How does one answer the question "How to dock single handed"? Wow. Lots of good advice so far. But the combinations of wind, current, bow in, stern in, side to, slip, etc., gosh, where does one begin?
Some basics do prevail. First, assess the current and wind. Look at the water at the pilings at the slip or dock to assess the current. Keep in mind it may change in the slip. My slip sits half in, half out of the current. That is, the current may be flowing in the outer portion of my slip but the inner portion is protected. Observe the masthead wind indicators of nearby boats. Keep in mind that if you are docking in the lee of a building or other large object (big, expensive boat), the wind may actually be the opposite of what the masthead indicators show. I've sail out of a harbor behind a tall seawall with an "S" shaped main before. The top of the sail was in the wind, the bottom was in a wind eddy. I like to use midships leverage points. Very often, I tie a line to a shroud or the genoa or jib car for a midships tie point. With a bunch of fenders, over the side, you can approach the dock, throw a loop over a piling or cleat with a midships line, jump back to the engine controls and warp the stern or bow with the engine. Learning to warp your boat with the engine is very useful. I'm only a fraction of a horsepower. My diesel has 25. Keep in mind, if you try to warp using a bow line, the boat will push more forward than have the stern warp in. It can be done however. After my only anchor rode parted in a tropical storm, I chose to move to a public T-pier. (The other option was getting blown onto the beach.) Anyway, fortunately, the approach was from dead downwind. I made a loop of what was left of the rode, ghosted up to the pier in the 40+ knots of breeze and managed to get the loop over a piling on the first try. Of course, to Wally's point, the pier was deserted. Once I secured the loop, the boat was stable but hanging perpendicular to the pier. I rigged a midships spring/warp line to the port side, eased the bow loop so the midships line had the load, jumped in the cockpit, cranked the rudder hard to starboard and used the engine to pull the stern in so I could get a stern line to a piling. With the boat parallel to the pier, it was easy to take up the bow and stern lines, adjust springs and tidy up. Entering a slip with midships and stern lines works also, as the boat is halfway in, leap to the dock with both lines in hand, use the midships line to stop forward motion and the stern line to manage the stern. This is, of course dependent on wind, current, etc. Learn to use prop walk and prop wash. Prop walk and prop wash are your friends. Know the difference. Get a feel for the pivot point of your boat. Keep in mind that the rudder "can" control the stern but the wind and current will control the bow. Take your time. Anticipate what the conditions will do to you. Practice, practice, practice. Don't forget you have winches. We docked Touche' earlier this year in 30+ knots pushing us into a transient slip. Fortunately, I had 2 crew and the guy from a powerboat in the slip across the finger pier. It took all 4 of us to secure the boat. One problem was the power boater had put one of his large lines on the outermost cleat on our side of the slip, completely covering it. We really could have used that cleat to stop forward motion with our midships line. Anyway, he was a nice guy and moved his line to his side of the finger. But...in doing so, he lost the bow of his boat about 3 feet away from the pier. He was trying to pull the bow over but the slight wind angle kept him from doing so. I told him to hand me one of his spare bow lines. He hesitated. I insisted. He gave me the line. I wrapped it on my primary winch and easily pulled his boat over to the pier. He was standing there open-mouthed. Said he wouldn't have believed it if he hadn't seen it. There's a ton of stuff out here in cyberspace. Google "single handed docking". A ton of videos, blogs, etc. pop up. Finally, never try to dock a boat without lots of fenders and a really robust rub rail. :) I don't know how Beneteau owners do it. No rub rail. Wow. ?? Dennis C. Touche' 35-1 #83 Mandeville, LA
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