Pier Launch with Onshore winds

CajunSunfish

New Member
HI all... Just a quick story that I'm sure some of you can relate to. The winds were great (25-30 kts) last weekend and I was soooooo excited to get out and do some sailing. However, my situation is that I launch from a pier so no sloped beach launch. This gets tricky in high winds. I can usually paddle out a ways, raise the sail, and go. I did it the day before in 20-25 kt winds, but it was tough. However, this particular day with the very high winds, I just couldn't paddle hard/fast enough to prevent myself from being blown directly back into the pier. I was sooooooo disappointed. Any tips for high onshore pier launches would be appreciated! See attached pic of my pier (circled in red), and direction of winds.
 

Attachments

  • Screen Shot 2016-04-05 at 10.44.07 AM.png
    Screen Shot 2016-04-05 at 10.44.07 AM.png
    780.5 KB · Views: 64
can you raise your sail before you get started? then you might be able to start out on a reach, at a right angle to the direction of your wind arrow?
 
can you raise your sail before you get started? then you might be able to start out on a reach, at a right angle to the direction of your wind arrow?

I suppose I can practice that (raising sail before leaving pier), in lower winds. I'm sort of new, and don't have that much confidence in raising the sail before leaving pier and not getting blown into next pier! haha. That day I'm talking about with the strong winds (excess of 25 kts), even without the sail raised, I was getting uncontrollably blown back into pier. Maybe sometimes, I have to just resign to the fact that the wind is just too strong to launch....however, that would such a fun sail!...oh, what a conundrum! lol
 
I'm no expert, but if you are new, I'd be cautious about heading out in super heavy winds anyway. what happens if you capsize? turtle the boat? have you tried flipping a turtled Sunfish in heavy wind/waves?

hopefully someone w/ more experience than I will also chime in some thoughts!
 
I'm no expert, but if you are new, I'd be cautious about heading out in super heavy winds anyway. what happens if you capsize? turtle the boat? have you tried flipping a turtled Sunfish in heavy wind/waves?

hopefully someone w/ more experience than I will also chime in some thoughts!

Thanks for the concern, but when I go out in heavy winds, I will not be as aggressive, and usually avoid runs as much as possible. I went on once (actually my first outing) with 15-20 kt winds and chinese gybed! haha. That was a fun experience until I went back home, watched about 100 videos on gybeing (sic) and went and practiced nothing but gybes one day. lol
 
I've got a similar problem, but I have much more room between docks. If it's shallow enough, you can drive a piece of rebar into the bottom—perhaps 75' out. You could also bury a small mushroom anchor. Attach a line to it and the dock, and use it to pull yourself out into the wind. I'm using (cheap) yellow polypropylene, so it floats all the time. (Nylon line will sink, which is probably what you'd want with weekend boat traffic). It gets me out far enough so I don't hit anyone's property.

Below, the white arrow points to a quick-release halyard cam cleat—mounted behind the splashboard. The sail can even be secured as you fall into your boat! (A longer, fatter, halyard is necessary, though my next cleat installation will be further forward).

P6110041-002_zpsrozblg4s.jpg
 
When doing a launch into onshore winds, if wind is more than you can paddle against with the sail down on the deck...

You have to get a tow or wait for better conditions.
 
To give some advice, could you please tell us from where (on the picture above) you launch?
2. How do you get the boat in the water and
3. How do you get into the boat; from the water or the pier?
 
Hi, I launch from a floating dock which is exactly next the the shore, in the shade, so you cannot see it from the picture I posted. I will usually walk the boat to the end of my pier, and paddle out from there. However, to the right (in the picture), you can see a large green square roof to a pier. That is where I get blown into! lol Thankfully, my neighbor is usually there so he is drinking a beer on his pier, watching me look like a fool, and laughing. After he gets a few chuckles in, he will come to my rescue. haha
 
For many years, I've owned a ½" bungee cord about 25' long. (Stretches to almost double that :eek: ). If you can get one, you could "self launch" after raising your sail in the lee of the pier. :cool:

If you own the pier, a (very) heavy weight could be put on a pulley mounted at the end, and the other end could be your slingshot into the wind! :D
 
For many years, I've owned a ½" bungee cord about 25' long. (Stretches to almost double that :eek: ). If you can get one, you could "self launch" after raising your sail in the lee of the pier. :cool:

This idea might work in "light and variable winds" but in the heavy breeze he is concerned with, I think this idea is a bit of hot air :confused:. Not to mention the bungee would, due the laws of physics, pull our friend straight INTO the pier, :eek: whereas I believe he is trying to get by the pier and go sailing. :)
 
Hi, I launch from a floating dock which is exactly next the the shore, in the shade, so you cannot see it from the picture I posted. I will usually walk the boat to the end of my pier, and paddle out from there. However, to the right (in the picture), you can see a large green square roof to a pier. That is where I get blown into! lol Thankfully, my neighbor is usually there so he is drinking a beer on his pier, watching me look like a fool, and laughing. After he gets a few chuckles in, he will come to my rescue. haha

OK; I will give it a try.
You will need a line attached to the bow cleat.
Preferably slide your boat (sail not raised) off the dock on the lee side. Of course, if the wind is truly straight onto the dock, there is no lee side. If so, launch the boat so that the starboard (right) side of the boat is closest to the dock. This will allow you to raise the sail from the dock. I typically sit on the dock and hold the boat with my feet. I also tie the bow line to a cleat (or something else on the dock), just in case my feet loose contact with the boat.
Raise the sail; make sure the sheet runs free.
Insert the board and get ready for take-off (get your pfd on, attach a windvane, etc). Take the line tied to the bow off the cleat (you can wrap it around the mast) and hold the boat with your feet.
Now the tricky part. You need to push off hard, while getting in the boat, and hold the tiller in the correct position so that the bow will be pushed to 45 degrees off the wind. Up to now, the sail has not been sheeted in and is flapping. If necessary, you can forcefully move the rudder a few times to get to 45 degrees (approximately). Once you are 45 degrees, sheet in, hike out, and off you go. All of this will have to be done quickly because you want to minimize the strong wind pushing you back. Because of the proximity to the next pier, you may have to tack almost right away. Perhaps you will have to make a few more short tacks to get away from the piers/docks (and the neighbor).
 
Last edited:
Better... and less likely to break things....

Learn to do an anchor toss and drag yourself out.
I've used this to get a "beached" 17 ft bass boat off of a sandbar.

You toss your anchor out in the desired direction, let it hit bottom and then start pulling the line.
Success depends on how well you can toss the anchor and how well it holds vs your strength to haul in the line.

The Sunfish won't need the 20 lb Danforth style anchor + 3/4 inch nylon line I was using for the bass boat... Probably one of the small folding grapple anchors + 1/4 or 3/8 nylon for kayaks will do.
Stow the anchor and line in a canvas bag tied to the mast, or if you have an inspection port with stowage bag, put them in there.

This should be a bit more successful than paddling... but you may lose progress when you pull up the anchor for another toss...
 
Fullscreen capture 952015 65201 AM.bmp.jpg

Above, a sketch of what I had in mind. Have you tried using a kayak paddle?

The "pull line" I use doesn't get me out past the neighbor's dock, boat lift (and its sharp-edged roof :eek: ), but I don't have to get wet, either.

The bungee is quite powerful, and I'm not suggesting anything bigger. If it's doubled around a block—as in the sketch—you'll get a "catapult action" that might do the trick. :)
 
View attachment 19653
Above, a sketch of what I had in mind. Have you tried using a kayak paddle?

The "pull line" I use doesn't get me out past the neighbor's dock, boat lift (and its sharp-edged roof :eek: ), but I don't have to get wet, either.

The bungee is quite powerful, and I'm not suggesting anything bigger. If it's doubled around a block—as in the sketch—you'll get a "catapult action" that might do the trick. :)


A sailboat launch! Man..you're trying to kill me! hahaha The neighbors sure would enjoy watching that! lol
 
Better... and less likely to break things....

Learn to do an anchor toss and drag yourself out.
I've used this to get a "beached" 17 ft bass boat off of a sandbar.

You toss your anchor out in the desired direction, let it hit bottom and then start pulling the line.
Success depends on how well you can toss the anchor and how well it holds vs your strength to haul in the line.

The Sunfish won't need the 20 lb Danforth style anchor + 3/4 inch nylon line I was using for the bass boat... Probably one of the small folding grapple anchors + 1/4 or 3/8 nylon for kayaks will do.
Stow the anchor and line in a canvas bag tied to the mast, or if you have an inspection port with stowage bag, put them in there.

This should be a bit more successful than paddling... but you may lose progress when you pull up the anchor for another toss...


Thanks for the suggestion, but the water is about 20' deep at end of pier, and probably drops off to about 30'-50' fairly quickly and it would probably be tough to haul in that much line (plus any horizontal component of the line) and still make forward progress.
 
And we are back to the best solutions being:

Beg a tow out from somebody.

Or trailer the boat to a spot where you can launch perpendicular to the wind instead of needing to start with a close haul tack.

I doubt you want to install a trolling motor and carry the battery on a Sunfish.
We could design a mount that bolts to the rudder and can pop the trolling motor up so it doesn't drag when sailing, but you'd need probably a 30 lb trolling motor (or more) to buck 30 knot wind with the sail down. And the smallest gel cell 12v to run that will be about 20 lbs. LiPo could be much lighter but easy to over-discharge and destroy em.
Not impossible... just not practical.
 

Back
Top