Like flying an airplane, expert boat handling takes both knowledge and some practice. Everyone fears docking a boat in a jam packed marina fearing they are gonna hit another boat and cause damage. There is no simple way to dock your boat but take these few tips to better help you prevent damaging your boat.
All idle speed handling is accomplished with the shifters and throttles, never the steering wheel. If you are attempting to use the wheel while docking STOP! The rudders are of little or no help at slow speeds. Why? Because like an aircraft wing, if there is no air flowing over the wing, the plane won’t fly. If there is no water flowing around the rudder, the boat won’t steer, so there’s no point in trying to steer your way into a dock. It won’t work.
The first step in learning precision control is to become skilled at the use of throttles and shifters. You do that by finding the time and right place to practice. A good time is on a weekday when there is little traffic; a good place is something like a gas dock at the end of a T dock where you have lots of maneuvering room. The objective here is to have a place near a large bulkhead dock where you can use the dock as a point of reference. You know that if you put one engine in forward, and the other in reverse, the boat is going to pivot on its axis. Some boats will pivot precisely on it’s axis, others will not.
The most common mistake boater’s make when attempting to dock their boats is to try and approach the dock in a straight line. By approaching the dock from an angle, however, it will much easier to get close without scraping and to hit the spot you’re aiming for. Thirdly, the speed at which you come in to the dock must be controlled. Anything you’ve ever been told about the best docking techniques in boating probably mentioned that it requires you to run your boat in at the slowest possible speed.
Angled Docking
You already know that trying to dock by driving the boat into the dock at an angle doesn’t work too well. At least not if you don’t know what to do once you get there. This method is similar to pulling up to a curb where no other cars are present and you don’t have to parallel park between two cars. We can use a variation of the Head-in technique shown in the top illustration by angling in, but then put the bow right up against a piling, and again use that piling as a pivot point, by pushing against it as the boat rotates on its axis. This is the preferred method if you have strong winds or tides. Holding the bow against the piling means that the boat is staying in the same place so that you’re less likely to slide forward hit the boat in front of you. However, be aware that the farther the boat is into the turn, the more the bow is going to want to slip off the piling, and the more you have to use the reversed engine to hold it back. Keep in mind that is it possible to make the boat go sideways, or rather pivot the stern toward the dock, by using the piling as a push-point.
Whether you are right or left handed will make a difference on which side you are docking. Right handed people will probably find it more difficult to dock starboard side to, so practice on both sides. Believe me, its really worth taking the time to practice this because once you do, never again will you be embarrassed by a clumsy docking job in front of a crowd of people. Just remember that you will encounter all sorts of unexpected docking conditions, so you need to learn all three techniques.
Winds and Tides
Most people have terrible problems with strong winds or tides because they never learned how to deal with them. The fact is that you can always use the wind and tide to your advantage rather than letting it be your enemy. I’m not going to be able to explain this in much detail, but the basic principle is: Always dock into the wind or tide if that is possible. Even if its not, you can still turn adverse conditions to advantage. On face piers, the current is usually parallel to the dock, so it can be used to advantage. The wind is a different story because it can be from any direction.
Slip Docking
Backing into a slip is the most difficult docking maneuver of all, where it is imperative that you are constantly alert to wind and current. And to be successful, you must use these conditions to your advantage. I don’t have to tell you about the Chinese fire drills that go on all weekend long at crowed marinas, and I’m sure you’d like to graduate from these Keystone Kops routines. Everything you’ve done so far is going to help you become one of those guys standing on the dock with a smug grin.
There are two ways to back a boat into a slip: Straight in or pivot the boat around a piling, if a piling is available, which it usually is. Obviously, you can only back straight in when there is no wind or tide, or at least not until you become very adept. So let’s take pivoting first since its easiest. Essentially, you’re going to do the same thing as you did when approaching a bulkhead dock, putting the bow up against a piling and turning off it. Only now you’re going to put the stern quarter up against the piling and pivot in reverse. Now that you can move your boat nice and slowly into position, again using wind and tide to advantage because you’re checked these conditions out BEFORE you started the operation, you won’t have any trouble laying your stern quarter up against a piling at the head of the slip.
The best advice that one could ever receive when looking for information on the best docking techniques in boating would be to take it slow, don’t get nervous or discouraged and most importantly, remember that every time you try it, will make it a little easier the next time.
