DAY T H R E E
GOING AND COMING WITH EASE
7
MOORING, DOCKING, AND ANCHORING UNDER SAIL
W
hen your day of sailing is over, you may be dropping the anchor or picking up a mooring in a peaceful anchorage or you may end up comfortably tied to a dock in a quiet marina. This chapter will give you the knowledge to pick up a mooring, and anchor or dock under sail, without the assist of an engine.
MOORING PICKUP WITHOUT A MOTOR Unfortunately, a sailboat without an engine doesn’t have the brakes of a car or the reverse gear of a propeller to help it stop. The only way a sailboat, using only the sails, can stop is by heading into the wind. Sure, you can luff your sails and this will slow you down; but you won’t come to a complete stop unless you head directly into the wind. Even if you point the boat (called shooting the boat) directly into the no-go zone, your boat will gradually slow down—not come to an immediate stop. In order to stop with your bow at a mooring buoy, you must judge how far the boat will shoot. Pick an imaginary spot as your shooting point—the spot where you will turn toward the buoy—that is downwind of where you want to stop. The distance between this point and your stopping point will vary greatly with different wind and wave conditions, and with different hull types. The stronger the wind, the shorter the distance you can shoot. The boat stops faster because of great resistance made by the flapping sails and rigging facing the wind, and because waves are usually higher in heavy winds. As you turn your bow into heavy wind, it tends to slam into the waves created
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