Docking Archives

Tag Archive for: Docking

How to Dock a Sailboat

June 27, 2013/by Grant Headifen

Need to dock a sailboat? This course will have you confident enough to back a boat into a slip in a 40 knot cross wind.

How to leave a slip with crosswind

March 16, 2013/by Grant Headifen

The trick to how to leave a slip with crosswind is to hold the bow upwind with a dock line to the end of the dock. Make sure…

Here’s a fun suggestion – grab a sandwich, a few drinks, and a mate (with a boat if you don’t have one) on a sunny windy day and get out to the boat with your newfound maneuvering under power skills from our Maneuvering Under Power Course. Gingerly take the boat away from the marina and […]

How to dock a sailboat in heavy wind

October 31, 2011/by Grant Headifen

Docking a boat on to an end-tie or tee head with a strong wind blowing you off requires some knowledge on how to do it and it’s one of those things that you SHOULD practice for WHEN the time comes. Trying to just sidle up along side like you might do in a no wind […]

Docking a Sailboat using Spring Lines

September 14, 2011/by Grant Headifen

Here’s a question from a student regarding docking a sailboat after they took the Maneuvering Under Power Sailing Course >>>>>>> Hello Grant, I have a question in reference to the maneuvering under power: Under the excersice end ties #3, wind from behind, once you have backed the boat to the dock and secured the stern spring […]

How to Spring off the Dock with a Catamaran

August 12, 2010/by Grant Headifen

Next week we’re going to Tonga and the island of Vava’U for a week long NauticEd Flotilla sailing trip amongst the archipelago. After a rainy and relatively cool winter in New Zealand this year its going to be a welcome and fun trip. We’re bareboat chartering three catamarans from the Moorings. 21 adults and 3 […]

Starting out in reverse has its issues

July 2, 2009/by Grant Headifen

A recent discussion with a student regarding Maneuvering a Sailboat Under Power is repeated here. On 7/2/09 11:55 AM, matthew k…. wrote: Hi Grant I do have a question about the Maneuvering Under Power course – the course is set up for a vessel with a wheel-I have a tiller on my little full keel […]

Docking continued

March 3, 2009/by Grant Headifen

In the previous blog we dealt with end ties. Now we get onto the more common configurations of boats in a slip. SLIPS (5) Wind coming into the slip channel. Your boat is stern to. This is best handled by steering out of the slip and then immediately down wind. Back out of the slip […]

More on Docking

February 28, 2009/by Grant Headifen

This is the continued series on how to leave the dock in a sailboat (3) Wind pushing into the dock and current from behind. You can use exactly the same method as described in (2) above. (4) Wind pushing you onto the dock and current coming from forward. If the wind is light you can […]

Leaving the Slip

February 24, 2009/by Grant Headifen

This is the first in a series of blogs on leaving the slip or end tie. Some combinations of wind and current can get complicated and some are easy. The first shown below is the easiest. Stay tuned to this series and we’ll show all.