How do you dock a small boat on a windward shore?

Answer 1

First of all never allow the vessel to go beam on to the wind. You have a choice of how you do this. First choice. Steer you boat straight towards the dock at a perpendicular angle. This allows you to maintain control of forward and rearward motion of the boat. If you are approaching too fast, reverse your engine with an amount of throttle that will allow you to slow down without losing your forward momentum. Once you reach the dock you can place a person on shore with your bow line and have them either hold it or tie it off. A small amount of right or left rudder will start your stern into the dock. Sometimes the wind will do this for you. Once the stern starts to move shift your rudder to the other side and apply a SMALL amount of throttle to control momentum. Too much throttle will force the bow hard into the dock.

Another method, though not used very often but very effective, is to drop an anchor a short distance from the dock. This allows you to use your anchor line to slowly approach the dock. When using this method it is feasible to allow your boat to go beam on to the wind. Just make sure your anchor is holding well before you try this, otherwise things are going to get very interesting.

The one great advantage to the anchor method is when you decide to leave and the wind is still pressing the boat against the dock, you can use the anchor line to pull yourself out and away allowing some maneuvering room.