Reviews from Bill (1)

Marina Review for Delaware City Marina

Reviewed by: Bill on Jun 22, 2018
Vessel Type: Power
LOA: 55'
Draft: 4.0'

Rating: 1

Not recommended. We had 2 1 night stays enroute to/from Philly. Staff on first night provided direction and assistance for turn just upstream of the fuel dock. Very tight. On second stay, under direction of staff and with them having a bow line in hand, we hit a submerged rock pile during the turn. Damage was minor, but hired a diver for $300 to make sure.

Marina management claimed it was entirely my fault and that they had turned larger vessels in the past. While that may be true closer to the fuel dock, the channel narrows up stream of piles. The rocks and shoals were not marked.

As a retired engineer, the Waterway guide numbers for approach depth and maximum length are BS. On our four transits of the entrance, low water depth is 5 feet or less at the entrance and the channel width is about 80 at the widest. Vessels of 114 feet is absurd. Mud flats are what you see at the public dock at low tide near the entrance. The attitude of the management in this situation is either about integrity or competence - not good.

• WG Editor Comment:
  

  Marina Response:
  
  Thank you for the opportunity to expand on the Captain’s review. The Harbormaster and General Manager were acting as dock hands during the incident. The review does not match the recollections of the Harbormaster, General Manager or witnesses.
  
  M/V WINER (the vessel's crew pronounces the word “wine” with an “R” at the end) arrived in the marina's fairway and desired to turn himself around prior to docking. However, the crew of M/V WINER also passed a bow line to the dock hands before executing their turn. The command “Captain, move ahead 15 feet,” was announced via VHF and voice by the General Manager. However, rather than placing the vessel in forward,
  M/V WINER promptly went into reverse. Going into reverse effectively drove the vessel onto the opposite shore.
  This incident had zero to do with the marina’s practice of warping vessels from a starboard landing to a port-side tie. Warping safely uses only the energy of the channel’s current. Warping is a practice that is thousands of years old. Warping in the marina's north-south oriented fairway with a north-south flowing current does not drive boats onto the opposite east shore. Only a very, very, very strong west wind or the use of reverse puts vessels on the opposite east shore. The current’s energy can only move things north or south in the channel.
  This is a case of this captain who placed his vessel in reverse gear. The result was to propel the vessel onto opposite (east) shore. In the past eight years, the marina has warped about 4,280 visiting boats from starboard ties to port ties. None have landed on the far shore. Except for M/V WINER.
  M/V WINER's captain elected to do his own docking maneuver. The captain’s idea didn’t work. And someone other than him must accept his failure. He attacks the guide for inaccurate information on the approach. Why would he ever return to the same port if the procedures employed were dangerous or the approach reporting inaccurate?
  The bottom line is: If the dock hands had not fastened the dock line handed to them to the cleat prior to captains use of reverse, the damage would be substantially more.
  Moral: A retired engineer does not a sea captain make.
  
  

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