A buddy of mine has a similar system but he uses an old hockey stick to hold his spring lines.

[wikakaru]

It depends on how your slip is configured. Posting a photo of the slip would help you get better advice.

I used to run sailing charters for many years on a 30-foot sailboat (though not a Cape Dory) and always docked singlehanded. The best tool I had in my bag of tricks was a spring line run aft from the genoa winch to the outermost piling. I always left that line, tied to the correct length, on the piling as I left the slip. When I came back in I would grab the line, slip the loop over the winch, let the line stop the boat, then put the engine into slow forward. That one line and the engine would keep the boat against the finger pier even in a stiff breeze allowing me to take my time with all the other lines.

Here is a photo of that boat in its slip. The white dock line at the tip of the red arrow is the "magic" dock line. There are lots of other tricks at play in this photo too, such as permanently rigged fenders on the finger pier and a bow bridle to keep the boat off the dock or from drifting side to side if for some reason I missed the "magic" line (though I never did).

Slip.jpg

As a little aside, please note that there are way more dock lines than usual in this photo because the boat was being secured in preparation for Hurricane Frances, one of the FOUR hurricanes that hit Florida in 2004. Frances passed about 100 miles away, so I left the boat in the marina. 10 days later Hurricane Ivan hit this marina, but for that storm I had moved the boat to a hurricane hole. She was one of the few undamaged boats within 100 miles.

Anyway, if you are talking about docking singlehanded when visiting a dock other than your home slip (such as a fuel dock), the same principle applies: get that after spring running from your winch to a cleat on the dock, then put the boat in slow ahead, and finish the rest of the dock lines at your leisure. I use this same technique with my Cape Dory Typhoon, which I sail singlehanded frequently. It makes docking simple and stress free.

Smooth sailing,

Jim

[Chrisa006]

This might be close to what Jim was talking about. https://www.dockaccents.com/product/lin ... ock-mount/

[dean]

All,

Many thanks for the replies, much appreciated.

Jim, I see that you may be in Florida. If so, I hope and pray that you and family are managing Hurricane Ian.

All the best,

Dean Domingue
Acadie
Lake Arthur Yacht Club

[wikakaru]

All,

Many thanks for the replies, much appreciated.

Jim, I see that you may be in Florida. If so, I hope and pray that you and family are managing Hurricane Ian.

All the best,

Dean Domingue
Acadie
Lake Arthur Yacht Club

Thanks, Dean. We are actually in Maine and are fortunate to be able to remain here until mid- to late-October when, at least statistically speaking, hurricane activity is much less. Our Cape Dory Typhoon, however, is in Florida, ensconced in the garage of our house there. Fortunately for us, Ian made landfall some 400 miles from our Florida house, and the highest wind recorded at the airport nearby was a gust to 33 mph. We had more than that up here in Maine last week when Hurricane Fiona passed well offshore.

We know from personal experience what the aftermath of a direct hit from a major hurricane is like. While the media coverage of the storm will be over in a week or so, the people of southwest Florida will be dealing with the aftermath for many years to come. We truly feel for what they are going through.

--Jim

[dean]

Hey Jim,

Glad to hear you and family (including Typhoon) are safe!

We are located in South Louisiana, about 40 miles from coast. No hurricanes for us this year, but 2020 and 2021 were beast. This year has been quiet.

I put my boats on trailers to ride out hurricane season, and I'm hoping to put my Rhodes 22 in the water in next few days; the CD30 will have to wait until later in October

Cheers y'all,

Dean