Ep 29: Pro Tips: Dealing with Propwalk 

Any time!

You're very welcome

Very good point. Thanks Aqua Vita

Wow! Thank you for the comment Arda , I appreciate the support!

Glad you liked it! Thank you

My pleasure Bob. I take it the video helped you. I appreciate the kind comment.

@@CarpeDiemSailingMagazine it did. I have a swan 47 that sticks her butt to port every time I reverse. At 36k pounds it’s pretty annoying. The bow line off and canting the stern is a jewel of info. I’m port tied.

@@bobgaysummerland Happy I could be of assistance. That is a beautiful boat. Don’t hesitate to reach out if I can be of any further assistance.

Hey Jack, thanks for the great comment.

Thank you for the very kind and encouraging comment Jeff. I love San Fran, in fact it was the landfall for my first offshore cruise. I was delivering a 70 foot steel boat from Vancouver. We arrived at sunrise, it was epic! Will definitely look you up next time I’m in the area.

Absolutely! Thanks for the comment

Thank you M.O.B. Glad you're enjoying them.

Wow! Thank you so much 😊

Thanks for the comment Deb. Good work! Full keel double enders can be a handful

You're so welcome! Thank you for the great support

Bitte!

You’re very welcome. I’m delighted that you found so much value in it. Should make a huge difference on your next charter. Thanks for taking the time to reach out 🙏

Glad it was helpful! Thank you for the comment.

Thank you John. I appreciate the kind comment.

Glad it was helpful!

My pleasure Paolo! Glad you enjoyed it!

@@CarpeDiemSailingMagazine I can’t wait to get my day skipper course completed and get started. Your tutorials are immensely appreciated, especially the tremendous amount of work you put into these clips and edits. They are quick, concise and punchy. Very effective.

Good work Paolo! Keep it up. You’re going to love it. Thank you for the incredibly kind and encouraging comment. It's people like you I make these videos for!

@@CarpeDiemSailingMagazine definitely very much appreciated. I see there are 2 online course on your website. Do you offer a complete theory course or prep course for the day skipper course? I truly enjoy your explanations and level of detail. It is a great feeling when you complete a tutorial without any follow on questions. Your tutorial are perfect and set the right expectations. If you ever thinking of doing a complete prep course online, please let us know. I’d be glad to join and learn more. Once again thank you very much for the great clips.

@Paolo Messina Actually we only have one course for sale online and that’s a docking course. I’m hoping to make my learn to sail playlist into a complete prep course.

Thank you for the kind comment. Yes I absolutely agree. Good point.

You're welcome 😊

Thank you Kayak Amy. I appreciate the kind feedback.

Yer same

Thanks for the kind comment Doug. Hope the video helps you with your practice.

@@CarpeDiemSailingMagazine Time on the water solves all

Thank you so much Doug. I'm absolutely delighted that one of my videos was able to help you while out on the water. You mention we sail the same waters, where are you and what is your boat

Me too Bob. Feel free to contact me if I can be of any assistance.

Thank you for your comment John. Full keel boats generally do not steer well in reverse hence the advancement to fin keel spade, rudder nor are they the majority of boats out there. Having said that I have a friend who owns a Whitby 42 and I'm hoping to get out on it and do some video of maneuvering a heavy full keel boat.

Good question! Thanks for the comment Phillip. I have limited experience with twin rudders as they are quite new. What I found is that I did not get quite as much effect but I still did get some. The boat I was on had a sail drive mounted fairly far forward. The spread of the wash reached both rudders and with the twin rudders I found that the boat was much more responsive even at slow speed and I did not really miss the effect of the wash on the rudder. Also with the saildrive prop walk was minimal

Thank you

You do indeed describe a common situation. Without knowing more details it is difficult to advise. Such things as the type of boat, the underwater configuration, amount of thrust in reverse etc. One thing I have recently picked up on with my private instruction is that people are very hesitant to use power. In situations like the one you describe you sometimes have to use a lot more power than on a calm day. The key is to use the power judiciously. Use short bursts but get the boat moving. Wind on the bow and prop walk is always problematic and really the only way to deal with it is to get the boat up to steerage way as fast as possible and then you might have to go faster than usual. I assume you have a diesel engine. Don't be afraid to use power when you need it. I would recommend that you go out in the open and practice transitions from forward to reverse and reverse to forward and see how long it takes you to get control. Try reversing at a faster speed than you are used to but remember that the pressure on the rudder will increase so be careful to hold the helm very securely and do not use a lot of rudder. Hope this helps. UI would love to hear how it goes for you.

@1kfarrel the suggestions given here are excellent, but this sounds like you turned from the slip with your bow in the wind. If there's room, turn with your stern in the wind, otherwise you can suffer the windvane effect you described. If you must turn with the bow in the wind, tot can keep control of your boat with a spring line, or two, depending on the situation. "Harbor manoeuvres step by step" from Lars Bolle has tips on how to make this manageable. His explanations are agonist as good as from this channel, with similar top down pictures, I can recommend having the book on board.

Yup! I try not to think too much about it, keeps me up at night :-)

The sideways resistance of the blades like a paddle wheel and the further back the prop is mounted the longer the lever and the greater the affect.

I came across this video while researching the cause of prop walk and I concluded most sailing instructors don’t understand the cause. The sideways forces counteract each other so they are not the major cause. It suddenly made sense when I found course materials for freighter skippers. It’s the upward force of the prop that has the biggest influence. Water pushed upward on starboard strikes the hull, pushing it to port. The water spirals away from the prop in a cone shape. In forward most of the cone misses the hull so there is only a small effect and the water is thrown against the rudder which has a large effect so prop walk is minor. But in reverse much more of it hits the hull and the rudder has very little effect. That being said, the cause of prop walk isn’t that important. And this video does a pretty good job of explaining its effect on steering and what to do about it.

Thanks for the comment Kent. Yes you're right! I always find it a challenge to determine what the base of knowledge is. When it comes to props and prop walk I came from the point that most people understand what right and left props are. So to be clear a right hand prop turns clockwise in forward and counter clockwise in reverse and walks to port. A left hand prop dopes the opposite. Most props are right handed