Prop Walk Advantage

Propwalk can be annoying or you can just get the better of it. Your choice!

Once you understand prop walk and can predict it, you simply line up your boat in anticipation. We call it a preemptive strike.

In the following image, the boat has lined up at an angle off of the pure backing line to get into the slip. As the skipper engages in reverse the boat will yaw to line up. The angle depends on your boat’s amount of prop walk. The more you practice, the more you know how much angle.

More on reversing in the coming pages.

Exercise PW3 – Prop Walk Preemptive Strike:

Set up exactly the same as the image above but use a buoy and an imaginary slip. The stern should face the wind so that the wind effect on the bow is removed from the exercise.

What You Learned

You gained an appreciation as to how much preemptive strike angle you need.

Here is a video that we shot in our Virtual Reality Maneuvering program showing prop walk and how to do the “preemptive strike”. Note that it works the same for sailboats as it does for powerboats