When trying to dock a boat, there are a lot of you that may have tons of things on your mind. Have you covered all the information with your sailing crew to make sure they're ready for this difficult maneuver? Make sure these seven tips are part of your normal check list before you enter any marina.
1. Make Sure Your Springlines Are Preset
Get bow lines and stern lines ready on both sides of the boat. Tie spring lines, equal to your boat length, to boat cleats near the bow. It does not matter how big the boat is, you can tie up any boat using just one spring line.
2. Roving Fender
Depending on how large your boat is, you may need to attach a couple fenders along the side, but be sure to don't forget the roving fender. Tie a five foot line to a fender and assign one of your crew to handle this job. You need to do this just to make sure your boat doesn't hit the dock and cause damage.
3. Now It Is Time For The Anchor
Anchors are sometimes used for emergency reasons, you need to be sure you have yours ready. Pull 30 feet from the anchor locker, remove the kinks and coil it neatly on deck. Do the same with a small anchor at the stern. If you lose power, you have your anchor "brakes" ready to stop the boat!
4. Test Reverse Propulsion
Chances are good your boat will have three gear positions, make sure you check your engine in all three positions. Make sure you throw your engine on idle, then put it into neutral, reverse, and forward. Make sure all of them work. Repeat this test twice. Once you do this you can have confidence that your gears all work and that nothing will go wrong.
5. Make Sure You Guys Communicate
You need to ensure you and your crew are in contact when starting to dock. If you change your mind about any maneuver, let them know right away. Crews on huge yachts frequently use wireless headsets to interact. Or get your crew together and determine on easy-to-understand hand signals.
6. Bare Steerage
Have you ever thought about what would happen if your engine died? You would probably drift really far. If you are going fast there might be no stopping your boat and you might damage another boat. You only need enough speed to get you to the dock, anything else is too fast.
7. Emergency Openings
Look for just about any open slips or pier space on the way in. If your engine dies, these provide a place for docking. This is why it's enormously imperative to have dock lines on both sides of your boat.
1. Make Sure Your Springlines Are Preset
Get bow lines and stern lines ready on both sides of the boat. Tie spring lines, equal to your boat length, to boat cleats near the bow. It does not matter how big the boat is, you can tie up any boat using just one spring line.
2. Roving Fender
Depending on how large your boat is, you may need to attach a couple fenders along the side, but be sure to don't forget the roving fender. Tie a five foot line to a fender and assign one of your crew to handle this job. You need to do this just to make sure your boat doesn't hit the dock and cause damage.
3. Now It Is Time For The Anchor
Anchors are sometimes used for emergency reasons, you need to be sure you have yours ready. Pull 30 feet from the anchor locker, remove the kinks and coil it neatly on deck. Do the same with a small anchor at the stern. If you lose power, you have your anchor "brakes" ready to stop the boat!
4. Test Reverse Propulsion
Chances are good your boat will have three gear positions, make sure you check your engine in all three positions. Make sure you throw your engine on idle, then put it into neutral, reverse, and forward. Make sure all of them work. Repeat this test twice. Once you do this you can have confidence that your gears all work and that nothing will go wrong.
5. Make Sure You Guys Communicate
You need to ensure you and your crew are in contact when starting to dock. If you change your mind about any maneuver, let them know right away. Crews on huge yachts frequently use wireless headsets to interact. Or get your crew together and determine on easy-to-understand hand signals.
6. Bare Steerage
Have you ever thought about what would happen if your engine died? You would probably drift really far. If you are going fast there might be no stopping your boat and you might damage another boat. You only need enough speed to get you to the dock, anything else is too fast.
7. Emergency Openings
Look for just about any open slips or pier space on the way in. If your engine dies, these provide a place for docking. This is why it's enormously imperative to have dock lines on both sides of your boat.
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