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Harbour Passage
Take the helm and motor through a busy harbour to the fuel berth, the marina or the visitors’ pontoon. Ferries, fishing boats and yachts come and go: keep to starboard in the channel, give way when you should, stand on when you shouldn’t, and talk to the other boats with your horn. For tight berthing with prop walk and lines, try the docking game, or see both on the simulator page.
Loading the harbour…
What the harbour teaches
- Narrow channels (Rule 9). Keep to the starboard side of the fairway, and don’t get in the way of a ferry that can only use the channel.
- Crossing, head-on and overtaking (Rules 13 to 15). Each encounter tells you which rule applies, and whether you give way or stand on.
- Give way early and clearly (Rules 16 and 17). A big, obvious alteration in good time; the stand-on vessel holds course and speed until the give-way boat acts.
- Sound signals (Rule 34). One short blast for “I am altering to starboard”, two for port, three for going astern, and five short when the other boat’s intentions aren’t clear.
Handling at harbour speed
- Your yacht uses the same physics as the docking game: she carries way when you throttle back, and steers poorly at very low speed.
- Watch your wake. Keep the speed down near moored boats and pontoons; the V of your wake spreads out at about 19.5° on each side and reaches boats well off your track.