Going solo

How many of you take the boat out solo?

This labor day everyone seems to have other plans so rather than sitting in the harbor I have a trip planed alone.

Just me and the dog.

The only problem I for see is getting back into the slip but it shouldn't be an issue. Actually I am kind of looking forward to it.

A friend of mine. A charter boat skipper, has lent me a chart with all the good fishing spots and there is a waterfall I have been meaning to check out. I have heard it is the most picturesque in the Prince William Sound.

The boat is running perfectly and all system are go.

As Picard Say's

Engage.

Sd

Back in the day, on our gillnet boats, all the time. They had relatively low gunnels though and you could step off to the dock, so docking wasn't a big issue.

On this boat, not so much. The gunnel alone is four feet above the dock, plus the rail height, I am not as young as I used to be and jumping over the rail down to the dock is probably not a good idea. I've done it a few times, just for a day cruise or moving the boat. If the wind conditions aren't out of sorts for docking, ok. If there is any question about docking, I'll call the port security when I'm coming in to catch a line and they are great about it. Also my boat neighbors/friends are all in the habit of catching each others lines when we come in. They're all experienced boaters and you can count on them not to do stupid things with your lines.

Larry B

skipperdude said:

The only problem I for see is getting back into the slip but it shouldn't be an issue. Actually I am kind of looking forward to it.

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Agree, backing into my slip is the only stressful part. But, I've gotten over the embarrassment of lubberly boat handling and dock-mates always lend a hand. And if they're not around, then no one sees me backing & filling and going around 3 times!

Eventually I'll get the hang of it. I got good enough on my sailboat to sail up to her awkwardly located slip, but I had to manhandle her in from that point.

This is why I'm at a mooring.

skipperdude said:

How many of you take the boat out solo?

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I've taken previous boats out solo but not this one and I don't have any reason to. My wife and I plan trips and enjoy our time on the water together.

There are always safety issues going solo. Like always wearing a life jacket and having a way to get back oboard if you fall in.

Does any one have a way to get back aboard?



sd

Like a kill switch to cut the engines when you take a spalsh?

skipperdude said:

There are always safety issues going solo. Like always wearing a life jacket and having a way to get back oboard if you fall in.

Does any one have a way to get back aboard?



sd

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First issue is catching up with the boat.

Each year I move the location of the boat 4 to 6 times. These trips are 160 to 200 miles, almost always solo and through a night. Actually enjoy these trips and find them stimulating. I guess being totally self reliant keeps the adrenalin pump working a little harder.

Ted

I with you on that Ted I really looking forward to this outing.

I don't have a kill switch but if I need to go on deck I will stop the boat.

SD

Alaskan Sea-Duction said:

Skip I have spend many days on PWS by my lonesome and loved every minute. Have good working radios, be safe and most of all have fun! Are you going north to PWS or south to the Kenai Fjords NP? We do expect pics!!!

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heading north east up around Eglik bay and then to Columbia Glacier.

I'm out of Whittier. A slow boat 7 knts Kenai fjords would take the whole weekend there and back without stopping.

Camera is already on board.

Sd

I haven't taken the boat out solo yet--- going slow is boring enough but going slow by myself would be downright painful -- but we have a permanent midships spring set up on a hanger in our slip so getting back in is dirt simple no matter what the wind and current are doing. Getting the boat in to the slip would be real easy even single-handed.

Opps. Don't know why I was thing Seward. I know the area well. Eglik bay is a nice area. Ran into some whales there one year. Have fun, be safe.

Haven't done any solo trips.

thoughts:

tether? Do people use tethers on power boats?

getting back on- a neighbor frequently single hands and he has a loop of rope tied at the transom that is long enough to go slightly underwater but not so long as to reach the prop--the idea being that it would be a foot hold to get back on the boat if he went over. can you get onto your swim step from the water (do you have a swim step)?

Have a handheld VHF on you, attached to your PFD or whatever (i'm sure you'll wear your PFD when you are on deck), so if you do go over you have it--they make some now with GPS and MMSI, though they are rather large.

personal ePIRB? Have to be conscious to use it as it must be held upright out of the water.

have a GREAT time, sounds like a super fun trip.

Jennifer Nope no swim step but I do have a boarding ladder of sorts. Just a strap of webbing sewn into two loops. I hang it off the stern cleat.

Whales have been all over the Sound this year. I have seen Humpbacks, Orcas and Minki's. Not to mention Sealions Otters and dolphins.

No EPIRB but I do have a good VHF as well as a floating Handheld VHF.

SD

Pineapple Girl said:

thoughts:

tether? Do people use tethers on power boats?

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I suppose you could do like the sailboaters and run a jackline from bow to stern and fasten yourself to it with a harness. I've thought about that in really rough weather, then thought, 'Do I really want the boat to be pounding me to a pulp?'

Here's a great story from back in the ages (2006):
Captain-less Boat Plows Into Catalina - Los Angeles Times
Officials find the Heather aground with no one on board. Hours later, the skipper is found clinging to a buoy -- 26 miles away.

Yikes!!

I have to tell you that having boated in PWS for years I think it is a really bad idea to go out alone. Just a rope fouled prop in the wrong circumstances can be a nightmare. Try to unfoul it while drifting to a rocky shore in water too deep to set an anchor until it is too late. Happened to me outside Siwash Bay but thankfully not alone. It took 45 minutes to unfoul in my dry suit. That is only one of many issues of boating in frigid waters where even a small miscalculation can mean a trip to the happy hunting grounds. Even really competent boats have very bad things happen to them. If you do decide to go please keep in touch with the CG. They are there to help us and can be the difference.

The USCG really booms out around the Sound. Even a week handheld can get a response.
Thanks for the concern but I Can only trust to providence and hope nothing will go wrong.

Plan for the worst and hope for the best.

I could get hit by a buss walking out my front door.

Can't let things stop you.

Sd

Greetings,
Mr. SD. Aren't minkis jungle animals?

Minkey! - YouTube

Thank you sir. I shall do just that.

RT you're killing me. I know I should have hit the spell check.
Next time. Funny thanks for the link.

SD

Rare but I sure do. Never realy thought of it as something that should not be done. No biggie IMO.

alormaria said:

This is why I'm at a mooring.

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A trick for solo picking up the mooring buoy is to lay a line along one side of the hull,outside everything. Pick up the mooring buoy from the lower height cockpit,take it around the line and drag it forward along the line to the bow. Of course, maneuvers like this are subject to wind and all other possible forms of frustration. BruceK

That's more or less what we do. We take the buoy down the starboard side of the boat to the boarding gate where the freeboard is relatively low. One of us simply reaches out and clips the big carabiner on the end of our mooring line to the ring on the buoy. The line is already laid out up the side deck toward the bow so it's an easy matter for the person at the helm to step out, pick up the line, take it forward, put it through the bow hawse, pull the buoy up to the bow and cleat off the line.

I ran my 34' solo most of the time around 1500 hrs now with this 44' I need help aboard getting back into my slip

going solo

Go for it!
Take it easy, don't get in a hurry, rig a spring line with a big loop to help docking short hand.
Get back to the dock when the dog starts to talk back
Have a great time
HOLLYWOOD

SD, you start dying the moment you are born. Don't over-think this whole thing, just be sensible and like Marin said.
Actually, I have gone out alone, and found docking easy using similar arrangement to Marin. A raised, (so you can reach it from the pilot door), midships spring line. Once you hook that in, and wrap it round that middle cleat and cinch it in, the boat ain't goin' nowhere. You can then gently bring bow and stern in close enough to secure at your leisure by gentle idle in forward or reverse if needed because the wind or current is moving you away.

Best help is a breast line rigged on the mid ship cleats , that is just too short to reach the prop if washed overboard.

FF

Dude,

I take my boat out solo quite a bit for different reasons. Sometimes I just need my boating fix to break up the routine after many projects, sometimes the admiral can't break away for as long and wants to drive to our destination to meet other obligations and sometimes to meet fellow friends and anglers closer to the fishing waters to save them the 2 hr ride to and from the slip.

I agree with the recommendation to wear a PFD whenever underway and out of the pilothouse and have promised the Admiral I would do that. It's also easy to stop when leaving the helm, just in case. I leave my permanent docklines at my slip, but always have the bow lines rigged from the fwd cleats outside my rails and tied to the aft end of the rail adjacent to the stbd door. I also set my traveling lines at the ready on the stbd spring and aft cleats. If solo, I just approach the dock for a stbd tie and grab a dock cleat with the stbd spring. I can then step onto the dock from the sidedeck. Then the working line is secured (usually the bow) followed by the opposite end.



In this shot, you can see the stbd spring at the ready and the stbd bow line strung outside the rail and secured at the aft upright rail, next to my stbd door. (I know having the lines hanging over the gunwale is bad form, but I was trying to save bending over to grab the spring as I tied up with Pineapple Girl. No excuses on the bow line. )

I would never have bought this boat if I felt I couldn't cruise in her solo. Having the independence to come and go as I please and the satisfaction of knowing I CAN and DO do it myself is very gratifying. I think there's a streak of independence that runs in most, if not all, of us. We pursue our own dreams, are the masters (and mistresses) of our own destiny and relish in the independence our lifestyles offer us. That's part of what attracts me to flying and boating and is a part of me that is deeply ingrained.

I used to have a SeaRay runabout that I could only tow using my wife's minivan. I hated having to ask her for her car so I could go fishing or boating. It wasn't very long before I purchased my own truck that was up to the job.

I've gone solo several times. They were three-something-hour trips to/from the boatyard. Admiral had to remain onshore to provide land transportation from/to boatyard. Had no particular docking issues. Had life jacket on. Find having someone accompany me to be more enjoyable than going solo.

I've had Gray Hawk out alone several times. Not actually completely alone because George-the-idiot-cat has always been with me but he lacks an opposable thumb so he's not a lot of help. Docking is no big deal - I rig a short midships spring line and have it draped by the boarding gate so its right at hand as I step off. We normally use a longer midship spring line but I don't want any possibility of it fouling a prop so I use a short one when I'm alone. As far as falling in goes, there's no way Marilyn could lift me back onboard anyway so that's no different than when she's onboard. I don't go on deck with the engines in gear but other than that its no different than any other trip.