How To Sail: Docking Technique - Sailing Basics Video Series

Docking can be incredibly challenging and result in lots of damage to your boat, to other boats and to docks. Watch the video to see some simple tips to do this right.

Find out about the dock & area
Direction of prop walk
Prep fenders, dock lines & lifeline gate
Ideally, approach into the wind
Assign crew roles
Slow down!
Beam of boat should make contact first
Crew steps off and ties off
We already took notes!
We have included all of the things we said in the video here, so you can just copy and paste what you need for your notes.

APPROACHING A DOCK

Docking should instill fear, trembling, and extreme caution in every sailor. Every time I bring a sailboat into a slip or to a dock, my heart still beats faster, and that’s actually a good thing. Whenever you try cramming a beautiful sailboat into a tight space surrounded by millions of dollars in yachts, and you add wind and current and prop walk, this makes for a challenging situation.

We recommend when you’re working on your docking, find a nice long dock, and ideally practice your docking in calm conditions. We’re big fans of practicing docking at fuel docks. These are usually longer docks, not too many boats around, and it just gives you a little bit more room to maneuver. On this video, we’re just going to cover the basics. There’s a whole science to docking, lots of advanced techniques but we’re just going to look at the simple aspects of docking today. It’s really important, before you come into an unfamiliar marina, dock, or slip, you want to find out about the area. Four things that you want to know:

Number one, you want to know the wind direction. Where is the wind coming from? Which way is it going to push your boat? Number two, is there any current in the marina, and which way is that going to push your boat? The third thing is hazards. Often, you might find yourself in an area where there’s an old dock, maybe a strip of wood coming off, maybe there’s a rock in the area. You want to know those hazards. The fourth thing is the height of the dock. This is really important, because we need to know the height at which to put our fenders so they protect our boat when we come in to dock.

Another thing you want to know is the effect of prop walk on your sailboat. Most sailboats, when you put the boat in reverse, are going to pull the boat to port. Before we make our approach into the dock, there’s a couple other things that we want to get ready. We want to tie our fenders on. We then want to run our dock lines, one from the bow cleat, one from the stern cleat. Make sure they’re not going over the lifelines or around the stanchion. We also want to open up the lifeline gate, just so we’re ready to jump off on the dock. When you’re coming into a slip or a dock, really important that you plan your approach into the wind. It’s going to make things a lot easier, and just help slow your boat down.

As you line up to come in with the dock, you want to be going slow. I can’t emphasize this enough. You really, really want just barely enough speed so that you have steerage. You want the boat going as slow as possible as you approach the dock. Talk with your crew. Make sure everyone is clear on their responsibilities and how they can help you dock. When the boat is one to two boat lengths from the dock, you’re going to want to go ahead and put the boat in neutral. What this is going to do is, it’s going to help you control your speed and just glide in slowly to the dock.

As you make your final approach to the dock, it’s really important that you come in at as shallow an angle as possible. As the boat gets really close to the dock, you’re going to want to start pivoting the bow away from the dock.
The goal here, when the boat makes contact with the dock, you want the beam of the boat, the widest part, usually near the shrouds, to gently kiss the dock.

Right when the boat is about to make contact with the dock, the helmsman can feather the boat in reverse. This means just giving a little bit of reverse and go into neutral, a little bit of reverse, and go into neutral. You don’t want to slam the boat into reverse at this point, or prop walk can pull your stern away from the dock. When the boat has come to a full and complete stop, the crew with the dock lines can step off the boat and go ahead and cleat those lines off to get your boat attached to the dock.

Warn you crew ahead of time you don’t want anyone leaping or jumping off the boat. As the boat comes in, if you have people trying to make flying leaps off onto the dock, it’s just a recipe for a disaster.

#learntosail
#howtosail
#sailingbasics
#sailing101
#beginningsailing
#sailing
#sailboat

[bigandyfan]

Sailing doesn't come easy to me. These videos are truly helping me actually understand and learn the basics without being under pressure on the boat. Thank you!!!

[AA-cxb]

I regularly see boats under control of the Royal Yachting Association encouraging or allowing crew to launch themselves onto pontoons. It's madness. I really like your style, step ashore. Thank you.

[rivermagic]

these videos are great, for a complete novice like myself (that stupidly bought a sailboat with no experience since it was a bargain) I am finding them a great help to get to grip with the basics at least

[johanandreassen]

I learned to sail as a kid by my father and now as middleaged I have my own boat after 20+ years of not setting foot on a sailboat. Alot knowledge was in the musclememory but the neccesary details needs to by brushed up naturaly. And this channel does it perfectly! Alot of "ahhh, that's right"..now I remember how to and why it went a bit hairy and unnecessarly difficult and heavy performing the different manuvers! Thank you!

[fredsmoker]

Thanks for your video's and instruction it is delivered in a clear, concise and easy to understand manner, without any drama or theatrics that others may employ.

[elpidiomanuelalvarenga]

I'm from Argentina. A couple of years ago I went to Lake Champlain, Vermont, for a sailing course (Intl. Sailing School) and was instructed exactly as in this video. We practiced with a Bavaria 40. Very instructive.

[todddunn]

I like the first line connected to the dock to be an aft spring particularly if the wind/current is pushing you off the dock. Once you have an aft spring attached the helmsman can turn the helm away from the dock and put the boat in gear. That will pull the boat in against the dock and the bow and stern lines can be attached at your leisure. Once the lines are secured, put the engine in neutral and shut down and you are tied up. Don't forget to center the helm.

[Misteribel]

Nice video, esp the emphasis on slow speed and shallow angle. A lot of beginners tend to go in too rough, leading to potential accidents. I prefer, however, to keep the crew on board as much as possible, and certainly with the first line, unless it's really impossible to belay it from the boat. This is even more important for single handed sailing: don't leave the boat until it is secured.

About leaving: the same thing, there's no need for the person to untie the rope and then jump aboard. Just tie it such that you can easily loosen it from the boat. No jumping needed = higher safety for crew.

[KiowaFreedom]

Really good basic explanations for good seamanship!

[scrumpymanjack]

Ha. I spent four months in that beach club during lockdown. Rented one of the houses on the golf course, which came with use of the beach club. One of the best times ever!

[paulwhite]

If you're going to spring off it's better and safer to have the crew on deck controlling the spring line rather than doing from the dock.

[tylercarder]

Man these videos have helped me so much.

[evanherpin]

This was great to watch. Thank you for a short, simple and concise instructional video.

[eljefe]

As always, excellent video. Thanks learning so much.

[BillNataliesailingSvSkinnyDip]

Your videos have been extremely helpful. I purchased a 26 foot Pearson sailboat and I am new to sailing.

[thebabbler]

Finally a simple video explaining sailboat docking. Tired of the rambling.

[Archpimp]

I want to plan a Mexican vacation with you guys doing some instruction based entirely on the quality of your vids.

[geoffreyshepler]

Cool. Now do a docking video for single handed sailing

[citroen]

There are no cc or transcript for this video which I would greatly love. It helps use it as teaching material. Other than that it's great guys!!! Thanx anyway!

[kentwood]

I have yet to find an instructional video that emphasizes amidships cleat first. Performing a bow or stern dock line cleating first allows for immediate bow or stern swing away from the dock. An amidships dock line to dock cleat prevents this every time. Is there a reason you and other instructors don't make this THE common practice?