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These messages are excerpted from a dialogue on the Cal Sailing Club email list, concerning berthing options for a Santana 22: (note that the Cal Sailing Club email list is open to all, and highly recommended for those who would like to keep a finger on the pulse of what's *really* going on in the Berkeley Marina. Sign-up instructions are on the CSC website.)
Date: Wed, 5 Jan 2000
From: Someone on the CSC email list
To: cal-sailing@lists.best.com
Subject: overhang
Paul wrote:
> There are lots of 20' berths available in the Berkeley Marina,
> and the new policy will allow 20% overhang on most berths. So
> 24' from bow rail to stern rail will be allowed in those
> berths.
Actually the words in the proposed rule change allows 20% of the boat's
length to overhang. That is 25% of the slip length. That is a 25 footer in a
20 foot berth. Or a 50 footer in a 40 foot slip.
There are some weasel words about only doing it where it is safe to do so.
IMHO, that is almost nowhere in the marina.The docks were originally layed
out to allow just less than twice the slip length between them. That allows
room to manouver with some margin of safety.
I just measured a couple of berths. It looks like the spacing is about 1-7/8
of the slip length. There is probably a little variation due to the fixed
sizes of the dock sections they use. The space between the 40 foot slips
O-500 and O-700 is 75 feet. That is enough room for a manuverable boat to
turn with a safe clearence.
The long keel boats with little rudders have to do multiple back and forth
passes under power. One guy with a long keel boat in a downwind slip can
barrely make it when the wind is blowing hard on a summer afternoon. His boat
goes whatever way it wants to in reverse. He is pretty good about using the
lines to get it swinging the right way. He backs up all the way until he is
just about touching the boats behind him, puts in forward with the rudder
hard over and can just barely make the turn. If he is not making the turn and
has to backup, he ends up sideways and drifts into the other boats on the
downwind side. His crew scurry around with fenders and they get it back in
the slip and try again. Nobody even yells.
The new rules would allow 50 foot boats in those slips. That would make the
clearence between boats to be 75 - 20 = 55 feet. Only 5 feet longer than the
boats would be!! If any of the boats are tied up a little sloppily that goes
to zero.
The long keel boat described above is an extreme case, but very few boats
could be safely handled with only 10% of their length to spare.
Between the 25 foot slips of O-200 and O-400 there is 47 feet. The proposed
rule would allow 31.25 foot boats in those slips there would be only three
feet clearence. ( 47 - 2 * 6.25 - 31.25).
I guess the slips like O-007 which face the rock wall would be o.k. Of
course if there were a beamy twenty five foot power boat nosed into O-003
Paul wouldn't be able to turn his boat around anymore. And if there were a
whole row of them, he could not get in or out when the tide was low and he
had to tack to do it.
I am of the opinion that a boat length and a half is the bare minimum. If the
1-7/8 number holds true, that would allow only a maximum 1/8 of the boat
length of overhang. If the intention of the propsoed rule was 20% of the
length of the slip that still allows only slightly over a quarter of a boat
length clearence and this is not enough in a windy place like the Berkeley
Marina.
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Date: Thu, 6 Jan 2000
From: Paul Kamen |