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Docking Game
Bring a 10 m yacht with a right-handed propeller into a marina berth. The boat behaves like the real thing: the stern kicks sideways when you go astern, she won’t steer until water flows past the rudder, the tide carries you and the bow blows off in the wind. Get a bow line and a stern line on and stop with the engine in neutral. Read how to moor a sailboat first if you are new to it.
Choose a berth
Bring the yacht alongside in the green berth, get a bow line and a stern line on, and stop with the engine in neutral.
What the simulator models
- Prop walk. A right-handed propeller going astern pushes the stern to port. It is strongest the moment you engage astern from a standstill and fades as the boat gathers sternway. Port side to, it helps you; starboard side to, it pulls the stern off the pontoon.
- Prop wash over the rudder. Going ahead, the propeller blows water straight over the rudder, so a short burst ahead with the helm over turns the boat before she gathers way. Going astern there is no wash over the rudder: she only steers once moving backwards at a fair speed, and then the steering feels reversed.
- The gearbox. The engine has to pass through neutral and pause before the gear engages, and thrust takes a moment to build. Plan each burst ahead.
- The keel. A fin keel resists sideways motion strongly, so the boat pivots rather than sliding, and you cannot simply crab into a berth.
- Tide. The stream carries the whole boat. It is weaker close to the pontoons and strongest mid-fairway. Steerage depends on speed through the water, so stemming the tide lets you steer while standing still over the ground.
- Wind. The bow has more windage than the stern, so when the boat slows down the bow blows off downwind. Gusts come and go.
- Fenders and lines. Fenders are rigged on the pontoon side. Touching with the fenders at walking pace is fine; hitting at a knot or more, or touching another boat, is damage. Lines can only be put on when a cleat is within reach, and once on, the crew take in the slack.
Tips for real berthing
- Go as slowly as you can while still steering. If it goes wrong, go round again rather than forcing it.
- Approach into the tide or wind, whichever is stronger.
- Brief the crew before you arrive: which side, which lines, and that nobody jumps.
- A midships spring led aft, with the engine slow ahead and the helm turned away from the pontoon, holds a short-handed boat alongside while you sort out the other lines.