Fishing Frenzy

Skippers have a million things on her or his minds when docking a boat. Have you covered all the facts with your sailing crew to make sure they are ready for this difficult maneuver? Below are seven tips and tricks which may really help when trying to dock the boat.

1. Preset Springlines

You have to make sure the bow lines and the stern lines are on both sides of the boat and that they are ready to go. Tie spring lines, equal to your boat length, to boat cleats near the bow. It does not matter how huge the boat is, you can tie up any boat using just one spring line.

2. Get The Fenders Ready

Attach fenders along the sides, but don't forget the most important one-that "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. Bow and Stern Marine Anchor

Anchors are sometimes used for emergency reasons, you should be sure to 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. The anchors act as a break in case you lose power to your boat!

4. Test Reverse Propulsion

Check your small diesel engine (or gasoline engine) in all three gear 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. Quiet, Clear Communications

You need to ensure you and your crew are in contact when starting to dock. Sometimes you'll need to change the direction of the boat when docking, make sure your crew knows what you are doing. If you have a vastly huge boat it would be an excellent idea to get headsets for the rest of your crew. Or get your crew together and decide on easy-to-understand hand signals.

6. Bare Steerage

Think about how far you will drift if your engine dies. If you are going fast there will be no stopping your boat and you may damage another boat. Maintain just enough speed so that you still have great control with the wheel or tiller.

7. Make Sure You Are Prepared For Emergencies

Look for any open slips or pier space on the way in. If your engine dies, these provide a place for docking. That's another reason to have dock lines and fenders rigged on both sides of your boat.