Capt. Marc, veteran of multiple ocean crossings, and instructional pro, invites you to join him for lessons and/or excursions under sail. By special arrangement only.
High Anxiety Docking
As a sailing instructor, my favorite teaching topics include all things having to do with handling boats under sail. Auxillary engines and motors were a rarity on most of the boats I operated as a youth. Even when I operated vessels with an engine, I never really expected them to work when I most needed them. Time and time again, during our six-year cruise, our auxiliary engine quit just as we were entering a new port. It seems to me that there is an evil magic at work when it comes to these mechanical beasts.
Despite my fear and loathing of auxiliary engines, I’ve found that my beginning students regard docking under power to be the most fearsome and challenging of all requisite skills. True enough, maneuvering in tight spaces under sail or power, can get the adrenaline pumping. There’s a lot of potential bumping and crunching that can do down when mistakes are made. Over the years and miles I have discovered that there’s no formula or guide for every docking situation but every situation can be doped-out once you understand how a given vessel responds in various conditions. Every vessel responds differently to wind and current and there is no substitute for experimentation and practice.
My priorities in setting up a docking maneuver are:
1. Safety of crew
2. Safety of boat
3. Looking good
I’ve single-handed my 42 footer for a long time and I tend to look at every docking situation as though I were still-single handed. In a new docking situation, here’s what I do:
1. If in radio contact with the harbor or marina, I ask lots of questions—Upwind, downwind, or abeam? Strange currents? What side fenders? Helping hands ashore? Water depth?—and so on.
2. Position my vessel so that I can maneuver safely while taking plenty of time to study the docking problem.
3. Observe wind, current, and obstacles to a safe approach.
4. If the docking problem is too complex under given conditions, I seek out an alternative or find shore side assistance.
5. If I anticipate needing assistance, I plan accordingly and thoroughly instruct crew aboard and/or ashore before executing the maneuver.
Time is my friend when docking. There is rarely any need to rush to tie up. Thorough consideration will always reveal a solution.
Here’s a link to a pretty good article on docking techniques. Your situation will never be exactly the same as those described in the article, but the author provides a good starting point for doping out your docking problem.