Analyzing Failed Boat Maneuvers: Learning from Mistakes 

Speaking as somebody who owns a 63ft motorboat based in the Med and having faced this situation of having to back into a crosswind berth without boats either side many times, I have only one piece of advice. Radio the marina and get them to send one of their tenders to hold you in position whilst you attach the lines or ask for another berth which is easier to get into

Let me know what you think about this analysis so I can make more videos like this in the future

The YACHT is a SWAN 65, from the early 70’s. A true super yacht for it’s time !

La manœuvre, au début, est excellente, bien anticipée. La suite est une succession d'erreurs incompréhensibles. Surtout avec autant d'équipier disponibles.

fantastic commentary !!!! its amazing how things go bad so quickly in the wind if your not prepared, an old sailor once told me boats can be fixed that's why your insure them but people cant be fixed, rely on your surroundings to fend off and never panic, great tutorial as always, thank you

An amazingly useful format of the video. Please, continue.

Thank you for the experience shared and mostly for talking in English ;)

This is an old Swan 65 an S&S design. It has a fin keel but the rudder is attached to a skeg. Generally it manoeuvres reasonably well in close quarters and especially when fitted with a bow thruster like this boat. The crew was not briefed well and the captain too hesitant.

An extremely comprehensive collection of not unlikely subpar decisions and possible consequences during docking in windy conditions. Lots to learn. So true about ”if anything goes wrong, everything goes wrong”. Been there, done that - at least some of them. It’s not easy. Great advice too, along he way. Lack of experience and preparation by the Captain of course, but who am I to judge.

Hi, I think you are a very good instructor. Im looking Forward to more Videos, i Hope in english, bc i don't understand greek. Regards, rich

Best way to learn is to avoid mistakes that others made already. Therefore such video analysis is important for other captains. We are all on an endless learning curve on a boat. In this video I just don't understand why they dropped the windward stern line. It was fixed, so you don't need more to control the boat. Just avoid the bow drifting. But he didn't even use the bow thruster. Fix the mooring line and that's it. No drama.

Ωραίο κ επεξηγηματικό βίντεο captain.Σωστος που τονίσες,ότι Δν κρίνεις τις ικανότητες του καπετάνιου.Η αληθεια ειναι...πως καλά το'πες!Αν ξεκινήσει κάτι στραβα...συνεχιζει στραβά!Καλες θάλασσες,καλή σεζόν. Μακριά από μας αυτά...😂😂😂

You said it at the beginning but I would underline it once more cause I think it s one of the most important things in high wind manoeuvers: if you can(and in this scenario you could easily) just go forward past your berth and back in against the wind so the bow will have only a little chance to drift and the momentum will keep the boat in line and give you some time to tie the boat down. Apart from that very good video, well done

great training video. Very well explained and illustrated on a live example

great details, for every condition. Thanks

Great presentation. Looking forward to more. Thanks !

It’s a Swan 65. It’s not long keel, but it is fin and skeg. This is at Nelson’s Dockyard.

liked yor explanation - agree with your analysis

I think that the classic yacht looks wery nice :)) But it is also wery nice example how things can go bad wery quickly

Really helpful tutorial, thank you for taking the time to make it!

great lessons -thank you

Very informative video and analysis, thank you!

"Slap" the wind, without seeing your video on that topic, is using the inertia of the turning move of the boat when you come backing into the wind and make a quick turn so that the bow keeps moving to windward when the boat is already at 90° to the pier. Thus, you can balance the two movements going back to the pier and the (re-)drifting of the bow to leeward. It is a "classic" in all "stern to" manoeuvres where you have no finger pontoons. At my skipper exam, I had to do exactly that in about 20 knots of side wind but without anchor or mooring lines. I had to approach the pier and let one guy step out (step not jump!) and in a second approach I had to pick up the guy again. I lost two kilograms before I got my licence...

Great analysis. Please continue!

Excellent video and very informative!!!

Great video Thanks Keep them coming please

Thanks for the analysis! Very helpful.🙏🙏 My humble opinion is that he could put forward speed steering to the starboard side when he lost bow thruster just to cycle the other boat’s mooring line and free the boat (two boats actually) just to gain space and time to re-organise the second try of the mooring and most important to reorganise the crew.

very instructive, very well commented, great video...

Wow ! the tip to just let the boat just rotate around the mooring line of the other boat is REAlly good. thanks. I am sure at that point, with the stress I would have played with my engine to try to get out. really good advices, mooring with lateral wind with Anchor in the "greek way" is not easy to do for the 1st time. after some mistakes, you get used to it, but having tips like this from the start is very good

Excellent teaching, I learned a lot. Thank you for all the hard work preparing this educational video.

That is a great and objective explanation. A lot of help within 20 Minutes. Thank you !!

Really nice video and explanation. Subscribed and waiting for more

Learning from mistakes , it's a big truth.

Always easy to analyze after the fact or off-boat as it develops v.s. being in the situation as it develops. The lack of pressure allows us to see what could have been done.

Thanks!

nice explanation

Easy to criticize .. Though you are correct, there are certainly lessons to learn .. I have been there so many times, my 40 foot Corbin has severe prop walk so reversing is a nightmare in windy conditions.. and as you said once something starts to wrong, panic sets in and everything else will go wrong too !!!

Thank you so much for the analysis! I have a question: After the lazy line broke the bow started drifting around the other boat. Why not hard portside rudder and forward then? I figure the stern would have come free from the other boat. After breaking free from the other boat the stern would have pointed windward, no danger of going anywhere. Then reorganize and try again. What do you think?

Πολύ ωραίο βίντεο. Το σοφρανο μεσαίο κοτσανελο το προτείνεις καθώς είναι πιο έξω από την γραμμή του κέντρου του σκάφους; Το προτείνεις και σε καινούρια μονοχαλλ που συνήθως η πρύμνη είναι το ίδιο φαρδιά με την μέση του σκάφους;

A lot went wrong but the port was too slow as well. Your guy had to be standby with the lines while the boat was approaching. With winds like this from the side your boat had to be supporting upfront. Not after everything went wrong. The port have a responsibility to protect other boats as well. I think mistakes are made on both sides. Thanks for the video, it’s a learning for everyone.

A very good analysis! Would you tell us the reason why applying a forward throttle when the stern was in the contact with the other boat is not a good decision?

❤

Best way to learn, thank you so much for the analysis!

I like very much an easy going mood of your comments. With all points listed still can not imagine that captain for such huge boat has no experience to split tasks with crew well in advance before the whole game starts ...

Would it have been a good idea to (at the time of contact with the other boat) keep the windward line on, reverse relatively close to the dock and release the lazy line? This would put them in a pretty standard position to leave the dock and avoid damage

Very interesting analysis! Would it be a discussable strategy in this specific situation: First go alongside backwards starboard, bow against the wind, in an flat angle, bowthruster, fixing first bow, afterwards midline. Bringing up the mooring. After fixing backline loosening frontline and let the boat drift and fix mooring, when the boat has the right position. Bowthruster does a little bit of help, Motor is holding the ship on pulling the backline? Question from an unexpierienced landrat with 23footer on an european lake.

Good video and advice 👍 I have a question... If the manoeuvre has been successful, how is the bow finally secured? An anchor? If so, why not lay the anchor first...

*takes notes*

Wow ... what a cluster f*ck ... everything went wrong and they were not at all prepared. It always amazes me that people who operate a boat like that are so clueless. Perhaps the captain knows how to operate the boat, but he clearly does NOT know how to operate and prepare a crew. BTW, love the video. Very instructive and useful, also because of the drone shots. 🙂

Υπερθεματίζω ότι πρόκειται για το σκάφος SAIDA, κατασκευή 1973, κλάσης SWAN 65 (Ketch). Μήκος 19.68μ , βύθισμα σχεδόν 3μ (2.91μ) και δηλωμένο εκτόπισμα 32τν.

Thank you for this impressive lesson! I learned a lot!

Give a strong kick forward with the main engine and rudder max to the left will kick the stern away from the other boat and at the same time move forward away from the trouble. His mistake was to try to kick the bow more to starboard with the bow thruster rather than the stern to starboard with the main engine. Since half his boat was allready forward of the other boat turning to port will get him out of the trouble. At that point it MAY be relevant to use the bow thruster as a backup.

Around the Corner Docking with Wind from aft wouldve been possible and easy.

While the initial approach was less than ideal, can the windward stern line be looped around the dock bollard and then lead back to the windward midship cleat? Do you know if this is a solution to stabilize the boat before attaching the slip line to the forward windward cleat?

The captain should be available to maintain control over entire operation and this means being aware where the boat is drifting, what happens next if you don't react and how much time for reaction you have. I see this was completely missing here. I honestly don't know what the captain was doing. I think the biggest thing missing here is debriefing your crew before arrival. I always talk to the crew, explain what we are going to be doing, how we are going to be doing it. Then I talk to each crew member about their individual task. We may also cover backup plan and things that can possibly happen and what we are doing then. If I have explained what they were supposed to do but they are not doing it well, it is much easier to just shout and remind them quickly than to start explain what you need them to do. If you need to explain every person what they need to do, while docking, you could just as well do it yourself. As to contingencies, in this situation I would designate two people with fenders, one closer to the bow and one closer to the stern (just so that they don't have to run). I would explain to just put the fender between where the boats would touch. To the rest of the crew I would say that if we start drifting too far, the plan is to drop mooring, wait for it to sink and then regroup and start again. The point of having a crew is that multiple people can be doing things at the same time while you can maintain awareness of the situation and stand at the controls and react when needed. But for this to happen, the crew needs to know what they are supposed to be doing and how they are supposed to be doing it. I think this captain here does not have crew management ability needed for a craft this size and I would be really hesitant to leave the port with this person being captain. One more detail, I love bow thrusters but they have tendency to fail when you need them the most. It is easy for the wind to overpower bow thrusters and because they are so relatively small, they easily get clogged. I use the thruster but I always plan my movement as if the thruster was not available to me.

beautiful yacht, terrible maneuver

Training, pre-planning and communication: looks like all 3 were absent.

Look like a rookie mistake esp. on a such a big boat and not sure what their plan was. In the conditions they were in the only thing that matters is getting the windward (in their case starboard) mooring line secured, everyone on board should be laser-focused on that single thing. The line should be ready to throw and it is ok to secure it ashore as well (no need to pass it back initially, this could be done later). The whole operation should take no more than 5-10s. Then the skipper can use the engine with as much power as necessary to drive against the windward mooring line and straighten the bow. The whole process step by step: - approach in reverse aiming for a spot on the pier that is more to windward compared to the desired final mooring spot - secure the windward mooring line as quickly as possible - use engine to drive against the windward mooring line to move the bow against the wind and straighten the boat. This would work under most conditions, except the most severe ones, where one may need assistance of e.g. of marina staff in a tender who can help pushing or pulling the bow - once the boat boat is in correct position (perpendicular to the pier), hold this position using the engine and get the windward lazy line out of the water, taking care that it does not get into propeller. The best is to keep the tail of the lazy line onboard till the mooring maneuver is over - secure the windward lazy line on the bow - secure port mooring and lazy lines - once all 4 lines are secured, use the engine to do final finetuning of the boat position (distance and/or angle to the quay) by giving slack or bringing in the respective lines Actually, the only time-critical piece of the process is initial securing of the windward mooring line. If that is unsuccessful for whatever reason, the attempt should be abandoned immediately and another approach started. All other actions can be done at a relaxed pace and do not involve much risk as the boat is already secured by the line and engine working against this line.

Surprised there is no dock hand, especially for how much they will charge to park there.

Pretty clearly they were coming in from a race...and racers don't wear lifejackets, except offshore, because it's uncool lol. So that's that. I agree that they should have been backing upwind, and at decent clip to give the rudder some bite to counter prop walk, otherwise backing to starboard would be impossible. In my experience while med mooring in a crosswind, if you don't get the bow mooring line under control AS the stern approaches the seawall, you should abandon the attempt and try again. As with most docking maneuvers, as soon as things go pear-shaped you are far better off quitting (in this case powering out and restarting the approach) than trying to salvage a botched attempt, particularly with a crew not practiced in the maneuver. In general, in windy conditions, I drive aggressively keeping the boat at speed, using it's keel and rudder to counter the lateral force of the wind. Going slow is a mistake...you lose control of the boat.

Great video. I got a question. It would be a good idea to attach the leeward line to the windward cleat, ( in X) and then push to forward with the engine, in order to keep the bow to windward??

This is why smaller boats are easier to learn with. People who say size doesn’t matter don’t know what they’re talking about.

Great video -

That went south fast

This is a Swan 65

Swan 65, long keel, single prop, no bow-thruster. A VERY difficult boat to manage astern, especially in cross-wind / tide.

It's strange to see such an inexperienced crew on a boat of this size and a captain who apparently doesn't give the right manoeuvring orders!

A SWAN 65!

Excelent analisis Captain 👌🏻⛵⚓❤️ Im in Cartagena de indias colombia at the moment (came by plane) but i will be recording drone footage of the marinas, so if theres wind, il look out for dodgy dockings for you to analise 😉 All the Best 🙏🏻

Everything is different with the strong wind.

These are very obviously not yachtsman but largely inexperienced day sailers. This heavy displacement vessel should have a qualified skipper at the helm. The attempt to moor was just totally shocking.

This whole scenario could have been avoided by just cleating the windward stern line without slack and then using the bow thruster and forward idle with helm to weather while securing a windward breast spring, personally I'd have had my breast spring and stern lines both prepared and had my jumper cleat off both on the bollard or dock cleat, alternative is to go downwind and reverse into the wind bringing the bow round with a combination of helm and bow thruster as close to the dock as is safe and then cleating the windward stern and spring lines. Maybe I'm wrong but he had so much room to successfully moor the boat IMO especially with a bow thruster, once the windward stern line line was cleated he should have been done, I prefer to have my lines on the boat's cleats beforehand, through fairleads and outboard all led aft so you can jump with 2 or even 3 windward lines and cleat them off quickly and secure the boat, you can always redo your lines later once you're secure, IDK, so many people doing nothing, the skipper should never have to leave the helm and engine/bow thruster controls with that many people on board????

The classic error is to overestimate the preparedness of the crew... most sailors, without clear instructions, are utterly useless in this kind of situation.

Δεν θα ήτανε καλύτερα μια πλαγιοδετηση σε αυτή την περίπτωσή?

ευχαριστω

Show me a boat that backs straingt in line : they simply do not exist due to the pitch of the propeller. This phenomenon is increased by windage and current (thnakfully there are no tidal currents in the Med). So the whole point is : 1) the helmsman is a rookie 2) The skipper should be around the foremast to asses the situation : this is the pivotal point of the boat (and leave the helm to the wifey : but you know those macho husbands…) 3) when you moor Mediterannean style, drop the hook first, get sur it is well settled on the bottom (remember depending on the bottom and weather conditions : 3 to 5 times the depth) then back down slowly. 4) Backing down slowly means a medium pull to the rear then a small push to the front to realign the boat in its straight position. 5) No need to go full speed (or close as on the pic) but be patient and consistent. 7) Then, only then handle the mooring lines to the person ashore or have some crew jump ashore. I'm sorry but I'm really not sure your lesson doesn't skip a few important points. Signed your keyboard and armchair skipper (but sailed on the water with a tiller a sail plus a hull with no keyboard nor armchair for 62 years) Cheers.

Too many mistakes in a manoueovre. Plenty of space upwind to manoeuver and place the boat upwind the mooring position . Is always easy to go downwind. Upwind you have to earn it! The position of the fenders and that disordered crowd on the deck says much about this captain's seamanship.

Yes this Geo political do it .N.A

Blablablabla…….de beste stuurlui staan aan wal..

Incredible that the owner or skipper of such boat would make such basic mistakes. Good, if verbose analysis.

Shocking ! Big , owner boat , dozen people on board , EMPTY dock , moorings … And he perform this show . 30 years ago , small 30ft boat , no bow truster , no lazy lines ( we drop anchor in every port ) , port packed with boar so we need to “squeeze” in bed . Always done from first , max . second shot , only hand signs , no yelling, almost like a navy . Sometime, for fun , we coil down mooring rope , as it should be on real ship. Unfortunately , wrong country , wrong time , and I am off the boat to the day . While bozos like this , make such comedy 17:13 with no less- a Swan !

It is the Swan 65 SAIDA.

The approach was not terrible, the crew was worse than useless. Nice swan 65.

Midship..midship..midship.

Amateurish mistakes… i really dont understand sometimes mentality of people who own big serious sailboats. Call marine staff and they will send people to help you. Thats basic thing to do. But Many times, arrogance is bigger than being humble and reasonable… Great video