Help from strangers while docking? A poll and my rambling musings.

[Atcowboy]

I've been hanging around public docks in Florida for months now as vagabonds do and have gotten to watch many docking attempts as such.

Even though I single hand, I personally do not want the help of people on the dock in almost all situations. Even at the fuel dock or marina. I do not approach any situation including the dock without a plan to solo execute (without relying on luck/the hope of help) and without a planned exit strategy. If I do want the help, I'm willing to pipe up and ask for it. I've gotten pretty good at warping my boat around and find that no one chooses to learn this skill.

Experiences I've had;
- Dock lines snatched out of my hand to make a terrible cleating job while I was actively cleating off.
- Follow my boat around as I try to pick a spot where they aren't.
- Take a line, accept and reject my instruction, and just stand there occupying the line doing not what I asked or any notion they think is better
- The rare times I have crew, distract them from what I'm trying to orchestrate. This one is really frustrating, there needs to be one voice calling the plan (be the plan right or wrong).
- Stubbornly refuse my warping instructions and try to fight the wind/current with my boat.
- Most commonly, grab the bow line and snub it off hard causing the boat to nose into the dock.

I fully recognise that the person offering the help is at a disadvantage as they don't know my boat, my lines, or my plan, I will help anyone on the dock, but I don't offer it. Since I generally find the help I don't ask for too be of no help at all, I generally choose not to be that person.

So, what are your thoughts?

[rslifkin]

It depends on the situation. Many times we'll decline the help and do things ourselves. But if making the step off the boat with the first line is a little tough and I saw the person walk over from a boat that appears well tied up (or I otherwise have reason to believe they're competent) they'll be handed a single line and told exactly what cleat to put it on. The admiral is right there to watch and instruct while she prepares to step off and take care of the next lines.

Generally that first line they'd be given is an aft spring. Doesn't really matter how they cleat it as long as they give it a semi-reasonable length on the desired cleat. It usually gets adjusted after anyway. If the person helping tries to grab another line or do anything dangerous, the admiral is not afraid to tell them to get their hands off the boat and get the **** out of the way. We've had a few experiences with people used to small boats thinking they can drag 27,000 lbs of boat around, or thinking they know better and ignoring instructions.

[Tetepare]

Originally Posted by rslifkin

It depends on the situation. Many times we'll decline the help and do things ourselves. But if making the step off the boat with the first line is a little tough and I saw the person walk over from a boat that appears well tied up (or I otherwise have reason to believe they're competent) they'll be handed a single line and told exactly what cleat to put it on. The admiral is right there to watch and instruct while she prepares to step off and take care of the next lines.

Generally that first line they'd be given is an aft spring. Doesn't really matter how they cleat it as long as they give it a semi-reasonable length on the desired cleat. It usually gets adjusted after anyway. If the person helping tries to grab another line or do anything dangerous, the admiral is not afraid to tell them to get their hands off the boat and get the **** out of the way. We've had a few experiences with people used to small boats thinking they can drag 27,000 lbs of boat around, or thinking they know better and ignoring instructions.

Summarized well.

Lots of well wishing newbies and the inept. 99% of the time you can tell if they know what they’re doing by watching them approach. “We got this” is a nice way to say bug off.

[Dr. D]

I tell volunteers that I've got it, but if I scream then they will know I need a hand.

If I am on a dock and the skipper of a boat appears to be having some difficulty docking, I will offer to stand by and wait for instructions. I never tell the crew what to do.

[Chotu]

I have a perfect plan and set up for solo docking even pretty large boats. But...


I don’t mind if someone ashore wants to grab a line and cleat it up.

Makes it a little easier and it really can’t go very wrong unless they don’t get it on the cleat, but that’s never happened in all my decades.

I’m off the boat the second it’s got any line cleated and already doing the others and adjusting everything so the boat sits nicely.

I feel this is similar to yelling at your significant other when grabbing a mooring ball or during anchoring.

It’s just not something you should get worked up about.

[Island Time O25]

I learned to distinguish between serious boaters and nonboaters by their clothes at the dock and will adjust my expectations of their "help" accordingly.

[Mike OReilly]

I appreciate the help, but I too have experienced the inexperienced line handler who really screws you up. The most shocking for me was in a lock when the lockhand, whom I foolishly assumed knew what she was doing, insisted on taking our bow line and then proceed to haul in hard while our stern was being blown in the wind. That created a major F-up!

In general, I try and give clear instructions to unknown dock handlers. Unlike others here, I find most boaters are experienced enough to know what to do. Some of the more common issues are, as rslifkin says, people thinking they can muscle our boat in -- our 30,000# boat!

"Hold this line, DON'T pull on it! Put it on a cleat! And don't ever put yourself between us and the dock!!" are common commands.

[Lake-Effect]

A fraught subject. Early on I was an eager beaver for helping, but i couldn't always read the situation, and so my help wasn't always appreciated.

The poll needs one more choice: sometimes I appreciate the help, sometimes I don't mind the help, and sometimes I politely decline.

We're most often at our club, or boating in a group with people we know, so we're often already familiar with who's likely to offer help.

If I see a boat coming, and it's possible that they might want a hand docking, I will stand at the dock end of their slip (to fend off their bow, if nothing else), and await further instructions. They will either ask for help (eg hold a line out to me) or tell me to stand down. or ignore me. Whatever. I don't mind.

[Mike OReilly]

Originally Posted by Lake-Effect

If I see a boat coming, and it's possible that they might want a hand docking, I will stand at the dock end of their slip (to fend off their bow, if nothing else), and await further instructions. They will either ask for help (eg hold a line out to me) or tell me to stand down. or ignore me. Whatever. I don't mind.

This is vital for any possible helpers. Wait to be instructed, or better still, ASK what you can do to assist. Although, be very careful not to interfere with the crew communicating with themselves.

At the marinas/yacht clubs I've spent the most time, it's usually considered common courtesy to offer to assist docking boats. If it's someone I don't know, I indicate through actions (standing at dock), or through words, that I can assist if the want it.

I find most appreciate the help. Some wave you off. And sometimes it's just useful to be available if things go awry, but otherwise do nothing while staying out of the way.

[pjShap]

I once gave a line to a marina dock employee, pointing to a specific cleat and asking him to quickly make it fast on that cleat. He stood there with the line in his hand. Period. Hard to know who you can trust. Might have been a clerk who was asked to 'go help', without any necessary knowledge. Most marina employees I've come in contact with were excellent, just not this one.

[GreenWave]

Very timely as I had an incident two weeks ago where we were coming into a dock (not our usual one) for an event and there were several boaters on hand to help us. It was extremely windy with it off the port bow at 20 knots. I have a bow thruster and we came in stern first for a port tie. Immediately two on the dock start barking orders to me. That just made me more frustrated. Overall it was a poor docking performance on my part and we got it done finally with no scrapes etc.


I usually say I don't need help. And ironically when we returned to our home dock two days later with just me and my wife we nailed one of our best dockings ever! Normally I bark orders to my wife, but this time she got it wth the line handling.

[sailorboy1]

I appreciate the help.

BUT I learned that my wife and I as the boat owners need to be sure the helpers understand that WE are in charge of what lines and what order get tried. That's because we are the only 2 in the crowd that understand how the boat is going to come in and what we have already planned around.

[desodave]

I'm someone who wants help most of the time ... my Admiral has had a double knee replacement and we have a boat with a high freeboard. She cannot get off the boat easily using the ladder and is too nervous to operate the boat in tight quarters. Our marina has current in it and is often very windy ... docking can be difficult. You are at the mercy of the helper and the worst thing to hand them is a bow line imo ... I aim for them taking a breast line. The new to us boat has a bow thruster (and a drop down transom) and I now regularly back it in ... much easier to keep help away from the bow line. Lot easier for me to talk to the helper too.
The help is important to me in most circumstances so I try to reciprocate, both for my dock neighbours and the transients coming in. The latter often don't appreciate either the currents or the wind in the marina and their skills are unknown. They often need the help if just to rescue them from resting on the boat beside them.

So yes the help can turn out to be a hindrance at times, but I always do appreciate it.

[kayakerChuck]

Sometimes, I appreciate the help. Mostly, I'd rather be left alone.

It was fun "discussing" docking with a dock hand, in high winds, with a committed approach.

- - My boat, we do it my way. Do NOT grab that line (the genoa sheet on a furled genny), RELEASE ALL LINES!

My other half had done exactly what we planned, but with the dock hand pulling furiously on my genny sheet problems were imminent.

The harbor master watched & apologized. No damage was done. No harm, no foul.

Fun.

[Atcowboy]

Originally Posted by pjShap

I once gave a line to a marina dock employee, pointing to a specific cleat and asking him to quickly make it fast on that cleat. He stood there with the line in his hand. Period. Hard to know who you can trust. Might have been a clerk who was asked to 'go help', without any necessary knowledge. Most marina employees I've come in contact with were excellent, just not this one.

This, this is one of the things I listed above. While dinghy sailing I met a stranded sailor, i had just helped this new captain off a shoal, lead him through safe waters and was helping him dock up. It was a bit of a scramble to find dock lines and fenders since the boat was very new to him. I hand a mid ship cleated line to the passer by at the dock (not a marina employee) and tell him that's a spring. He just looks at me, says it's kinda short for a spring, and continues to just stand there and hold it. Not doing as asked, not doing something he thought was better, just nothing. I jumped ashore while handing him the line and I only noticed when the boat was not slowing down that he'd been less than zero help, because I thought he would be doing "something" lol.

- AT