Learn to Sail – Get Your Boat Ready to Enter a Marina
It’s been a picture-perfect day to learn to sail, with a gentle southerly breeze blowing across sun-kissed waves. You and your friend have furled the sails and are motoring into the busy marina. All of a sudden, your marine diesel coughs once, sputters twice, and dies with a groan. You push the start button over and over. Nothing doing. What now, skipper? Make preparations ahead of time to handle this type of common occurrence with these five simple steps you can put into play–right away!
Get your boat prepared ahead of time while you are still in open waters. Start with this five-step “mindset of the pros”:
- Break out docking lines.
- Attach fenders and roving fender
- Study the wind direction.
- Determine current direction.
- Look for “pull-offs” along the way.
Break Out docking Lines
Often, you know which side you will dock on. But even if you do know, you need to make preparations on the opposite side of your boat just in case your carefully laid plans turn to dust and you need an alternative. The most important dockline are the springlines. Springlines run in a “X”-like pattern to the boat. Attach a bowline, springline and sternline on the “ready side” and a long springline on the alternate side of your boat. Cleat off each springline to a strong boat cleat between the bow and beam.
Attach fenders and roving fender
You see most boats enter a marina with fenders hung on one or both sides, which looks great. But do they have a roving fender ready to use in an instant?. You need to have one portable fender with a four foot piece of line attached to one end. Assign one crew to hold the fender and “rove”–or walk–about the boat as it comes closer to piers, pilings, or other boats. Fixed fenders hung alongside lack this ability, but the roving fender can be dropped alongside your hull as needed to cushion any impact, save topsides from dings and scratches, and save $$$s on repair costs!
Study the wind direction
Racing or cruising sailboats can often be “sailed in” under bare poles (with no sails hoisted), at slow speed if the sailing wind blows aft (behind) the beam. If you lose an engine on the way in, this can often enable you to dock alongside a pier or slide into a slip. Under power, you need to know wind direction in order to choose the best approach to a pier or slip. If possible, choose to dock alongside with your bow pointed into the wind.
Whenever you come alongside a pier, attach your first dockline to a dock cleat or piling upwind. For example, if you dock with your bow facing the wind, get the first line onto a cleat or piling forward of (upwind of) the bow. If you dock with your stern facing the wind, get the first line onto a a cleat or piling aft of (upwind or) the stern. Either of these actions will prevent your boat from blowing down onto other boats or obstructions downwind of your mooring spot.
Determine the current direction
Check the bases of buoys, daybeacons, pilings, stakes, or seawalls for “current tails”. These mini-streams show you the direction and relative strength of the current. Inside confined marinas, current can change direction when it reflects off of piers or boats. And, it could be stonger than the wind strength.
If you are unsure of the stonger of the two natural elements–wind or current–stop your engine off of the pier or slip and let the boat drift for a few seconds. It will move with the stronger of the two elements. If possible, make your approach to a dock with your bow pointed into the stronger element. Use the same technique to determine which dockline to use first. Always take the first dockline to a cleat or piling upwind or upcurrent to keep the boat from drifting.
Look for “pull offs” along the way
Right after you enter a narrow canal or channel that leads to your marina, be on the lookout for empty slips, docks, single pilings, or seawalls along the way that could offer an emergency “pit stop” in case your engine dies. You need to have a way to clear the channel and avoid damage to other boats and property. You need to know the other four factors before you look for “pull-offs”. That way, you will be ready in a moment’s notice with lines set, fenders hung, wind direction determined, and current direction known.
Learn to sail like a pro when you discover the secrets used by the pros every time they enter any marina in the world. This will put you at the top of a small percentage of sailing skippers that keep their cool–and prepared–for any emergency that comes their way!
Captain John Jamieson teaches sailing skippers fast, easy ways to learn to sail like a pro. For a free weekly sailing newsletter plus more sailing tips, articles, and sailing videos, visit skippertips.com