Single-handed wharfage mooring

Sometimes there are many people on board, but the skipper is the only one who knows his way around and has to get by on his own

Articolo Silver

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As the saying goes, if you want something done do it yourself, and in no situation is this more true than on a boat. When with family or inexperienced friends, a yachtsman wanting to get out of trouble and get the situation under control needs to reason as if he were alone. Then if someone on board helps him, so much the better, but he must be able to do act on his own. So let’s see how to perform a single-handed wharfage mooring.

The boat needs to be prepared in advance

As always, the first thing to do when you are about to perform a mooring manoeuvre is to prepare the boat. The boat needs to be prepared beforehand.

Do we need to moor alongside the dock?

We choose the approaching side and arrange the fenders along the side that will face the dock considering the height of the dock itself. Then we move on to the mooring lines. We will run the bow line out of the pulpit, tie it to the cleat, and then arrange it along the handrail by placing it on the lifeline in several spots until we reach as far aft as possible.

This little trick will ensure that once at the dock, when we go ashore and the wind tends to push the bow away from the quay if it is blowing from the dock, we will not lose control of the line. Having been prepared to be taken from the gate area, i.e. the part of the boat that does not stray away from the dock, the line can easily be picked up once we are ashore and then taken to the bow bollard.

Then we need to use another trick for the stern line. This must be secured to the cleat, then run under the pulpit so that it is ready to be tossed and coiled. Once coiled with four loops, it has to be split: two loops on the right hand and two on the left hand. At this point, you will lay it down in a spot from where you can easily pick it up and toss it.

The boat is ready. If it is required, we call the harbour and announce our arrival specifying the manoeuvre we want to perform. Then we enter the harbour.

Approaching the dock

Before starting to approach the dock, we need to examine the situation. We will have to consider several factors. The first one is the wind. The type of manoeuvre we are going to perform depends on its direction and intensity.

Let's examine the wind

If the wind is blowing from the dock, you will have to move as close to it as possible because the wind will push you out. On the other hand, the wind is pushing towards the dock, you will have to keep a little away from it, the distance will depend on the intensity of the wind, it will be the wind that will push you against the quay.

If the wind is very strong, you will have to perform a fast manoeuvre. If the wind, on the other hand, is weak (4-5 knots) you will perform a slow manoeuvre to have time to control everything and avoid mistakes. If you are inexperienced, avoid a wharfage mooring manoeuvre with little space if the wind is stronger than 8 knots.

Angle of approach

In addition to the wind, the available space must be taken into account. The smaller the space, the gre-ater the angle between the boat and the dock when approaching.

This means that, if there is little space, you will have to head towards the dock with a very broad angle (you will advance as if you wanted to hit the quay with your bow), if, on the other hand, there is a lot of space (which is rare) you can keep a narrower angle and reach the quay with the boat almost parallel to it.

Head towards the dock, and when you get the feeling that the bow is close to the dock, move it outwards. You will see that the rotation point of the boat is under the mast, so the bow will come out rather quickly.

Let's approach the stern to the dock

When the boat is almost parallel to the dock, you will turn the steering wheel towards the dock and engage reverse gear briefly. The stern will come up beside the dock. The stroke must be firm initially, to force the boat to reverse direction, but soon afterwards the engine power must be greatly reduced. The boat must not sail backwards.

What we need is the flow of the water current on the rudder to push the boat towards the dock. This trick works best with a single blade. If the boat is equipped with a double blade, its effect will take place more slowly.

Tossing the line

The boat is now parallel to the dock, but there's no one ashore to help us. To carry out the manoeuvre you will need to have been shrewd enough (or lucky enough) to stop the boat near the bollard that you will be using to secure the stern line. When you are alongside or, at any rate, close to the bollard, you take the line you have prepared aft.

Hold one part of the line in one hand and one part in the other, so that you have two loops of the line in your right hand and two loops in your left. Toss the line, keeping your arms well apart so that the line opens in the air to form a large semicircle. The line will land by wrapping around the bollard. When you pull it back into the boat, it will grab the bollard (in the video Wharfage mooring, the manoeuvre is seen very clearly).

Steering wheel towards the dock and forward gear

As we said in the paragraph “Let's examine the wind”, if you are performing a manoeuvre while the wind is blowing towards the dock, the only precaution to take is to perform the manoeuvre while keeping some distance from the dock so that, when the manoeuvre is complete, the wind pushes the boat towards the dock.

If, on the other hand, the wind blows from the dock, you will have the problem of keeping the bow close to it. In the time it takes to secure the stern line, the bow of the boat will have moved away from the quay. To remedy this, once the stern line is fastened, you turn the steering wheel towards the dock (it is usually already in that position because you will have turned it towards the quay to approach the stern with the reverse gear) and engage forward gear with a minimum of throttle down.

At first the boat will move forward by pulling the stern line that holds it to the quay, until then speed should be minimal to minimise the end-stroke of the line.

Once the line is pulled, you can accelerate a little. At first it will seem as if nothing is happening, but then you will see the bow slowly begin to move back towards the dock until reaching it.

Bow line

At this point, while keeping the forward gear engaged and the steering wheel heading towards the dock, go ashore, take the bow line that you have previously prepared and fasten it to the forward bollard.

Now you can get back on board at a leisurely pace and turn off the engine. The manoeuvre is done. The manoeuvre required attention and concentration, but not the help of other crew members.

You performed it single-handed and without any fuss.