Excerpt: Techniques Under Power 

(Following is an excerpt from our 38-page section on Power Seamanship Tactics.)

Rotating

The tendency for the stern to torque sideways or walk as we've been describing it is a pain when you are trying to back up. However, it is a wonderful tool when you are trying to turn around in a tight spot.

We had sailed three-quarters of the way around the world when we first observed what we are now going to relate to you.

We were docked in a narrow waterway in Fort Lauderdale, Florida. The channel was at the most 75 feet (23 meters) wide between the boats moored on either side.

The breeze was blowing straight out of the north, which in this case meant down the channel towards the New River.

A Bowman 57 (a mid-70s late CCA early IOR design) came slowly up the channel. As there were no open docks I wondered where this fellow was going. I was even more curious as to how he was going to extricate himself when he realized he was in a dead end channel.

As the Bowman 57 came abreast of Intermezzo II the skipper hailed us. "I am looking for 14th street. Am I in the right place?"

"No," we answered. "It is the next channel east of here. Would you like to raft alongside and then we can get you turned around?"

"No thanks, I’ll just rotate myself with the prop." This we had to see.

He worked the boat a little further down the channel and then moved over a few feet to the east so that he was just past centerline. He then put the engine into reverse and gave a burst of power. There was a puff of black smoke, and a boil of water, and the stern almost jumped to port.

Then he put the helm hard to starboard and gave a shot forward. The bow spurted around clockwise continuing the turn the reverse thrust has started.

The process was repeated over and over again–short bursts of reverse followed by forward, with the rudder left hard over.

Gradually the boat pirouetted 180-degrees and then slowly came back along side. "Thanks for the offer of help," was the skipper’s comment.

Here's an aggressive approach using rudder direction change and thrust to rotate. We start at the bottom, with the helm hard over to starboard, with a thrust in forward. This shoves the stern to port. The helm is then quickly switched to port and a shot in reverse is given. The stern torque plus some rudder action jumps the stern to port, continuing the turn. The process is repeated, forward and reverse, until the correct angle of turn is achieved. Note: turning the helm back and forth only works with boats which have fast acting rudder ratios, and in relatively calm winds (so drift to leeward is not a problem).

We never learned his name, but could not get the maneuver out of our minds. It seemed like magic, turning that Bowman 57 in such a tight space.

A few days later we were in Charlie’s Locker, the local marine hardware store when we spotted the skipper of the Bowman.

We went over, introduced ourselves, and learned that Charlie Blake was a professional delivery skipper from the UK. He was in Florida to pick up the Bowman and bring her to the West Indies for the winter.

We could not resist asking him what it was he was doing under power.

The answer was astonishingly simple. "Reversing the engine makes the stern go to port, especially if I give her a good shot of power. I then shift into forward and the thrust of the prop is deflected by rudder to starboard, shoving the stern to port again. Then back to reverse, and forward, over and over until we have turned the bow to the desired heading. It is really very simple."

This was a revelation and a few days later, when we were heading out for a day sail we gave it a try on Intermezzo II. It worked like a charm. In very short order we had spun around 180 degrees in little more space than our overall length.

Since that day many years ago we have used this technique hundreds of times to turn ourselves around tight right angle corners or rotate 180 degrees to get out of a tight spot.

To recap: put the helm hard over in the opposite direction of stern torque (on most boats this means turning the helm to starboard to continue the turn of the stern torque as it lifts the stern to port), give a strong pulse of power in reverse, then switch to a comparable pulse forward. Repeat as needed until the perquisite angle is obtained.

A few caveats are in order. First, keep power on in each direction as long as lateral displacement is taking place. When the turning action becomes forward or aft motion, change the direction of propeller thrust (usually this is about two to three seconds tops).

Next, allow a second or two for the rpms on the diesel to drop back to idle before shifting. This is especially critical with Max props which otherwise slam their blades back and forth putting a lot of stress on the transmission and engine pressure plate.

The above not withstanding, the faster the shifting takes place, the tighter will be the turning circle.

If there is wind or current exacerbating a space problem, you may need to reduce the time allowed for the engine to slow back to idle.

Do not try to fight the wind. If your bow is downwind, and there is more than four to six knots of breeze, it may be very difficult to get the boat to rotate against the wind. If you are heading upwind, set the bow off at an angle to the breeze so that it helps blow it to leeward while the prop is pulling to windward.

The higher the rpm (and the more horsepower going into the water) the more rotational energy there will be. However, it is best to finesse this maneuver with minimum necessary bursts of engine rather than using brute force (which is hard on the drive train).