Back to Tools
Docking Game
Twenty scenarios, from a calm pontoon to a storm entry: berth alongside, go bow-in to a finger pontoon, reverse stern-to onto a Mediterranean quay, follow a buoyed channel, run a reef pass in the swell and anchor in a crowded bay. Your 10 m yacht with a right-handed propeller 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. 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.