Re: LandingLoop for Docking
Posted: Sun Feb 28, 2021 11:03 pm
Slick trick I read about people using on the ICW, when trying to flip a dock line over a bollard in a lock, is to have a length of old garden hose along. 8 or 10 feet would be about the right length, 5/8" to 3/4" ID, and old enough to be fairly stiff. You feed your dock line through the hose till it comes out the far end. Then grasp the two ends of the hose, which gives you a nice stiff "U" shape which can be controlled and lifted over a bollard. Without the hose, we looked pretty silly at times, trying to flip a limp dock line over the bollard while we were drifting around in the lock. Hose might also work to grab a piling if the piling isn't too high. Those fixed docks with stern tie pilings back east, where the tidal range is 3 or 4 feet, can be really knarly to get in and out of. I recall with particular horror docking at Cabbage Key Marina in southwest Florida in a 20 knot crosswind, with stern pilings only about 9 feet apart. Had to come in hot, which I hate to do. Felt relieved to get tied up with only minimal grazing of the piling against the rub rail. I guess that's what rub rails are for.