Docking Interactions, or "Get Outta The Way, The Witch Is Here!"

[_andi_]

Yeah, don't spend too much time with worrying about being rude. It just happens from time to time, even to the best of us.

Over here (baltic) it's so common to help others dock that I sort of get offended if nobody takes my lines (I'm mostly single handing and most berths are box configurations with poles, often quite shallow at the dock so you have to go in "bow first"). I often prepare the boat for docking while drifting around in the marina, one time there was a crowd like ten people trying to help when I was finished preparing. Quite a funny scene, some were shouting encouragement or tips, most thought I had a problem and one old salt was just smirking ear-to-ear, seeing that I was just too lazy to prepare the boat out in the chop and was perfectly fine doing one "near collision" after the other while switching between preparing stuff and driving the boat upwind.

Sometimes helpers are useless. My approach is to shove the line at them, jump over and take the line right back with a big "thank you!".

And sometimes boaters are useless, on one occasion somebody had such short dock lines that they couldn't dock in the box. Another time somebody threw me their line. Like completely. In a nice coil. And of course all these loudly shouting incompetent idiots spoiling the experience for their crew/family.

I help anybody, with the exception of fully crewed boats on calm days. I make a point of not forcing help on anybody, just standing beside the cleat/pole I would use first and say something nice like "Hi".

[Scott Berg]

At our club (where we are when not cruising) people come to help an inbound vessel with regularity. As they are boaters most know what (not) to do. We train our dock staff to stand with hands behind their back till offered a line, and then to hold it limp in front of them until instructed. Last night I tied up a 165 footer by myself as she came in; they were great (tossed a heaving line, I pulled in the large mooring lines, and the captain or head deckhand (aft) would say (e.g.) Forward Going Spring, on the 2nd Cleat Please, 1st Bow Line, Furtherest cleat please. Took 8 minutes to get 9 lines on; great crew and good communication. Then there's the time that .... (but we've all got that story, I figured a good example might be a pleasant diversion)

[JPA Cate]

Originally Posted by Scott Berg

At our club (where we are when not cruising) people come to help an inbound vessel with regularity. As they are boaters most know what (not) to do. We train our dock staff to stand with hands behind their back till offered a line, and then to hold it limp in front of them until instructed. Last night I tied up a 165 footer by myself as she came in; they were great (tossed a heaving line, I pulled in the large mooring lines, and the captain or head deckhand (aft) would say (e.g.) Forward Going Spring, on the 2nd Cleat Please, 1st Bow Line, Furtherest cleat please. Took 8 minutes to get 9 lines on; great crew and good communication. Then there's the time that .... (but we've all got that story, I figured a good example might be a pleasant diversion)

Nice story, Scott. Thanks for that.

Ann

[crazyoldboatguy]

Originally Posted by Scott Berg

At our club (where we are when not cruising) people come to help an inbound vessel with regularity. As they are boaters most know what (not) to do. We train our dock staff to stand with hands behind their back till offered a line, and then to hold it limp in front of them until instructed. Last night I tied up a 165 footer by myself as she came in; they were great (tossed a heaving line, I pulled in the large mooring lines, and the captain or head deckhand (aft) would say (e.g.) Forward Going Spring, on the 2nd Cleat Please, 1st Bow Line, Furtherest cleat please. Took 8 minutes to get 9 lines on; great crew and good communication. Then there's the time that .... (but we've all got that story, I figured a good example might be a pleasant diversion)

That is precisely how it should be done. Good on you, the staff and all the rest of the folks who dock there.

[senormechanico]

One of the most memorable docking snafus I watched was when we were tied up at the Skyline marina fuel dock in Anacortes WA.
We were waiting for the attendant to open up for business when another sailboat (35' ish) approached the dock to tie up behind us.
As I was sitting in the cockpit, he was approaching our stern at a prodigious rate, so I decided it might be good self defense to get on the dock to politely signal my availability for docking help if needed.

I could see several ladies, each holding a fender at the ready on the side facing the dock.
They were being verbally harassed and belittled by the "captain" at the helm.
He was barking orders at the top of his lungs, and the last thing I heard him say to the ladies was, "Don't drop those fenders overboard until I say so !"

Eye rolls from the ladies were apparent.

He was mere seconds away from the dock, still moving about 4 knots, and I was mentally preparing to get rear ended.
At the last second, he slammed it hard into reverse, trying to imitate a Captain Ron landing.
He didn't hit me, but as he quite rapidly turned the wheel to land parallel against the dock, the ladies looked at each other and smiled knowingly.
He hadn't told them to drop the fenders.
The ladies braced themselves for the impact, and the boat's midship hit the dock with a very audible crunch !
I walked away, saying nothing but I did smile back at the ladies as I left.
They smiled back.

[JPA Cate]

^^^^^

Tasty story, senor mecanico.

[Mutt]

I once had someone try to help. He grabbed the life line slipped and fell between the boat and the finger slip. A very dangerous situation. I reversed the boat out of there and helped him out of the water. My wife and I have a system that works very well for us and we much prefer to dock ourselves.

[danielamartindm]

Originally Posted by JPA Cate

Hello, everyone,

It has been brought to my attention that some years back, I was rude to someone well meaning,who wanted to help us tie up on a long wharf (not in a berth or pen), according to local custom. Now, what they see is a short, fat, white-haired old woman (ten yrs. ago I was only 68), who moves creakily, due to bad knees. So you can see how this happened.

From my point of view, I am someone who has been tying up our boat in new locations from the past 25 yrs. or so at the time, according to Jim's instruction, so I think I know what I'm doing, and there's this person standing on the wharf, right in between me and where I want to be! Depending on who you listen to, I asked or told him to move! ...and offence was taken that has simmered for a long time, and I regret that.

In the past, we had a friend [who we knew was competent] wanted to help tie up our stern, but fell in the water between the dock and the boat with the stern line; we have had strangers (like the one above) take a line unbidden, and crash the bow into a marina electric box; and always taken pride in taking care of ourselves. Experience has taught us that helpers may be a mixed blessing.

Yet, it is very common here in Australia, for strangers to offer to take your lines, and I have made the same offer many times, myself. So, what I see here is a conflict between community values, helping vs. independence. As well, there may be an attitude among men that old women are incompetent: I have encountered that when I was a lot younger, and at that time, even young women were included in the "incompetent" expectation.

At any rate, I'm confessing and apologizing publicly for having been rude.

Anybody else have any stories to tell about docking interactions?

Ann

On Edit: I usually feel a little anxious to get everything done right, quickly, and I expect that tension affects how i speak to people. I have been known to say, "Put this line on THAT cleat!" and forget the thank you. So definitely sound "bossy" at the least.

You're a sweet person, Ann. To me, after storms, docking is the most stressful part of sailing. You're trying to make the best of the dock's cleats and pilings, you're moving a heavy vessel in close proximity to hard things, there are other vessels, moving and not, in close quarters to you, and the wind and current are sometimes working against you. Sometimes you only have one shot at it before a go-around. So sometimes, yes, I get a tad peckish and forget to say "thanks" when I ask someone to do one thing, and they do another. We're only human.

[CaptTom]

Originally Posted by senormechanico

... another sailboat (35' ish) approached the dock to tie up behind us...

...They were being verbally harassed and belittled by the "captain" at the helm. He was barking orders at the top of his lungs...

A very similar thing happened to me on the opposite coast. Was it a dark blue hull? That guy really gets around!

In my case it was two ladies and another gentleman as the berated and harassed crew. At one point late in the approach, he left the helm and scrambled forward to yell at a crew member for getting his monogrammed fender cover wet. He barely made it back to the helm in time to turn the wheel and take it out of gear for a landing.

Even after his awful docking, he managed to get under my skin by trying to issue me orders about how I should be re-tying my boat (since of course he "needed" the cleats I had been using.) I had to resort to raising my voice and saying "it's MY boat!" before he backed off.

As I settled back down into my cockpit, I saw his three crew standing by the one pay phone (no cell service there in those days) in the parking lot. Shortly thereafter, I saw a taxi pick them up and drive off. I'm pretty sure I'd have done the same in their position.

[senormechanico]

This one was a beige hull.
Maybe he painted it after numerous additional crashes !

[Catapault]

Docking, like Anchoring, is a spectator sport......

I swear the chance of screwing up, is directly proportional to the number of people watching..


Mark

[JPA Cate]

Well, there's also another time I messed up, and it was me interacting with the fates.

We're already in the pen, and I'm sweating in the windward bow line on the dock cleat. I got it secured, then overbalanced, and turned the fall into a dive. In doing so, my brand new prescription glasses (tri-focals) floated off my face, and into the swirling current, never to be found in the marina muck. I was not in danger, and people kept asking me if I was okay. Well, yes, I've been wet before, but my so-called dignity was lacking. I asked Jim to lower the boarding ladder and swam to it..... It's the only time I can think of this morning where getting wet cost me on the order of $300.

Ann

[Cadence]

Originally Posted by JPA Cate

Well, there's also another time I messed up, and it was me interacting with the fates.

We're already in the pen, and I'm sweating in the windward bow line on the dock cleat. I got it secured, then overbalanced, and turned the fall into a dive. In doing so, my brand new prescription glasses (tri-focals) floated off my face, and into the swirling current, never to be found in the marina muck. I was not in danger, and people kept asking me if I was okay. Well, yes, I've been wet before, but my so-called dignity was lacking. I asked Jim to lower the boarding ladder and swam to it..... It's the only time I can think of this morning where getting wet cost me on the order of $300.

Ann

Ann,

Anyone who hasn't gone overboard at the dock, hasn't been sailing.
It's just you hope nobody was looking. It only hurts your ego.

Roger

[Taichungman]

When I owned a lived on a boat it seems every time I approached a dock someone came out and offered to help. Sometimes it went well and sometimes it didn't.

But, I would rather live in a world where there are people offering to help rather than people turning a blind eye to what's going on around them.

[turtleofdart]

Originally Posted by Taichungman

When I owned a lived on a boat it seems every time I approached a dock someone came out and offered to help. Sometimes it went well and sometimes it didn't.

But, I would rather live in a world where there are people offering to help rather than people turning a blind eye to what's going on around them.

that is so to the point.

boating is a friendly pursuit that brings out the best in us. it helps us be humble and helpful and kind. that's why i love it so. we must never get angry about incompetence. we must always be kind even when we have to be firm.

gentle and clear instructions. and gratitude is the way.