Reversing out of finger berth

[Jam]

Hi
Was in a tight berth this morning ( starboard side to) which was a short pontoon for my boat with wind blowing my stern off pontoon towards the boat next to me.  My boat is a 38 Bavaria ocean so high topsides/windage
My method didn’t go very well, slip-line at bow and one at the stern which wasn’t at a great angle due to the short pontoon, both on board. Boat was in reverse lines released and I drifted into neighbour which was a metre or less  to my port side, on way out but luckily we both had fenders in the right place so no damage other than my pride.  I choose this method as we needed the warps on a cleat due to breeze, would have been difficult to walk hold boat in with lines if not around a cleat.
How would you tackle this situation, sail with my wife so one crew only and often berths around my area are short like this.
Have a few ideas but open to any others, note have a bow thruster but problem was the stern!! 🤔

[JEN-et-ROSS]

I've been staring at your post for a while now and quite frankly I can't come up with any neat trick to get you out without difficulty, it's a bit of a bummer...
The obvious goal is to gain steerage way in reverse as quickly as possible and you seem to have achieved that but to no avail..
My only suggestion is to ensure that your big deep spade rudder trailing edge is already swung well to starboard before you move...
Would it work/help..?? I dunno..

[Jam]

Thanks, maybe my wife could have let the bow line off slowly and could have kept the bow in close to pontoon with bow thruster. I think the stern line which was on the short pontoon on the last cleat acted more like a spring as I was in reverse to stop bow hitting pontoon, pulling the boat across towards the other boat as the bow was let off first. As the stern line was let off by myself I had to go astern from the centre cockpit to let the line off.  This could have been done by my wife if the bow was kept in with the thruster allowing me to monitor the position off the boat more easily.  I could have rigged a short line from middle cleat of boat and just around the centre pontoon cleat and held by neighbour with his friend on their boat still.
A roving fender a large round one should have been made handy plus I declined help from the neighbour boat a stupid thing to do as 2 guys would have helped, my wife says I often do this 😬 another pair of hand on their boat ready and another on the pontoon would have helped. 
Every days a school day eh?
Thanks

[Yngmar]

Can highly recommend this one: https://www.amazon.co.uk/Stress-Free-Sailing-Single-Short-Handed-Techniques-dp-1472978420/dp/1472978420/

Lots of tricks on how to motor against a line when going in and out and other stuff. Helped me a ton

[diverphil]

we have the same thing but portside to finger ,the way we found is the same, rev out while keeping tension on the bow line to hold the front into the finger, and put the stern into wind as soon as possible just keeping  clear of the pontoon finger on the inside of the turn, then when clear of the boat next to us let the slip go, at this point we have steerage in rev and the bow has cleared the neighbour. making sure slip line is pulled in as fast as I can before going forward.

[Jam]

Thanks for replies and advice: will give one bowline slip line a try, simpler that 2 lines and thanks for book advice will give it a read and have a practise.

[IslandAlchemy]

The wind will always try to blow the nose off, and if you use a thruster against it, the wind will just blow the entire boat sideways.

How we get out of these slots is to leave the stbd bow line on and motor backwards with the wheel over to stbd, so you are pulling the stern into the wind and up against the pontoon.  Then feed the bow line out keeping tension on it as you motor out.  This holds the bow up away from the boat next door.

[Jam]

Thanks….nice and simple, I think and actually have the book Yngmar suggested: boat was out of water over covid and forgot I had it tucked away at home…..read berthing section again last night and that’s is one of the suggested ways with a bow line.  He actually uses a slip back to cockpit I guess if no crew. 
Perhaps keeping the book on the boat is a better option eh !!
As always excellent advice:  good to be back on the water again

[nightowle]

what about instead of a regular stern line set up, you use a looped end of line over a cabin top winch that is at the most forward area of the cockpit.  Bring the line over the most rearward cleat of the pontoon and back to your position at the helm.  You can keep tension on the line letting pay out as you reverse....but you'd have to then flick it off the dock cleat once your stern is a fair amount back from the pontoon.  Possibly worth a try.

[sunshine]

Rig the bow line to a cleat further along the dock so it is further aft. As you reverse, the person on the bow pulls this in to keep the bow in, and then slips it back out. This method will keep the bow in to the pontoon until you are at least half way out of the berth. Two complications though.  You  need to be motoring gently forward initially against the bow line to keep the boat against the berth then switch smartly into reverse. Second is to ensure enough tension on the bow line as you reverse to keep the boat parallel to the dock, but no so much that you pull the bow in and force the stern out.

[Jam]

Thanks everyone, will give the bow line method a try in my home berth where there is no one next to me and lots of space to the starboard side. It too is a short berth….as many are.
Cheers

[MagicalArmchair]

How funny, I had exactly the same conundrum yesterday when moving the boat (Bav 40) to fill her up on the fuel pontoon single handed. The wind did drop so I was able to just line off, and hop on before she blew onto my neighbor.

I use the midships cleat and line a whole lot, so my method was going to be to shorten the midships spring so it was around the pontoon cleat and then back to the boat, with the bitter end on the boat. Start chugging slowly ahead, turning the bow away (in my case to port) and make sure both bow and stern lines were slack.



I could then undo those at my leisure with the boat "sucked" onto the pontoon by the midships line and engine. Get onto the boat and shut the gearbox into neutral (the boat will start to drift a little), step calmly forward (looking like you know exactly what you are doing), untie the bitter end of the midships line and pull that through. Trying not to look hurried..., run like stink back to the cockpit, trip over, recover, swear a bit, and then give it a really good stab of astern (remembering to centralise the rudder) and then throttle back. That'll get the wash quickly over the rudder, as the saildrive is so much further forward than the rudder, if you go gently, you won't get steerage until too late.

Then hope and pray no one was watching and that your insurance will cover the damage....

[Petef]

You need the book recommended by Yngmar lol.

As did I, I've bought it and will be doing some practice runs with his techniques.

My wife won't let me leave the pontoon unless there is some one else on board to help fend off etc. Not sailed for 3 years since selling our Dehler 41 DS to downsize.

In my defense, It is a new boat to me and haven't taken it for a sail yet, as I've been doing lots of maintenance to it (Been left untouched for 2 years). So I don't have any idea (yet) how well it can maneuver. Also has a new folding prop (Flex o fold) which replaced the original Volvo folding prop.   

[Clivert]

A tip, Inly one boat should fenders out, to avoid tangling.
as soon as your crew releases a bow line or midship line they should  handle a wandering fender to avoid a bump, and get plenty of power on to get steerage going astern and use the tide too