How to get out of a tight yacht berth without damage

Each month Yachting Monthly's resident expert, James Stevens answers a reader's question. This month how to get out of a tight berth without damage

Sarah and Mark have enjoyed a holiday in Guernsey but the wind and tide are both now favourable for them to return to England. They are on board their 11m yacht Swiftsure moored on Pontoon B in the visitors’ marina at St Peter Port.

The marina was built when most yachts were less than 10m and there was more room to manoeuvre. Between Swiftsure’s stern and the yachts on the next pontoon, A, there is only about an 11m gap.

Swiftsure, on berth B2, is on the inside of the hammerhead, port side to and bow in. On berth B1 on the outside of the hammerhead is Waveline – a 12m yacht moored port side to with her bow extending into the gap that Swiftsure must pass through to head for the marina entrance.

The marina is a popular destination and all the other berths are occupied with yachts about the same size as Swiftsure, including two rafted on the hammerhead on A.

There is a 10-knot breeze on Swiftsure’s port beam blowing down the gap between A and B pontoon. On Swiftsure’s starboard side is an 11m yacht, Pytheas, bow in with a complex and vulnerable self-steering windvane on the transom.

The crew of Pytheas has gone ashore, but Waveline’s crew is on board.

Sarah, as helm, is wondering how she is going to manoeuvre Swiftsure out of the marina in such a confined space. Swiftsure has a significant prop kick to port when astern.

How would you do it?

How to get out of a tight yacht berth without damage

AThis is a tough one. Swiftsure must move half a boat length astern out of its berth before Sarah can steer the stern towards the exit. It might be possible to give a burst astern at that point and hope that the bow, which will catch the wind more than the stern, will blow down wind and rotate the yacht.

On the other hand at slow speed the wind will blow the whole yacht to leeward and Sarah needs to avoid the situation of being beam on to the wind going sideways down a narrow channel without room to turn.

The motor out astern option will only work if Sarah is a very confident boat handler who knows exactly how much prop kick she has and can time the manoeuvre perfectly.

Another safer option is to ask for some assistance from Waveline’s crew.

Waveline could take Swiftsure’s bowline and walk it down the pontoon, pulling the yacht astern out of the berth. At the end of the pontoon, pass the line to another crew member on Waveline who can walk it to the bow. Mark will need to be on the starboard side of Swiftsure fending off Pytheas. Once the yacht is going astern Sarah can steer down the channel between the yachts.

With some sternway the prop kick will be much less when Sarah engages slow astern. Once she has steerage astern the bowline can be released and she can steer out.

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