![\"rota-marina-plan.jpg\"](\"https:\/\/setsail.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2010\/08\/rota-marina-plan.jpg\" "\\"rota-marina-plan.jpg\\"")
<\/p>\nOur basic rule is to avoid tight harbors and marinas if the breeze is up, unless we know the layout from previous experience. However, our first entry into the marina in Rota, Spain, broke this rule.<\/p>\n
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As you can see from the image above, this is a very tight harbor (the yellow line with red dots on the ends is 100 feet\/30m long). If it is calm, there is plenty of room to rotate Wind Horse’s <\/em>83 feet\/25m. But not in a gale.<\/p>\n <\/p>\n So far in dealing with marinas in Spain and Portugal there have always been a couple of guys to handle lines, and an easily accessed dock on which to lie while doing paperwork and getting a slip assignment. Between the assumption that this would be the case in Rota, a building breeze, and nowhere to anchor, we decided to enter the harbor.<\/p>\n The entrance between the breakwaters is tight, requiring a 45 degree turn, with the breeze blowing straight into the marina. No sooner had we cleared the entrance than the 20 knots of breeze increased to 30 and more. The assignment dock had a runabout on one end, a British yacht in the middle, and not enough space on the other.<\/p>\n The combination of the now 30+ knots of wind and narrow space meant rotating 180 degrees to exit the harbor bow first was impossible. Our only option was to back out, something not without risk given the sea running and turn required. So we hung on the props, maneuvering agressively to maintain position, while we waited for someone to clear space on the downwind assignment dock.<\/p>\n However the desired result was not forthcoming, and the breeze continued to build (later we found out to 35 knots). Various people were watching, but nobody offered to take a line or give direction. All this was going on in full view of the marina office.<\/p>\n Our main concern was to avoid being trapped downwind. If we were to get turned sideways, and pinned on the transoms of the docked yachts to leeward, the situation would become embarassing and costly in a hurry. The breeze was shifting through 30 degrees, so constant adjustment was required with engines and rudders (it was blowing so hard that a thruster would have been useless). The goal was to keep the bow pointed within 20 degrees of dead downwind.<\/p>\n We finally determined to drop down on the local ferry dock, get a line on from the stern quarter, and hang while we sought assistance. Blocking the ferry dock brought a flurry of activity – nothing like breaking the rules – and we were quickly shown where we were to dock, and a line handler assigned to assist getting us secured.<\/p>\n The channel down which our end tie lay was a little wider than we are long. The breeze was blowing with a slight bias off the dock. There was insufficient room to rotate the boat and only one chance to get a line ashore. We rigged a stern quarter spring. This would allow us to hang on the dock cleat and bring the boat along side with the engine if required.<\/p>\n We backed the stern into the area between the two rows of docks, with our hull turned 30 degrees to the face of the dock. With this angle the breeze would push us onto the corner of the dock, where we could not fail to hand a line across. We then used a combination of reverse on the dockside engine and forward on the outboard engine with hard port rudder to walk the stern away from the dock avoiding the right angle wooden corner.<\/p>\n With the stern quarter spring cleated we passed across a stern line and then bow line, and settled in to explore Rota.<\/p>\n We learned a few lessons:<\/p>\n \u00a0<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"\n