How to Dock a Sailboat on a Finger Pontoon

Peter Ellis at @BossSailing gives us tuition on docking a sailboat on a finger pontoon. His hints and tips focus on the correct use of lines and fenders, making your approach, the importance of visibility to correctly manoeuvre the boat, maintaining your speed, the pivot point of the vessel to begin your approach and safely mooring alongside.

[todddunn]

Docking with two strong, agile, crew is simple. I find it much more challenging since I am effectively alone because my nearly 80 year old wife is a passenger. Incidentally, I NEVER jump off of the boat.

[captratty]

I nearly always sail alone. Even if I have someone else on board, I keep them out of the docking process. Instead, to give them some feeling of use, I ask them to guard the side that could possibly come in contact with an adjacent boat, by using a ‘roving’ fender.
Because my boat has no midships cleat, I run a long line from the bow, outside everything including fenders, to the stern. I leave just enough slack in the line that it is able to hang loosely over the guard rail adjacent to the cockpit, but not so slack that it could foul the propeller if it fell in the water. I also rig a flat fender on the bow.
Coming alongside, I drop the long ‘spring’ line over the first bollard on the pontoon, step off the boat and pass the same line to the next bollard which is usually half way down the pontoon. The boat is now secured by the stern and amidships. Even if the bow starts to blow off, there is not enough slack for it to go too far. I then attach the bow line, then stern line, removing the ‘spring’ line from the first pontoon bollard to the centre bollard with a few turns and OXO for it to act as both a fore and aft spring.
If the wind is really strong and blowing off, or tending to blow the boat astern, the bow fender comes into play. Using what I call the Braille method, I keep the boat in forward gear at very low speed until the bow contacts the main pier ahead of the pontoon, and by leaving it in forward gear the bow is pinned in position. Adding a few RPM on the engine and putting the helm over to swing the stern in allows me to step off and proceed with attaching the lines in the sequence described above.
It may not be the most seamanlike way and could not be applied on high jetties etc, but works well in suitable marinas with minimum risk to other boats.

[PreacherRock]

be a good idea to lock the starboard bowline on the boat!!!!

[bojangles]

Having crew leaping off a moving boat and trying to get the boat secured by bow and stern first is a recipe for disaster. A good docking almost always starts off with a spring line. (What did Archimedes say: "Give me a place to stand, a lever long enough, and I will move the world") But in your case not a lever but a spring line. Not just any spring line…a magic spring: the one line that, all by itself, makes all the difference. I’m belaboring the point here because spring lines are the trick to easy docking. The key is to have the aft-running spring should run from a point on the boat that is about one third, or a little more, forward from the stern, not from amidships. With a spring properly secured first on the boat and running to a cleat or bollard ranging from about 8 feet (2.4 meters) to as far as your line (or crew) can run aft—exact position on the dock matters not one wit—you are docked. Doesn’t matter: if the wind is blowing you on or off; how long the crew takes to get the other lines on; if the helmsperson must leave the wheel to hand or throw another line to the crew on the dock. Once that magic aft spring is secured, everything else is just tidying up, with no urgency required.

[alandb]

I’m a cruising instructor. I would never ask a crew member to jump off a moving boat. There is a real danger of slipping or tripping and getting a leg between the pontoon and the moving boat.

[adrianespin]

Strongly recommend having a fender right at the front and one right at the back as well as those in the middle. Much more forgiving if anything goes wrong.

[JS-diqg]

I agree with never jumping off a boat and never throwing a line. The best method depends on boat: size, keel type, windage, rudder setup, bow thrusters, number of engines, cleat positions, crew size and skills, wind direction and strength, current direction and strength, orientation (stern or bow to), space, access channel, etc. Although the video is good, getting to know your boat and starting with easy landings working to more complex ones is the key. Always stay in control. If there is a plan B, you are chancing it. That said: I prefer if available midship cleat, fender work, springs and intelligent engine usage.

[marksuthe]

Hi Do you do a video where you back into the same place?

[peterebel]

A) reverse
B) short handed
C) lot of crosswind
D) a narrow passage between the other boats, just double the own boat's width.

That's reality.

[stevehunt]

I could see that you did it, but you didn't mention fendering both sides as a back up if things go wrong. Also, most boats that I see are crewed by couples, it's easy if you have two crew to get off and secure, not so easy with one.When it all goes right it's easy, how about a video of what to do when things go wrong.

[SoundzAlive]

Yes, good job but I would cleat with a full wrap first 360 degrees then two XXs and another full wrap. That way the force is on the base of the cleat and will not cinch up on the X's making it harder to undo. If you are staying with your boat eg. fuelling then the temporary method is OK like you have done. But I believe it is a better habit to tie up the best way always. I have seen a few boats leave the dock from using the method used on your bow cleating. Also important to know that the thickness of the line determines the number of wraps on the base. For every 1/16" of line thickness you should have 1" of cleat size. If your line is thinner as in small boats you need 2 or 3 or 4 full wraps first. Surprisingly most American books don't show this and when queried they say they are using a rope book 100 years old when ropes were not the same as todays. André in Sydney

[albertofourie]

Jumping off the boat is a no, no especially, when the boat has not fully stopped yet! Lasso dock cleat near stern and tie a stern line. Keep the boat in forward gear and gently power against stern line to keep boat steady against the dock. Now your crew crew can step-off safely and secure the other lines.
Change the title of the video, "How NOT to dock a

[wysiwyg]

Always with a wheel, never shown with a tiller

[chrisk]

Sailboat? I thought we call them yachts in England.
Can't stand Americanisms.