Could you get out of that tight bunk?

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Would you know how to maneuver a 22.5m vessel out of a narrow berth? James Stevens answers your seamanship questions

Could you get out of that tight bunk?

James Stevens answers your seamanship questions

Question:

You are the skipper of a gaff rigged pilot cutter, 17.3 m long on the deck with a bowsprit, bringing the total length to 22.5 m. The displacement is 44 tons.

The propeller is offset to port, meaning it is on the port side of the keel. Unsurprisingly, this makes handling under tension difficult, to say the least.

You are moored in a marina on the starboard side inside a long pontoon with yachts at each end and pontoon berths inside on the port side.

The exit from the marina is approximately three boat lengths back towards the end of your pontoon.

Credit: Maxine Heath

There is space in the interior pontoons of about a boat’s length across from you, but on either side of that space the space is too narrow to turn.

The wind is 10 to 15 knots blowing from the bow and the tidal current is negligible.

The crew consists of a very experienced companion and 10 inexperienced schoolchildren.

When you arrived the pontoon was clear and you weren’t expecting the yachts to dock near the stern, but now it’s time to leave and there is no possibility of moving the nearby yachts, and although the marina has a small working boat, you are not sure it is powerful enough to act as a tug.

How to get out of this tight bunk?

James Stevens responds:

Reversing is problematic, especially with an offset propeller.

We’ll have to tack the yacht into the breach on the port side. A stern spring is attached and shocks put on the starboard quarter.

The staysail is attached ready to be hoisted and released at any time.

All lines are released except the spring, the staysail is hoisted and supported to bring the bow through the wind, turning the yacht to port.

The motor is used gently to keep the stern out of the pontoon and the spring is slipped.

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Once the yacht has turned more than sideways to windward, the stern is engaged to prevent the bowsprit from hitting the yachts on the leeward inner pontoon.

The staggered thrust will bring the stern to starboard, making it easier to turn.

Once the bowsprit is clear and the yacht is parallel to the pontoon, the staysail is set on the correct side.

Navigation

James Stevens, author of the Yachtmaster Handbook, spent 10 of his 23 years at the RYA as the Yachtmaster Training Officer and Chief Examiner

The motor will be needed to help with the turn.

Before engaging forward, the yacht is steered 20 degrees to port to counter the effect of the offset propeller engagement.

The staysail is released, then a big turn to port and it’s off.

I would like to thank Toby Marris, skipper of the Le Havre pilot cutter Pretty breeze, for having organized a masterclass of this maneuver at Cowes Yacht Haven.

Hardly anyone noticed it, but even a small error in judgment would have been catastrophic.


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