Reducing first mates anxiety/stress - Docking, grabbing lines, tying knots, bumpers/fenders

douglee25 said:
Fender Clove Hitch -

Cleat Hitch -
A lot of explaining of what not to do -

Tying up to a piling -

Overall boat tie up technique -
Click to expand...

This post made me laugh a bit. I bought some snubbers for my home dock lines a couple years back. They require a clove hitch at both ends. I kid you not I stood there tying and retying the first stupid hitch for 20 minutes. I was looking RIGHT AT the diagram whilst doing it! The remaining three were okay but I was convinced I had knot-dyslexia for a period of time...
 
Find a local beginner boating class and both attend. Even if you are an experienced skipper there's aways something discussed that can be beneficial.

Our marina here in Chattanooga hosts a number of boating classes as well as a in class room as well as on the water locking class with the local lock master. It nice to see entire family's attend these classes to get a good foundation on terminology and rules of the water etc.
 
upload_2022-5-31_12-35-8.png

My wife has gotten very good with it now as well. However, I had to buy one of these 5-6 years ago....

Bennett
 
As said above, headsets make a world of difference. We use our cell phones with ear buds, but same thing.

I made up a training tool for my wife to practice tying to cleats. She is a wiz at it now.
 

Attachments

  • 3C35AA6E-7BF5-42EF-8A9B-AA5D3F6497ED.jpeg
    3C35AA6E-7BF5-42EF-8A9B-AA5D3F6497ED.jpeg
    345.4 KB · Views: 66
mrsrobinson said:
Great replies, thank you! We do a lot of these things now. I like the head set idea. Her challenge with tying off the bumpers is she gets confused when she on the boat versus on the dock :)

She wants to help, she does not want to be the wife/gf wearing a bikini drinking wine on the boat while docking. We saw this blonde beauty at a recent weekend trip. She did nothing but wear a $1000 bathing suit, put her hair plugs in/out (literally in front of everyone) and drink her wine and then coffee. Neither of us wants that.
Click to expand...
Have you considered hiring a captain to teach her how to dock? That way she knows how she can help, or she can just dock it while you wear the bikini?
 
Eartec headsets reduced alot of confusion, hard to hear the bridge from the cockpit. Keeps tempers down as you can actually have a conversation without yelling it to the whole marina.

No substitute for practice though, and the confidence that comes with it. Find some pilings to play touch and go around.

When we got to Savannah, I was not accustomed to the tide swing or strong currents. That, along with strong winds make it difficult. I'm still perfecting after 2yrs here.
 
We've found nothing ruins docking more than a few dockmates who had a few too many on a Sunday afternoon shouting orders to "the little lady" when docking. In contrast we've also found that when we pull in and the dockhands who know what they are doing, they wait to get your orders as to what lines you want to go where. We always have a game plan before heading into any slip even if its our home port. High/Low tide, Star/Port tie, fixed/floating docks are all key info so that you are not scrambling when you approach. Also its important for her to not be intimidated or feel that the person on the dock knows best. It took a while but we have it down now where she gives the orders to whomever is on the dock and she has no issues telling someone no. We have also simplified our communications down to simple terms and hand gestures. I do find that once you and your first mate are in sync on your procedures its easy to filter out the noise and the rest is just learning how to tie a fender or a line to a cleat. Also after each tie up, mooring or dropping of the hook we always comment on what worked well and what didn't.
 
lawndoctor said:
As said above, headsets make a world of difference. We use our cell phones with ear buds, but same thing.

I made up a training tool for my wife to practice tying to cleats. She is a wiz at it now.
Click to expand...
Sorry to be "that guy" but that cleat hitch is not properly tied. Should be done like this:
images
 
Creekwood said:
Sorry to be "that guy" but that cleat hitch is not properly tied. Should be done like this:
images
Click to expand...
OMG! I can NEVER get this. Mental block, got to the tiki yesterday and wife and I were looking at the cleat over and over going why cant we ever get this right.
That’s all good if line coming from left, but yesterday the line was coming directly off the boat cleat to the dock cleat, dead straight, then this just didn’t seem to work. Wife finally said screw it, it’s good enough, let’s get a beer.
 
Last edited:
Creekwood said:
Sorry to be "that guy" but that cleat hitch is not properly tied. Should be done like this:
Click to expand...
You're right, good catch. Someone (who is a sailor) did that when we were playing with it over multiple bottles of wine a while back, and I hadn't noticed. Now tied correctly.
 

Attachments

  • B8DEC5F2-AB86-407E-8D21-F847A5371694.jpeg
    B8DEC5F2-AB86-407E-8D21-F847A5371694.jpeg
    339.7 KB · Views: 61
Practice, practice, practice, do this on no wind, no current days. Do touch and go's over and over. Rig port and then rig starboard, stern in, bow in. Headsets, docking plan, lots of time, never rushing, fender lines are set for each location (no adjustment needed), and I have white zip ties on the railings where the fenders go. I use Folbe fender hangers. Depending on the wind, current adjust your docking plan accordingly, do we need the stern line attached ASAP or do we have a stable position and go for midship first. Muscle memory is huge and it only comes with repetition.

https://www.amazon.com/Folbe-Fender...ocphy=9033252&hvtargid=pla-571117841897&psc=1
 
Pirate Lady said:
OMG! I can NEVER get this. Mental block, got to the tiki yesterday and wife and I were looking at the cleat over and over going why cant we ever get this right.
That’s all good if line coming from left, but yesterday the line was coming directly off the boat cleat to the dock cleat, dead straight, then this just didn’t seem to work. Wife finally said screw it, it’s good enough, let’s get a beer.
Click to expand...

Thre points around, on the fourth flip it on itself and lock it down. At minimum.
 
One thing I haven't seen anyone suggest is this - Only have the loop end of the line going to the boat.

Meaning keep the lines tied to the dock and have hooks on the piles and then someone only needs to use a boat hook to grab the loop and secure it on the boat.

My wife makes me stop at each pile so she can grab the loop and even at times rotate the boat to the other side for her to grab the other loop. But that part is just semantics. And @Creekwood post #31 is the correct way to secure the line to the cleat. You can then and another hitch on top of that, put that is the correct start as it self tightens that way when the boat pulls.
 
SKybolt said:
One thing I haven't seen anyone suggest is this - Only have the loop end of the line going to the boat.

Meaning keep the lines tied to the dock and have hooks on the piles and then someone only needs to use a boat hook to grab the loop and secure it on the boat.

My wife makes me stop at each pile so she can grab the loop and even at times rotate the boat to the other side for her to grab the other loop. But that part is just semantics. And @Creekwood post #31 is the correct way to secure the line to the cleat. You can then and another hitch on top of that, put that is the correct start as it self tightens that way when the boat pulls.
Click to expand...
My slip neighbors on both sides have fixed lines on the dock tied to the right length with loops open to fasten to a cleat on the boat once in the slip. The issue is that you also need lines on the boat to toss to dock hands if needed. So I don't bother with fixed lines on the dock. But it works for them. One is a 36ft Hunter sail boat and the other side that shares the slip with me is a classic 40ft Chriscraft.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.

Forum statistics

Threads
113,172
Messages
1,427,833
Members
61,084
Latest member
AntonioJamm
Back
Top