Chapter 7: Docking, Anchoring, and Mooring
 |
| On the municipal moorings at Vero Beach, FL (MM 951). It's normal to see two or three boats rafted together on the moorings in this snug harbor that is surrounded by mangroves. Each boat is secured to the mooring pennant and the boats are tied to one another as if they were tied to a dock. |
Surviving Thriving on the ICW
7. Docking, Anchoring, and Mooring
Regardless of your preferences, a trip down the ICW will probably involve overnight stays at a mix of marina docks, moorings, and at anchor. You need to be comfortable performing all three of these evolutions. There are many articles, books, and videos on how to anchor, dock, and moor your boat, so we won't give exhaustive descriptions on how to do each of these things. We’ll stick to the points that are relevant to cruising the ICW. See the list of resources at the end of the chapter for general how-to information on these topics.
 |
| Having to step up onto the fixed dock during low water conditions at the Washington Waterfront Docks in Washington, NC (about 26 nautical miles up the Pamlico River from ICW MM 147). Notice the three fenders hung horizontally from the piling in the background. Unless you have fender boards, hanging fenders from your boat is practically futile while tied up to a fixed dock. |
Docking
There are both fixed and floating docks along the ICW. Fixed docks tend to be more common in areas with small tides (VA, NC, FL), and floating docks are more common in areas with larger tides (SC, GA). Floating docks are a bit more forgiving to approach than are fixed ones. At fixed docks, hanging individual fenders over the side of your boat won’t prevent it from being scratched by the pilings, especially as you are arriving at the dock. When approaching a fixed dock, have a couple of loose fenders handy so they can be deployed quickly where needed. Bring the boat to a complete stop about a foot from the dock, with the side of the boat parallel to the dock; don’t let the boat scrape up against the pilings. Fender boards are helpful once you have tied up at a fixed dock. If you don’t have them, try tying your fenders horizontally around the pilings themselves rather than to your boat. You may need to experiment a little to find a way to prevent the fender from rotating around the piling.
 |
| Fire hose used as chafing gear on the dock lines of a very smart-looking schooner-rigged yacht. |
Skilled boat handlers get that way by learning from their mistakes, carefully analyzing every situation beforehand, and choosing the easiest option for accomplishing their task. They know exactly how their boat maneuvers and how wind and currents affect its maneuverability. They anticipate the things that might possibly go wrong and never put their boat in a situation that they can’t get out of; they always have a bailout plan or a plan B. They stay calm and focused, and they do a good job of communicating with their crew, making sure everyone knows what they need to do.
_________________________
Box
- Make sure you know exactly which slip you are headed to and how to get to it,
- Assess the wind and tide to figure out how they are going to affect your boat’s maneuverability,
- Examine the obstacles that need to be avoided: docks, pilings, other boats, etc.,
- Communicate clearly and calmly,
- Make sure all of your lines and fenders are deployed on the correct side of the boat and that they are set up properly,
- Make sure all crew members know where you are going and what tasks they will each be responsible for,
- Discuss any potential complications posed by the wind, current, boat traffic, etc.,
- Anticipate what challenges may arise and how you may respond to them (What’s your plan B and where is the point of no return, at which you are committed to getting your boat into the slip with no other options?).
Your goal is to keep everything under control at all times, without panic or drama.
Surprisingly few marinas provide a detailed map of their docks on their websites, making it more difficult than necessary for new arrivals to find their way in. So we always ask the staff to give us a clear description of how to get to our assigned slip. We usually call the marina on a cell phone about a half hour before arrival to find out on which side of the boat we should set up our lines and fenders (if you are going to a slip, make sure you are clear about your intentions to be “bow in” or “stern in”). Then we call them back on the VHF when we are five minutes away. They will give instructions for arrival at that point, including slip assignment and a description of how to reach it. If we don’t understand their instructions the first time, we ask again. We don't enter the confines of the marina until we know exactly where we are going.
Don’t be afraid to enlist the help of the dock hands for arrival and departure. A lot of the dock hands are very experienced and will make it much easier for you to get into your berth without any drama. However, some are inexperienced. When approaching a dock, the first dock line that we hand to the attendant is always a spring line that runs to our midship cleat. Just before we pass our first spring line to the dock attendant, we say to him or her: “I’m going to hand you the spring line, please take a wrap on that cleat (pointing at it) and use it as a break line to control the boat’s forward motion.” (We have the dock hand put the spring line on the cleat that is furthest out on the end of the finger dock). Many boat crews will start by handing the bow line to the dock attendant first. When the dock attendant fastens that bow line to a cleat, it quickly jerks the bow sideways pulling it into the dock. By using a spring line that is tied to a midship cleat instead of a bow line, the boat is pulled gently sideways, parallel to the dock, allowing the fenders to absorb any impact. By putting a wrap on the cleat instead of making it fast, the dock hand can “play” the line and help bring the boat to a gentle stop. With that one spring line and the boat’s engine, we can gently guide the boat into the slip and up alongside the dock, holding it in place until the other lines can be made fast. The engine stays on until all lines are secured. If you step in to help someone get into a slip, never try to stop the motion of a boat by just holding onto a dock line. You'll get rope burns and possibly end up in the water. Instead, you should immediately put one wrap around a cleat and let that cleat do the work.
Tipping the dock hands is good practice. It rewards them for a job well done, and it's way cheaper than making an insurance claim from a rough docking. Plus it improves your chances of getting great service during your stay. We typically tip every professional dock hand at least $5 for any job they do for us (we take a ton of five dollar bills with us on long cruises). If they help with a difficult situation or we plan to stay a long time at their marina, we tip more.
Figures: Illustrations of using a spring line to ease a boat into a slip
Most sailboats aren’t designed for maneuvering in close quarters. They don’t stop on a dime and don’t back up very well (at least not the ones with long cruising keels). For those of us who have traditional sailboats or trawlers with a single engine, long keel, and no bow thruster, entering a marina is a bit like landing the space shuttle: you’ve got just one chance to stick the landing. There is no backing up and taking a second shot at it. But sailboats have one advantage over other boats: they have huge rudders. This allows sailboats to maintain steerage at very low speeds. Sailboat owners should exploit this characteristic during docking maneuvers. Remember the difference between speed over ground (SOG) and speed through the water (STW). To maintain steerage in a sailboat, you need to have water flowing over your rudder (i.e., you need to maintain a minimum STW). But the amount of damage that you can cause by running into a dock or a stationary boat is determined by your SOG. So maintaining sufficient STW while minimizing your SOG is the goal when maneuvering your boat in close quarters. And this is exactly why we approach a dock in a direction that keeps us heading into the current, whenever possible. In a strong current you can maintain steerage when your SOG is 0 knots, as long as the current continues to flow across your rudder.
Don’t try to drive your monohull sailboat as if it were a power boat. That is, don’t come in "hot" and then jam it into reverse. Sailboats are too heavy, maintain a lot of momentum, and don’t have a lot of thrust. So they take longer to come to a stop than does a powerboat. Instead, take advantage of your sailboat’s low speed steerage and let the boat coast in neutral. This goes for docking, picking up a mooring, and anchoring. Practice maintaining steerage at the slowest possible speed (bumping your engine into and out of gear) so that when you are docking, you will be able to come in slowly AND under control.
Often, you'll see boats approach a dock without any dock lines prepared for use. Apparently, the crews on these boats only think of dock lines as a means of keeping the boat in place once it is at the dock. Dock lines, particularly spring lines, should be used to help guide the boat into dock space or slip, slowly and under control.
Figures: Illustrations of approaching a long dock.
Long, straight docks (face docks and T-heads) are easier to approach than are slips, especially if the long dock runs parallel to the direction of the current. Slips often require more maneuvering to get to. Take wide turns when approaching a slip, give yourself as much room as possible, and set yourself up so that you don’t have to make any drastic turns close to the dock. Try to give yourself a long, straight shot into the slip.
Sometimes, when you are approaching a long dock, it will already have boats on it. You are essentially trying to parallel park between other boats. When you are heading into the current and approaching a dock, your chief concern is to avoid hitting the boat that is tied up astern of your dock space. Heading into the current means you are less likely to overshoot the spot for which you were aiming and are less likely to tangle with the boat that is tied up in front of you. But when headed into the current, you have to be careful not to get too close to the boat that is tied up behind your berth. You will slowly run parallel to that boat, pass it, and then turn slightly in toward the dock. As you make that turn toward the dock (and across the current), the current is going to push you sideways and backwards toward the boat behind you. So you need to leave enough room between the two boats and wait until your stern is past the other boat before turning toward the dock. Then get a midship spring line and a bow line secured to the dock as quickly as possible. On the other hand, if you are approaching from a down-current direction, your chief concern is to not overshoot your dock space and hit the boat that is tied up in front of your spot. Remember that your STW is going to be lower than your SOG, meaning that your ability to maneuver will be impaired when moving with the current. If there is a boat tied up behind your dock space, you can begin turning in toward the dock a little sooner than in the previous example, passing close to the other boat because the current will be pushing you away from that boat. To avoid overshooting your dock space, pass close to the boat that is behind you, turn in toward the dock as soon as two-thirds of your boat has passed the other boat, use a lot of reverse thrust, and get your spring line and a stern secured as soon as possible to prevent your boat from encroaching on the boat in front of you. If there is a large open space on the dock, don’t be afraid to land far away from the other boats. Once you’ve got the boat safely secured to the dock, you can slowly walk it into its final position to reduce the amount of space on the dock that you are using.
If you have a single-screw boat, use prop walk to your advantage. Our boat, like many single engine boats, has a right-handed prop, which means that it "prop walks" to port in reverse gear. We take advantage of this by tying up on our port side as often as possible. As we approach the dock and engage the engine in reverse, the stern of the boat moves to port, bringing us closer into the dock. If we have to make a 180-degree turn in a tight space, we always try to turn to starboard. If we run out of room and have to put the engine in reverse, the prop walk will keep the boat turning in the right direction. If we did the opposite and tried to make a 180-degree turn to port, as we engaged reverse gear, the boat would tend to turn back toward starboard, making it far more difficult for us to get out of our predicament.
Often, getting underway from a dock is more difficult than arriving at a dock. As you are approaching the dock, the boat is in motion so you have control over it. But when you are preparing to get underway, you are starting from a dead stop. You won’t have any steerage until the boat starts moving (having twin engines and a bow thruster makes this much easier, of course). So before we begin to get underway, we carefully examine the situation to anticipate how the boat is going to move once we release the dock lines, and try to understand how our SOG is going to differ from our STW. Together, we come up with an exit strategy that takes the current conditions into account and, if possible, we also come up with a plan B in the event that things go sideways (literally). When your boat is sitting still you have no steerage and no control over it. So you have to go from a dead stop to being under control as quickly as possible (again, twin engines and/or a bow thruster make this less of a problem). Giving yourself a little extra room to get the boat under control is a good idea. If we’re on a long dock and there is a boat right in front of us, we’ll walk our boat back, slowly and under control, to give ourselves a little extra room for takeoff. If we are departing from a slip, we’ll walk our boat about halfway out of the slip and start pointing it in the right direction before removing the lines completely and putting the engine in gear. One of us may even keep the end of a line looped around a cleat or piling as we begin to move so that we can keep the bow under control as we start to back out.
If you are on a long dock and the current is coming from behind you, the easiest way to get off the dock is to deploy a fender near the bow, pivot off a forward-tending spring line (a long spring line that attaches to your bow cleat and runs to a dock cleat that is further aft) by turning the helm toward the dock and engaging forward gear briefly, and then back away from the dock in reverse. If under these conditions of a current coming from behind, you instead try to leave the dock by going forward, the current may pin you up against the dock and push you into the boat in front of you. It’s that STW versus SOG thing. When in doubt, wait for slack tide.
Figures: Illustrations leaving a long dock
Anchoring
Your anchor is the most important piece of safety equipment on your boat. If your steering or propulsion system fails, your anchor is the only thing that is going to keep you from going aground (or from drifting into rough water or out to sea). Many of the anchorages along the ICW have lots of current (especially near any inlet and virtually anywhere between Georgetown, SC, and St. Augustine, FL). To get a good night’s sleep, you need to be confident in your ground tackle and in your ability to deploy it effectively. A lot of the anchorages, particularly on weekends in Florida, can be pretty crowded. It pays to arrive early. If there are other boats already in the anchorage, take a slow loop around the anchorage to scope out the best opening. A lot of people will drop their anchor right where the “anchorage” icon appears on their chart plotter, and that’s fine, as long as there isn’t someone already anchored near that spot. If you do drop your anchor right on the icon at a popular anchorage, you can expect to have some close company before nightfall. When entering the anchorage and deciding where to drop your hook, avoid dropping your anchor in a spot that will be directly upwind of the anchor of any boat that is already anchored, especially if there is strong wind in the forecast. That way, if you do drag, you will be less likely to run into another boat.
 |
| Putting chafing gear on the anchor rode. Unless this type of chafing gear is trussed up firmly and securely on the rode, it won't provide protection when the rode is under great strain. |
If you are using the appropriate ground tackle, and deploy it properly, you can vastly reduce your risk of dragging. The best thing that you can do to develop anchoring skills is to practice anchoring in a variety of situations and develop a routine for deploying the anchor. Having a fixed routine is helpful so that when conditions are difficult, each member of the crew knows what needs to be done, each has a specific set of tasks, and each knows the order in which those tasks need to be performed. Set a waypoint where you drop your anchor. When you are backing down to set your anchor, visually line up two fixed landmarks to tell if you are moving. Keep checking landmarks over time to make sure you are staying put. Of course, you will move some as the wind shifts or the tide changes, so you will have to account for that. You can set an anchor alarm (using your AIS, chart plotter, or a phone app), but if you are paying attention, you should be able to recognize a dragging anchor before your anchor alarm sounds. When the anchor lets go of the bottom, the boat will turn broadside to the wind and waves. If you feel the motion of the boat change suddenly, you better go check on your anchor. Once your anchor is set, use good quality chafing gear (fire hose or thick leather) to protect your snubber or rope rode, where it comes in contact with the fairlead on your bow.
 |
| Our Pacific Seacraft 37, Fulmar, anchored in Urbanna, VA. We use a combination rope-chain rode consisting of 70 feet of 7/16" G4 chain and 230 feet of 8-plait nylon. Even with this combination rode, we always use an anchor snubber (the dark line just aft of the anchor rode), which we secure to the rode via a rolling hitch. The edges of the anchor roller are sharp. By transferring the strain from the rode to the snubber, we can prevent the nylon rode from chafing on those sharp edges. The snubber also provides redundancy, in case the nylon rode were to chafe through. |
Many anchorages along the ICW have strong tidal currents. You normally think of your boat laying to the wind while at anchor, but a strong current will also influence the direction in which a boat is pointing. Under these conditions, it's not unusual for the anchor rode to be leading somewhere behind the boat. With each puff of air, your boat will probably "hunt," or swing quickly from side-to-side, sometimes rotating in a full circle. This usually isn't a problem with an all-chain rode. The chain will usually lead from the bow roller, straight down to the seafloor and then run along the bottom to the anchor. However, many smaller boats have a combination rope-chain rode. Because the nylon rope is much lighter than chain, it won't drop straight down from the anchor roller; instead it will lead away from the bow at a shallow angle. When the wind and tide conspire to spin your boat around so that the anchor is behind you, the rope portion of the rode can become wrapped around the keel or rudder. When this happens, the rope can quickly chafe through. But there is an easy solution: an anchor kellet. A kellet is simply a weight that is tied to the rode to induce catenary in the rode. The idea is to get the rode to come off the bow roller vertically so that even if the boat spins 360 degrees, the rode will be below the keel so that it won't wrap around around the keel or rudder. A kellet can be any heavy object (~10 pounds) that can be attached to the rode. We use a small mushroom anchor or several large shackles tied together. Avoid sharp objects that may themselves chafe on the anchor line (such as other types of anchors besides a mushroom). Tie the kellet to the rode slightly shallower than the water depth using a rolling hitch. You don't want the kellet to be on the seafloor, but you want it to be at a depth that is well below the bottom of the keel. If the water depth is 15 feet and your bow roller is 5 feet above the water, tie the kellet to the rode about 18 feet from the bow roller.
Mooring
A mooring is just a permanent anchor with a floating buoy attached to the anchor rode. When available, moorings are often the easiest option for securing your boat overnight. There are fewer lines to handle and less hard stuff to bump into than at a dock, and when it’s time to leave, you just drop the pennant and off you go. Moorings also minimize the likelihood of someone dropping their anchor immediately upwind of you. Of course, you are taking a chance that the owner (usually it’s the local city or municipal marina) has actually maintained that mooring in good condition. It’s difficult to thoroughly inspect the entire mooring, unless you go for a swim. But you can look at the condition of the buoy, the top section of chain, and the pennant. You can also ask the people in charge of it what kind of anchor it is attached to (a helical or “screw” anchor is best) and when the tackle was inspected or replaced last. Most of the rental moorings that you will encounter on the ICW are in good condition. In places like Florida, where derelict boats washing up on shore is a big problem, replacing some anchorages with mooring fields is one strategy local governments have used to alleviate the problem. Since their goal is to reduce the number of wrecked boats on their shores, it is in their interest to make sure the moorings are in good condition. But you should always be mindful of the risk.
When approaching a mooring, do so slowly and under control, heading up into the wind or into the current (approach in a direction that is parallel to the other boats on nearby moorings). Bring the boat to a stop with the mooring ball directly below or beside the bow, close enough so a crew member can grab the pennant line with a boat hook. You don’t want to overshoot the ball and have it go under the boat, and you don’t want to drift back before your crewmate can grab onto it with the boat hook. Holding onto that mooring for dear life with a boat hook as the boat drifts backwards is not fun. The pennant should be secured to a cleat as quickly as possible. In a brisk wind or strong current, consider having your strongest crewmember on the bow to grab the mooring pennant.
Most of the moorings you will encounter on the ICW have a very short pennant with an eye loop or hard thimble on the end. You attach your lines to the pennant to get the proper scope. The best way to do this is with TWO dock lines. You tie one end of each dock line to each of your bow cleats. You then loop the free ends of both lines through the eye on the mooring pennant and then bring each of those lines back to the same cleat from where they originate. Make these two dock lines equal in length, and they will function like a bridle. Make sure to use chafing gear (e.g., 1 to 2 feet of fire hose or thick leather). We use 3 pieces of chafing gear on each of our two lines that go to the mooring: two to protect the line as it passes through the fairlead at the bow and one positioned where the line loops through the eye of the mooring pennant.
.jpg) |
| Fulmar on a mooring in Titusville, FL (MM 878). You may notice that we have two lines looped through the eye at the end of the mooring’s pennant, one coming from each side of the bow to form a bridle. |
Seeking Shelter in a Storm
Over the past four decades, we have had to prepare our workboats and our own sailboats for over 35 named storms. Of course, most of these storms just gave us a glancing blow, not a direct strike. We have experienced hurricane conditions, including Category III Hurricane Floyd, five times. Whenever a strong storm is forecast to pass near your location; you must take action and prepare for the worst case scenario. None of our boats has ever been damaged in these storms, but we’ve seen dozens of other boats seriously damaged or destroyed. In the majority of these cases, the boat suffered its fate because it was (1) slammed into its dock relentlessly, (2) its anchor rode/mooring pennant chafed through, or (3) it dragged its anchor.
When deciding where to weather a storm, remember that marinas can provide a false sense of security. Some marinas are relatively safe in a storm, others are an absolute hazard. And some marinas are OK when the wind is from a certain direction but not from others. Once you get above gale force winds and get into storm-force winds (greater than 48 knots/55 MPH), there are very few marinas that provide sufficient shelter and have docks that are capable of withstanding the abuse. There aren’t enough fenders in the world to protect your boat if it is being pummeled at a dock by 50-knot winds and 4-foot waves. In true hurricane conditions, almost no marina is safe. If hurricane conditions are in the forecast, your boat should be hauled out and secured on shore. Your insurance company may cover part of the cost of a haulout if you are under a hurricane watch. But if a haul-out isn’t possible, it may be better to be anchored securely in a sheltered cove than at a dock in a marina. As the captain and owner of your vessel, it is your responsibility to anticipate when and where conditions may become unsafe. Whether you are underway, at a dock, or in an anchorage, you must consider wind speed, wind direction, fetch, current speed, current direction, and water depth. If the forecasted wind direction means that there will be a mile of fetch at a dock during a storm, and the tidal current will be opposed to the wind at the peak of the storm, you definitely don’t want to be in that location. Also, if you are going to be on a dock during a storm, you want your boat to be tied up on the INSIDE of that dock, the side that is furthest away from the open water and closest to the nearest shoreline because you don’t want large waves slamming you into the dock. You’d rather have the waves pushing you away from the dock. If there are going to be large waves rolling into the marina, you want your bow to face into those waves. Having waves repeatedly break over your stern and into your cockpit could sink your boat.
 |
| Fifteen to twenty knots of wind and a cross-current pinning us up against the floating dock at the Isles of Palms Marina (MM 457). There was very little fetch so we weren’t being pounded by waves but you can still see that the force has crushed our fenders. This would have been ugly if there had been some chop. With this cross-current, docking or departing the dock would have been very challenging at this time. We timed our departure for slack tide. Admiral Loki is supervising his crew. |
In general, during a storm, you will be better off swinging on the hook in a protected anchorage than on a dock. The caveats are that you must have access to a well-protected anchorage; you need a good, oversized storm anchor; you need to know how to set that anchor properly; and you need to use chafing gear. Preferably, your anchorage should have a natural shoreline, free of rocks, seawalls, bulkheads, bridges, and docks. The three problems to look out for while anchored in storm conditions are:
1. Dragging your anchor
2. Having another boat drag into you
3. Chafing through your rope rode or snubber.
If another boat comes into the anchorage after you and drops their hook in a spot that will be upwind of you during the storm, you should initiate a friendly conversation to make sure they know that they are going to be upwind of you and to make a plan with the crew of the other boat to monitor channel 16 or a working channel on the VHF. Then you should make sure you have the following items ready, at your fingertips: airhorn, spotlight, and fenders. If you notice the other boat dragging, call them on the radio immediately. If you can’t make radio contact, give 5 short, rapid blasts on the horn (Inland Navigation Rule 34). If that doesn’t work, shine your spotlight on the boat (once they come up on deck, turn your spotlight off; you don’t want to blind them). But if you are not confident in the equipment or anchoring skills of the other boat, the sensible thing to do is to pick up your anchor and move to a safer location. Standard anchoring etiquette suggests that the last boat to arrive should be the first boat to move when conflicts arise. But sometimes it’s just easier to go ahead and move.
 |
| One of the many boats littering the shores of Florida. It seems that whenever the wind blows, more boats are cast ashore. Some seem to have had inadequate ground tackle, but many of these wrecks might have been prevented by $5 worth of fire hose used to protect against chafing. |
Conclusion
Cruising involves a lot of moving of the boat. But some of the most important skills that cruisers need to master are those involved in keeping the boat secured in one place. Invest in the proper equipment and take time to practice and develop the skills needed. The most important things to learn are: 1) the limits of your boat's maneuverability, 2) how wind and current affect its maneuverability, and 3) when to take a conservative approach to prevent navigational mishaps.
 |
| When choosing a spot to anchor or to tie up at a dock, don't forget about the tide. (Also important when you take your dinghy to the beach.) Seen at Daufuskie Island, SC (MM 570). |
To Learn More
- Creative Anchoring, by Capt. Fatty Goodlander
- Ten Golden Rules of Boat Handling, Yachting Monthly
- ICW Free Docks web page
- ICW Free Docks Facebook group.
- ICW Cruising Guide by Bob423 Facebook group
- Introduction
- Chapter 1: Tips & Tricks
- Chapter 2: Water Levels
- Chapter 3: Avoiding Obstacles
- Chapter 4: Running Aground
- Chapter 5: Bridges
- Chapter 6: Inlets
- Chapter 7: Docking, Anchoring & Mooring
- Chapter 8: Navigation Electronics
- Chapter 9: Weather Basics
- Chapter 10: Typical Weather
- Chapter 11: Environmental Stewardship
- Chapter 12: The Perfect Boat
- Chapter 13: Maintenance
- Chapter 14: Conclusion
- About the Authors
