Our Docking Adventure

10/18/07

From Oxford we motored to the Patuxent Naval Base, Point Patience Marina at Solomons Island. Winds were from the south at 15-17 on our bow with 3 foot choppy waves for well over an hour as we approached the Patuxent River. DeLaMer handles them very well… as did the Captain and First Mate. NOAA has issued a small craft advisory due to winds and thunderstorms for the next two days, so our plan is to stay at the dock.

We decided to live with the remaining electronic and Nobeltec issues rather than undertaking a major rewiring while underway. We called Steve at Great Island for a consult; he had reached the same conclusion and concurred.

Our Docking Adventure

As we entered the marina we quickly noticed all the boats on both sides of the narrow channel were backed into their slips and tied to pilings port and starboard with their sterns to the dock. Bob and I had never backed DeLaMer into anything and the wind was now blowing at 11 knots. As we approached #49, our assigned slip, a salty older gent in a well worn captain’s cap and a red tee-shirt, which barely covered his protruding abdomen, authoritatively told us “49 is mine.” After several unsuccessful attempts to back into #50, which was considerably narrower than #49, the wind was winning the battle. Meanwhile, “The Captain” was shouting unsolicited orders from shore. Bob couldn’t hear him with our engine on. I could, “Head back down the channel! Get it revved up in reverse and crank it in between the pilings!”

Bob opted for calling the marina office and asking for a larger slip. The person on the phone said he would come right down to the dock. Two teenagers in lime green tee-shirts appeared. One was obviously in charge, and to his credit, told “The Captain” he was in the wrong slip and would have to move to his slip, #50. He reluctantly agreed and at a snail’s pace, began to prepare to move his boat.

Meanwhile, we had become the entertainment in the marina as we first tried unsuccessfully to back into the slip, then held position against the wind and turned around twice in the narrow channel waiting for “The Captain,” who was now making a real production of re-docking his well used, but not well maintained, older sailboat.

While waiting in the channel, we made an executive decision -- we would learn how to back stern first into a slip another day. As we approached slip #49, the scene at slip #50 was comical. The wind was now blowing "The Captain's" starboard bow into the piling. He was repeatedly giving the piling a swift kick with his foot, pushing his bow off, then dashing to the port side and making futile attempts to get his tangled bowline over at piling -- missing time after time.

After our dock lines were secured and I was on the dock, a woman emerged from "The Captain's" boat. She walked over to me and said, "We weren't upset with you or your boat. My husband and I just had a huge fight. Our dogs don't like it when we fight. They are still hiding and cowering down in the stern of the boat; one of them is a blind poodle and the other one a 14 year old shepard." "The Captain" is now grumbling about how difficult it's going to be to get the dogs off the boat with the stern backed in and sais,"I think I'm going to move to the boat to the pumpout dock." He doesn't.

Later, as we sat watching a beautiful sunset, a Catalina came into the marina. The owner masterfully backed into his slip, nailing it on the first try! I sent Bob down to offer them wine and cheese in return for their docking technique. Several hours, and a bottle of wine later, they had shared a number of good pieces of information as well as their docking technique with us. Small world, they had just been at the Annapolis Boat Show looking at Calibers and had decided they would like one.