How the pros do it

[Carter Brey]

Docking technique is a perennially favorite topic on all sailing discussion lists. In Venice a couple of weeks ago, I was curious to see how the vaporetto crews dealt with the challenge; they tie up to floating boarding docks hundreds of times every day. I had my video-capable cell phone at the ready and documented the procedure.

I was not surprised to see that they use a midship cleat. It allows a casual, even sloppy approach to docking; the captain approaches the dock, throws the boat into reverse to take way off her, the crew throws a bight over the bollard and another over the onboard midship cleat, and the captain throws the boat into forward. The boat swings into the dock while the engine stays revving in forward.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yxZ6WRR7Y9k

Carter Brey
Sabre 28 MkII #532 "Delphine"
City Island, NY

[Warren Kaplan]

Did you say throwing the engine in reverse took the "way" off the boat....? I'd better clean my computer screen from the soda that splashed against it when the gunwale of the boat..uh...gently nudged the dock before the line was thrown around the bollard!! My entire desk shook!!

[Warren S]

I'm just wondering if I'm not doing the Italian-stereotypical hand gestures at the right time.

[Neil Gordon]

The key, of course, is getting the line from the dock to the cleat or vice versa. Most of us don't have a bollard on our finger piers.

Some solutions:

Leave a spring line on the dock that you can grab with a boat hook as you come in. A stand up pole with a hook on the end that you can mount on the end of the dock would make the pickup easier.

Sail magazine had a good one... take a long dock line, secure one end to the boat and hold the other in your hand. Lasso a cleat by tossing the whole thing over the cleat and hauling in. This would work with one end on the mid-ship cleat... after snagging the cleat, take the other end to a cockpit winch.

There are some cleats I've seen at the boat show that are designed to be easy to lasso. No doubt expensive.

Oh... at my marina, anyway, the dock staff is always happy to meet me if need be. It's a simple call on the radio.

If conditions are really adverse to getting into the slip, the fuel dock is always a safe place to hang out or a bit.

Last weekend, I was very successful ignoring my finger pier (to stbd) and just snuggled up against by neighbor to port. There's about a dinghy width between us otherwise. The fenders kept the snuggle to a gentle nudge against him. I rafted on him, crossed over his swim platform from my bow and once ashore pulled LIQUIDITY over to where she should be.

[jerryaxler]

We back Shana in to our slip because we have a short finger pier and it is easier to load and off load our weekly supplies. It some times takes several tries to line her up correctly(we like to entertain the local dock lizards), but once in partially we grab the spring line first and as I continue to back up my mate picks up the bow line. The boat will hold a position against the finger pier with the boat idlng in reverse in all but the strongest winds while we calmly pick up the remaining lines.
I forgot to mention that the spring line is pre looped for easy attachment to the midship cleat.

[Len]

I envy you guys getting all that practice/expertise in docking into slips (especially down at the ends of narrow thoroughfares/channels in crowded marinas). The challenge for me is picking up my mooring in a blow, but I can usually get hooked to the dock without too much drama or embarrassment. The challenge i fear is leaving when the wind and water are both pinning me hard against the dock and the wife expected me home hours ago.

[Neil Gordon]

The challenge i fear is leaving when the wind and water are both pinning me hard against the dock ...

Spring lines to the rescue once again!!! Go forward agaisnt a spring line and you spring out the stern into the wind. Back the boat away from the dock and the bow will continue to blow downwind while the stern (and the boat) pulls away from the dock.

Okay, that's what the book says. It works well with ships, less well with boats that are actually plastered to the dock in a blow.