DAY THREE
you approach with full sail, with just your main, and with no sails up at all. Consider the safety of your crew and boat when you plan to dock. Warn your crew against using their feet or hands to fend off another boat or the dock. Don’t ask a crew member to jump off the boat onto the dock until you are close enough for someone to step easily ashore. Quite often, someone is waiting on the dock to take your line, help bring the boat in close, and tie your dockline around a cleat or post for you. When you are ready to go ashore, pass your belongings to someone on the dock if you can—rather than carry them and run the risk of dropping a wallet, a phone, or your sunglasses overboard. Always check the way your boat is tied up to make sure the knots can be easily untied (but won’t come undone on their own).
A
luff into wind
Wind Direction and Your Approach Under sail, docking isn’t much different from picking up a mooring or someone in the water. The boat has to be headed into the wind to stop. Although it may be blowing hard outside the marina, a relative calm usually exists when you get inside the breakwater and near the docks. The wind inside may still be strong, however. But over time you will get used to how your boat drifts in different wind strengths, so this will be less of a factor when docking under sail. Figure 7-6 shows how to approach in various wind directions: with the wind parallel to the dock (A); blowing from the dock to the water (B); and perpendicular to the dock (C). If the wind direction is parallel to the dock (A), just shoot the boat into the wind and come to a stop parallel to and alongside the dock. If the wind is blowing away from the dock and toward the water (B), shooting into the wind takes you straight into the dock, so approaching at an angle is better than head-on. If you are going too fast, remember that you can back your main to slow down. In scenario B, avoid coming in perfectly parallel to the dock. As you luff your sails to slow down, the wind will push the boat away from the dock. If the dock is long, you might be able to salvage your landing by throwing a line to someone ashore or asking a crew member to step carefully to the dock with a line before the boat slows down too much. If the wind is blowing perpendicular to the dock and toward it from the water (C), docking is more difficult. If the wind is heavy, the best approach is without
86
luff sails wind B
C
lower sails
then drift back to dock wind
Figure 7-6. Docking a sailboat under sail alone.