Do you offer to take lines?

I offer when it seems appropriate, and if some one offers then I generally accept even if I've got people on the lines already. Get them to pass the lines ashore and even if you take over almost straight away at least they then feel appreciated for their efforts.
 
Approaching a pontoon.....very different reactions of those close to can be experienced......

Some go out of their way to assist and generally do a great job, some help and cock it up and cause a small problem, some

have even approached to help and turned their backs on us as soon as the bow thruster is touched..... which we were very amused by.

Generally we very much welcome help and we go out of our way to thank those who do and it occasionally ends up by us meeting and

getting to know a great deal of new boater friends........we even got invited aboard for drinks on a mobo this last week!

They had a far larger and better quality stocked drinks locker than us :)
 
Last edited:
Of course - every sailor will offer to lend a hand if in the vicinity. After all what goes around, comes around!

That's what I thought until a couple of weeks ago - coming in single handed, I asked my neighbour (and by extension his guests) if they would mind fending me off if I got too close.

I gave my thanks

'What would you have done if we'd said no?'
 
Do you offer to take lines, then tie them up how "you think" they should be tied up or do you ask? I like it how you throw a line with a Bowline tied in the end and then see the person on shore, untie the bowline thinking your some idiot and then proceed to pass the line back to you. (I call these people "little hitlers" :-)) )

I do tho love the "Shore Captains" - More astern, STOP, ahead.... I mean honestly they must get so many shockingly bad sailors in the marina that out of habit they now instruct the captain how to park his boat.
 
Jamesuk said:
Do you offer to take lines, then tie them up how "you think" they should be tied up or do you ask? I like it how you throw a line with a Bowline tied in the end and then see the person on shore, untie the bowline thinking your some idiot and then proceed to pass the line back to you. (I call these people "little hitlers" :-)) )

I do tho love the "Shore Captains" - More astern, STOP, ahead.... I mean honestly they must get so many shockingly bad sailors in the marina that out of habit they now instruct the captain how to park his boat.
Click to expand...
One receiving a line I ask where they want it. If passing a line then I tell them where I want it.
 
Woodlouse said:
One receiving a line I ask where they want it. If passing a line then I tell them where I want it.
Click to expand...

Sometimes I like to think "common sense" would prevail especially in windy conditions but many times we have come into dock and asked "place it on ;that; cleat, only for them to have other ideas and put us some place else. When we were on commercial wharf in Boston I actually wrapped blue electrical tape around the cleat we needed to be tied on. As the dockmaster was a repeat offender of being a "special case" but After adding a visual sign docking was a breeze.
 
When I take lines, if they tell me where they want it, then that's what I do. If they say nothing then I just do what I think is needed. I've found that if I ask where they want it they don't always know and the question sometimes seems to confuse some people.
 
JohnGC said:
Yes usually. It's also a nice way to meet people.
Click to expand...

I will always offer but don't get upset if the offer is declined. If the offer is accepted I usually ask whether they want the line made off or passed back although I will quickly decide for myself if met with a blank stare. I must admit that I mostly decline offers of help ever since a distracted chap on a phone walked to the end of the finger, took the bow line and made it off as tight as possible on the cleat at the end of the finger and walked away, leaving me unable to go in or come out in quite a strong cross wind... :)
 
Reluctant to take lines, people have their own ways of doing things. Unless it looks like things are not going to end well.

We need to get the centre line attached and then the bow and stern. Get gung-ho, well intentioned chappies who grab the bow line and heave us almost onto the pontoon. Therefore reluctant to give lines, unless it is all going horribly wrong.

On the matter of jumping - I have to discourage this in the strongest possible terms. Escape from the sinking boat is the only possible excuse fro jumping from the boat onto pontoon or anywhere else.

I was a jumper and one fine afternoon in 2006 I jumped from a boat onto a quay on the West of Scotland. At the precise moment the boat pitched and I fell into the sea between the boat and the quay. The impact broke many bones in my foot!
The first hour was spent sitting on an uninhabited island as the numbing effect of the cold water wore off and the pain and the shock, pain and perilous nature of my position set in. The second hour was spent formulating an escape plan. No mobile signal and it didn't really merit a Mayday. Oh the boat I found out had no VHF radio anyway.

A further hour and a half in a boat being transported to the mainland was followed by an hours journey to hospital. A Saturday evening in a remote A&E and the Radiologist is not on duty and is in fact four hours away by road.

Generous doses of ice, strapping up and pain killer with a 'come back in the morning' was all they could offer

The whole process involved me eventually being returned to my base in Belgium via Schipol.
Two operations and months recovering. A year later another operation to remove some of the hardware.
Shortly after this another pin began moving about and made things very uncomfortable.

The operations were not a success, the outcome is perpetual pain and discomfort and my walking range is measured in yards not miles these days. That was 7 years ago and there is no prospect of any improvement in the situation.

So, I must repeat my warning about the perils of jumping, step by all mean. But if you have to jump, then the helm got it wrong! And you shouldn't take the risk.
 
Dux Duckett said:
I always offer and always appreciate an offer when I'm coming alongside - no matter how competent my crew
Click to expand...

+1.

Came in yesterday with about 20 knots blowing me off the pontoon. Two neighbours took my lines resulting in success. Life would have been MUCH more difficult without them. On Tuesday offered to help couple in similar circumstances. What goes around comes around...
 
Always happy to offer a hand and ask if they want the line passed back. There have been occasions when we were truly grateful for assistance and others when we wished we hadn't accepted, boat macramé anyone? :)

Agree wholeheartedly with the no jumping policy, no one gets off the boat until secured. Appreciate that being a multihull this may be easier to follow (no I am not beginning a mono vs. multi debate.....)
 
Some interesting comments on here. :)

Do you not find that you can usually tell, by looking and listening to the skipper and crew, how much of your help they will either want or need?

The boat with the crew standing quietly in sensible places, holding neatly coiled lines, the skipper calmly manoeuvring the boat issuing clear and calm instructions, will require minimum assistance from you and if they tell you how they want things, that's what you do.

Then there's the boat with crew milling around, clearly unsure what to do or where to be, no lines rigged, skipper shouting at everyone and alternating between full ahead and full reverse, they will need all the help you can give them.
 
Part of being a small boat skipper is waiting for the crew/onshore helpers to go to the pub/home so you can re tie all of their knots properly without upsetting them.

I generally only help others if things are going t1ts up for them or except help if this is the case with my efforts!

You brief your crew on what to do before berthing, then a helpful stranger appears on the pontoon and adds confusion if their feelings on the best way of doing things are injected into the plan at the last moment.

Also 'give a man a rope and he'll pull it,' seems to be the case too.....
 
In BVIs and walking past a dead end pontoon and saw a charter monohull coming in fast. Crew member on bow threw me a line which I thought would be followed by full reverse....but no. Realised that I had once chance to drop a couple of turns around the bollard (thankfully it was a plain bollard) before the bow ploughed into the pontoon ahead. The turns fell cleanly, the line squealed and groaned and I held on for dear life. The bow quarter fender slammed sideways into the pontoon and the bow stopped a foot or two from the dead end. US skipper said thanks and I walked away thinking that I could probably never repeat that successfully!

Richard
 
I always offer and appreciate an offer being made even if I refuse it.
At Ardfern a couple of weeks ago a lady on an incoming boat tossed me a line and then took her end off the cleat and passed that to me as well. Her husband, at the helm, seemed as bemused as I was.
 
If I need help tying up,windward pontoon or whatever,I start politely shouting exactly what I need doing,eg "Oi MATE I'M THROWING YOU A LINE,CAN YOU TIE IT ON THAT CLEAT STRAIGHT AWAY,THANKS" and everone is happpy.
When I jump on the pontoon to take someones's lines,it would be better if they did the same. Sometimes it is more polite,and safer,to bellow at a complete stranger!
 
You must log in or register to reply here.

Other threads that may be of interest

PaulJ
Galapagos
Replies
5
Views
318
dansaskip
dansaskip
R
Brokers.
Replies
6
Views
525
Irish Rover
Irish Rover
geem
Ok, I am converted. Bifacial solar panel really do output more
Replies
0
Views
177
geem
geem

Share this page

Top