Back in E Dock

The Irwin is back in E-21 after a beautiful and uneventful trip home from Titusville on Saturday. The winds were extremely light as I backed out of the 'tight quarters' slip that I was assigned at the Titusville Munincipal Marina. Jan and a dock hand helped cast me off. I motored north across glassy waters toward the north end of the Indian River. After passing through NASA's train trestle (which is always open unless there's a train coming), I headed east through the Haulover Canal Cut - which connects the Indian River with the Mosquito Lagoon.

As I headed toward the Cut, a C-17 which had been doing fly-bys at the Shuttle landing strip made it's turn directly over me and made another approach. It must have done a dozen practice (simulated) landings on one of the worlds longest airstrips.




After exiting the Haulover Canal Cut, I headed back northerly toward Daytona. It was a mostly uneventful day and it worked out perfectly that I was passing a water front park in Edgewater just as Jan was going to work and she stopped an took a photo of me passing by. Keep in mind that this was a 6 and 1/2 hour trip and I just happened to pass by this park 10 minutes before Jan had to be at work a mile a way. Pretty cool huh?


I've been a little nervous about docking SERENITY because I just don't have much experience manuevering her in tight quarters yet. Of course as I approached Daytona, the wind picked up from the East and so I would be approaching my slip downwind. I played it out in my mind about 3 dozens times and as I approached the dock (with the dockmaster meeting me upon my request by radio), I felt confident. I pulled the boat in perfectly and we tied her off. The dockmaster said I handled it well.

I got home and read some more tips on docking a single engine displacement hull and I'm feeling even more confident for the next time out.

This may sound strange - if you've seen small boats dock - it looks like no big deal. The problem comes in when you have a 22,000 pound boat with 50 horse power engine located 38 feet aft of the bow. Add to this the 'windage' (the boat's tendency to move downwind crossways as the wind hits it from the side due to it's profile) and you have a lot to keep in mind when you're not familiar with the boat.

Single engine displacement boats also have the added trait of enhanced "prop walk". This is where the stern of the boat tends to move one direction or another due to the sideways thrust of the prop when it starts turning. On a heavy sailboat, the boat will tend to pivot around the center of mass (in no wind).

Boats that have clockwise spinning props (viewed from the rear) in forward will have a prop walk toward the starboard (or right) in forward gear and toward the port (or left) in reverse. This can be considered an adverse effect - until you learn how to harness it properly and then you can use it to your advantage. It just takes experience and practice with the craft.

Add to all of this that basically when you first put a single engine displacement hull in reverse, you have no steering by rudder. It takes a bit of headway (actually the reverse of headway - whatever that is) to get enough water moving over the rudder to be able to make the boat turn by rudder in reverse. This is where proper use of the prop walk can help you out tremendously.

I hope to have an opportunity in the next few weeks to take SERENITY out in light/no wind to practice.

Anyway, I start work in NASCAR on Thursday and I'm quite excited about that. For those who may read my blog regularly, you'll get a break from the sailing stuff.