Bajansailor
regular
Reged: 27/12/2004
Posts: 2292
Loc: Barbados (East coast)
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Carol, compared to going in and out of marinas, passage making is a (relative) doddle in my opinion. We have only had our boat for 10 years, but we usually only ever take her into a quay once a year for haul out. Just did it again last week, and it still scares the pants off me.
And we have a long keel with a cut away fore foot, which means that the bow 'blows off' very easily. I will endorse the comments above re just applying very short bursts of power, and using the boat's momentum rather than relying on the engine (as if you were parking a car).
And definitely a good plan to do some trials in open water - try doing turning circles to port and to starboard, as tight as you can, and notice the difference between the two diameters.
And then do the same in astern.
Find a vacant mooring buoy and practice coming up to it under different wind / tide situations.
Try motoring up to the buoy backwards as well, and see how Wild Bird handles then.
Find a convenient pontoon (eg one of those moored between piles) with a nice large space available for coming alongside, and practice tying up to it. Ideally with different combinations of wind and tide blowing / pushing you on / off the pontoon.
And remember that a spring line is just so versatile - you can hold a boat alongside a pontoon very nicely with just a spring and the engine in slow ahead. They are useful for 'springing off' as well, when you want to leave.
And finally - once you have crossed the pond in a year or 2, these marinas will all become a dim and hazy memory, as most (all) of the time out here you will be at anchor - its so much nicer than being in a marina, especially as you can then just fling yourself overboard for a swim first thing in the morning - an excellent way to clear Mount Gay hangovers..... 
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Lemain
regular
Reged: 31/01/2004
Posts: 5954
Loc: Fiumicino canal (Rome, Italy)
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Definitely bursts. Keep speed low for safety then, with the rudder at an appropriate angle (around 25 degrees, too much is counter-productive in most boats), open the throttle almost fully open and close it again, over one to two seconds. Adjust times and throttle according to boat and conditions. You'll find you've hardly added to the speed through the water but you have greatly altered heading.
Very, very easy to learn and is the most reliable trick in most boats. Almost as good as a bowthruster if you do it in time. Using this trick you can get into most boats in a marina with confidence.
Don't fight a bow that has been taken by the wind or tide - let it go and work out how to deal with the situation as it will be - for instance, encourage the bow to keep swinging to a safe direction by blipping the throttle. When things look dire just plan to a safe and stable intermediate step - e.g. stemming wind/tide - and then work out what comes next once you are stable and safe.
Never, ever, ever, open up the throttle and try to steer out of the trouble like a F1 car coming out of the pits. Bad news. You will probably swipe your stern at the least, if you don't cause several heart attacks meanwhile. Makes you look very amateurish, too.
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My daily blog on the current financial crisis is at:- http://davidscompass.blogspot.com No PMs for now ybw1.20.lemain@spamgourmet.com
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boatbuilder
regular
Reged: 05/04/2005
Posts: 1703
Loc: Millbrook, Cornwall
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Don't worry, the only marina that does not have tide problems is sutton harbour. And that is in a locked harbour.
We all have problems around here from time to time.
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Damo
regular
Reged: 22/02/2005
Posts: 2897
Loc: k keeper,Portishead
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The manoeuvering advice given is spot on.
I liveaboard in a marina, and keep closequarters handling to the minimum - when I go out I never go in to tight harbours without crew aboard if I can avoid it. When I do I request an "easy" berth - saying "I'm singlehanded in a 35' longkeeler, with an intermittent engine problem" is very effective with marina staff in my experience (and I'm one of them!)
I have been told by an owner of an identical boat that a fixed hydrovane blade helps improve astern handling dramatically.
Do everything slowly and give yourself an escape route if possible; learn how it reacts to wind and the prop - sometimes it is a lot easier for me to approach a berth astern into the wind. Many problems arise because a helm is too impatient, which I see most days. I often have to move boats (mobos are the trickiest) with warps or a dory and the trick is to do it little by little - let the wind orientate it, a nudge astern to turn it, sometimes just drift for a minute or two as the boat gets to the position or orientation you want.
Don't be disheartened: your idea of some tutoring by someone with experience in a similar boat is dead right (if only more skippers did that....). Have a word with the marina for a more convenient berth, if one is available - they are more likely to accommodate you if they know you use the boat a lot, and they won't want to see scratches on other boats any more than you do
Chin up 
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Never be at a loose end with the Yosemite bowline 
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SeaVenture
regular
Reged: 04/01/2007
Posts: 83
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My husband Michael and I have a long-keeled, heavy displacement 50 footer. Talk about a bear to maneuver in wind or current! The advice you've been given is excellent and will keep you from having every liveaboard down the dock rushing to fend you off their rails. Slowly, easily does it.
We watched two slightly bosky fellows sailing blithely into the marina last week, all sails up, thinking, this should be a treat; they must be going to backwind the main and jib as they turn into their slip; must be experts. Then the crash resounded from two piers away.
So. Obviously, don't come in drunk. Don't come in too quickly. Anchor out and wait a while if the current or wind is too much for a safe and easy entry. Michael took Sea Venture out alone a couple of weeks ago and decided to postpone re-entry into the slip until the wind died down. Then he eased that old girl in as if she weighed nothing.
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TigaWave
regular
Reged: 17/12/2004
Posts: 1920
Loc: Buckland Monachorum
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Hi Carol,
I know the feeling, it's a tight marina. As you saw with an experienced friend it often takes time to understand a particular boat. Some take a little more understanding than others, but heavy is often good.
I'm around in Plymouth most of the time and could maybe help give you a bit more confidence. But the process would be much the same as others have suggested. Get the boat out on an easy day, then play lots using some moorings as reference points, or friendly well fendered outside pontoons (if you can find some)
Strong winds are more common once cruising than strong tides or currents, your heavier boat will behave better in these conditions. If you learn to moor in the Tamar you'll be confident pretty much anywhere, but it is always interesting arriving in a strange harbour and weighing up all the options and conditions before you go for a berth or opt to anchor off, then go in in the
dinghy! Its nearly always an option.
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www.H4Marine.com
www.sailonline.org www.sailport.se
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Jonny_H
regular
Reged: 15/08/2006
Posts: 1512
Loc: Liveaboard - following the sun...
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Carol,
I can echo the comments re the Hydrovane - we have just installed ours and having the rudder locked in the centre line certainly seems to stabalise her in reverse a little - more managable. The down side is having the best part of £4k's worth of vulnerable metal hanging over the back of the boat (I am even more nervous about marina's now and especially when someone moors behind us on a pontoon!).
I would also add the springing off technique works very well for us - we berth alongside a pontoon in the fairway of the marina (not in a finger berth) and always use a bow spring and motor against it to kick the stern out before reversing her using the prop kick in a tight circle. It looks horrific to begin with, but put some faith in physics and some big fenders by the bow!
I'm sure you'll be fine - certainly hearing everyone else's uncomfortableness with marina's makes me feel better (I thought I worried far too much - but apparently only about as much as everyone else!)
Good luck
Jonny
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www.freewebs.com/jksailing
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Grehan
regular
Reged: 11/06/2001
Posts: 1167
Loc: Inland France
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My first post on YBW 7 years ago was also a desperate cry for help regarding manoeuvring and berthing in tightly spaced marina aisles, being blown around, messing up reversing etc. I asked if I was alone in being such a klutz. Sensibly, everyone told me that everyone can mess up in those sorts of conditions, and frequently does, so stay as calm as is possible and to keep a sense of perspective and humour about things.
Good advice that has stood me well over the years. When I mess up I do swear and grind my teeth, but I also know deep down that I'm not alone (however much it might seem that everyone else knows what they're doing, and doing it) so keep smiling.
We also hired two 'experts' to give us some tuition. The first was the bloke that moved boats around the marina, been moving boats in close quarters in all conditions all his life. What a craftsman! Seriously impressive and as Lemain says, used power, but in short bursts. No screaming down the aisle at top speed or spin turns. The other guy was a single handed Atlantic crosser. Like yours, his tuition also resulted in fairly laughable c*ck-ups and concluded when we neatly guillotined off the flagstaff of the boat next door. Mere mortals.
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___ Grehan :: French Waterways information ___
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caroldevon
regular
Reged: 06/07/2007
Posts: 644
Loc: Fowey/Plymouth
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Thank you all for your time and thought! Lots of advice here which I shall read, eat and inwardly digest. This is such a great place for help and support.... and as Jonny says.. also reassuring that others have had issues.
Like a lot of things- I'm familiar with the basic principles (eg prop kick, etc) and some things are fine so far- such as mooring alongside and springing off etc. (mainly because other people have let me practice that on their boats, including school boats- but most of these have been fin keel AWBs). Its the actuality of the very close quarters turns, reverses etc. in narrow fairways with tides that I'm less practiced at and your little tips and hints for the basic manouvering are extremely useful!
I shall wait till nearer neaps, put on the hydrovane blade and steel myself to have another go...
Most of the time I'm really excited about the prospect of skippering my own boat, but sometimes I just want to wave a magic wand and have some authoritive HWMBO take over!
BUT must think of myself as a jedi master in training.. "beginners mind" etc.
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AKA Caroldevon (but now mainly in cornwall!)
The life and times of the Wild Birds:
http://art-of-remembering.typepad.com/wildbird/
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ribrage
regular
Reged: 25/06/2006
Posts: 232
Loc: south coast
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I have what sounds to be a similar boat and HATE going into marinas, scouting it first is good advice and I often have one of the kids in the tender shoving the front end around like a tug.... quite amusing to the crowds on the quay but very effective and much cheaper than a bow thruster.
keep your chin up and remember that less is more when it comes to use of the throttle at slow speeds if you nudge something often a "sorry" is all you need
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Mess with me .... and the fender gets it !
www.absoluteaqua.co.uk
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