On my 34 I found I have a lot of prop walk in reverse (worse than other boats I have helmed - probably due to the two blade folding prop). I had a slip last summer that only made sense to go in forward (we only have a gate on starboard and the finger to starboard). I tried a strategy that was discussed on the list last summer and found that it worked really well for me because I could get the boat moving backwards and get steerage before putting it in reverse:
1) take a long spring line from the bow and loop it around a dock cleat near the stern and take it back up on deck to my primary winch and cleat it. 2) Put the engine in gear forward and adjust the helm to hold the bow in place and remove all other dock lines (the engine and spring line hold the boat in place). 3) With all crew on board, put engine in neutral, center the helm, and start pulling the spring line in the cockpit (around the winch). This gets the boat moving backwards. Keep pulling until the cleat on the dock is even with the winch and then flip the line off the cleat. 4) once the line is off the cleat with the boat already moving back I can put her in reverse and accelerate backwards. This works for single handing and with a crew managing the spring line - avoids having an inexperienced crew trying to jump on board after the boat is moving. Having the boat moving so the rudder is working as a foil before putting it in reverse was the key to avoiding the stern going sideways into my neighbor rather than backwards. Nathan Post S/V Wisper, 1981 C&C34 Malden MA _______________________________________________ Thanks everyone for supporting this list with your contributions. Each and every one is greatly appreciated. If you want to support the list - use PayPal to send contribution -- https://www.paypal.me/stumurray
