People helping to catch your lines

[xyachtdave]

I usually polity refuse unless i know the person. It's easy for me just to put my midship line on and go from there.
Last time I accepted help the guy pulled my bowline so tight that the stern was almost across the lock.
So I prefer to do it myself.

Give a man a rope and he'll pull it as hard as he can!

Or on the very, very rare occasion one of YBW's forum requires a hand, e.g being blown off a tricky berth in a gale, the 'line assistant' will under no circumstances put a turn over a cleat.

He'll assume the 'tug of war' stance, ignore your requests to cleat it off and steadily lose his tug of war battle with your 10 ton boat.

Then you'll be screwed!

 

[Poignard]

The best thing a helper can do in a finger berth is go to the bow and hold the pulpit while we sort out the rest.

This is what French yachtsmen usually do. It's very kind of them to offer to help.

 

[newtothis]

You can always ask your wife to steer whilst you do the lines? Works for us when we are out on our own boat.

x10 for anchoring. If I lost a finger I'd still go sailing. She wouldn't.

 

[rogerthebodger]

I have a fixed length center cleat line with a mooring hook set for my home berth.

The is the first and only line I will allow to be attached until I leave the helm.

This only goes on the approach end of the finger. If the finger is short its cleated off if it longer the hook goes over the centre bar of the cleat of ring.

Once this is on I motor against this line step off and then fix the bow, stern and springs.

If I know the helper I will let than attach lines once the boat has stopped.

SWMBO will not take the helm and normally used a boat hook to attach the mid cleat line. If a helper he will be told to put it on that cleat (pointing to the cleat)

If I am helping I will take the line but will ask or wait for instructions from the skipper/helmsman.

 

[johnalison]

If I am helping I will take the line but will ask or wait for instructions from the skipper/helmsman.

While I am happy to be told what the boat wants me to do with a line, I find that I generally need to be more pro-active. Too often, the people on the boat haven't thought things through, so I will have no compunction about doing whatever is necessary to control their boat, whether this means fending off, checking the boat's movement with a line, or grabbing a line from their deck and making use of it. I reckon that over the years I have saved quite a few boats from mostly minor harm and hope for no more in return than if I find myself in similar straits there will be someone around who knows what to do.

 

[Catalina36]

Why not throw a mid ship line? Much easier to hold a boat on that while you sort out the rest of the string.

Quite. A lot of people seem preoccupied with getting a bow line on but it can still go out of control after that, depending on wind and tide direction. A midships line prevents either end from getting very far away from the pontoon no matter what the conditions. It's always the first line we attach. With that one on tight the boat is going nowhere.

 

[Seven Spades]

When berthing usually there is only one critical line to get on. I always give instructions to my crew exactly which line I want them to attach rand where. If someone from the shore offers to help I usually ask them to take an unimportant line.

 

[mikegunn]

I am usually single handed when berthing and make a plan on the assumption that there will not be anyone on shore to take my lines. If the wind and/or tide are not in my favour I will radio ahead and ask for assistance from the berthing master. His knowledge of his Harbour/marina will usually ensure that I can berth without drama. Assistance from well meaning individuals on shore does little to help. I acknowledge however, that most of us have a strange inbuilt wish to help any fellow sailor in berthing his/her boat. I don’t think that it’s a wish to show that we know better but rather just a community thing. I now know to stand back and not interfere, unless things really are going pear shaped. I might however proffer my congratulations if I witness a well executed berthing, because in my experience I was probably the only witness anyway.
Mike

 

[JumbleDuck]

I have a fixed length center cleat line with a mooring hook set for my home berth.

We have something similar, though as we don't have a home berth it's just a rope about 1.5m long with a loop spliced in each end. We call it the "Magic Rope" although it isn't actually magic. When going into a marina we attach it to the midships cleat and when we're along side the crew attaches it to a cleat on the finger - either around and back to the boat or just over the cleat, depending on where it is. If there is no mid-finger cleat it can go on and end one.

Once that's in place we can sort everything out at our leisure, running the engine in slow ahead/astern if necessary to keep things steady. My crew and I know each other and the boat very well, so we generally turn down any offers of help.

 

[Robin]

We had a heavy 47 ft trawler in the USA and first time in our new 'home marina reversing in 2 stunning dolly birds in ultra tight shorts arrived from the office 'to assist.' It was blowing a hooley and with horizontal rain and lightning everywhere at times. I asked dolly 1 to put the spring on so I could 'lean' on it at tickover but she just stood there holding it so motoring against it was a no no with over 500hp too. Dolly 2 meanwhile started giving me shouted instructions. i apologised later to both for my hasty comments. ?

 

[Homer J]

Duncan Wells suggests telling the person shore very specifically what you want them to do. For example “take the bow line pass it through the cleat closest to the stern of the boat in front then pass it back to me”. In this way he suggests you retain control. His video is worth a watch. It’s in his book for tips on short handed sailing.

 

[Bobc]

Interesting responses to my situation. As a footnote our boat us 45ft and as my wife cant jump or step off the boat due to a paralysed foot. I am basically single handed. Thats why we have our set procedure. Yes she does lasso the midship line assuming a cleat is suitable on the pontoon. We have visited this particular berth many times without any issues. Unfortunately she got totally distracted by the assistant and got confused on what to do!! Then it all went pete tong. All ended ok except I am on the naughty step for being grumpy towards the very nice man who came to help us.

Same as us. Ours is 50ft, with just the two of us, and the wife can't jump off. As with you, we have a well-practised procedure which works, so we stick to it.

 

[HinewaisMan]

Works both ways.

I’m always happy to offer assistance to someone coming in, but you rarely get told what they’d like you to do.

No, generally someone just chucks you a bow line so you can skew their boat across the pen when you surge it against a cleat.

On the other hand, I am very leery about accepting help when bringing Hinewai in, even though she’s 45ft and 18 tons and I single hand.

My routine is to lean out of my centrish cockpit with my boathook, upon which is a loop leading to a midships cleat, and then back to one of my winches. Drop the loop over the first cleat on the finger, then just use the engine, rudder and winch to gently drive myself in.

Once, only once, have I accepted help. Wind and tide pushing me away from the finger, nice chap standing there offering assistance.

“OK, could you grab that loop and drop it over that cleat at the end of the finger THERE ” (pointing)

He got the first bit right, as in grabbing the loop. The bit where he then ran up to the bow of the boat and dropped the loop over a cleat by the walkway, than merrily said “Cheerio” and wandered off, not doubt feeling fulfilled about his good deed for the day, was not part of the plan.

So I ended up gently nestling against the boat next to me.

Didn’t fancy reversing out in case my anchor made lasting impressions against their lovely gel coat so had to tie myself off to them, wander round and move my midships spring loop to the right end cleat and work my way back across.

He was a nice chap though. Never failed to jovially greet me every time he wandered past. I just couldn’t bring myself to glower at him.

 

[mjcoon]

Duncan Wells suggests telling the person shore very specifically what you want them to do. For example “take the bow line pass it through the cleat closest to the stern of the boat in front then pass it back to me”. In this way he suggests you retain control. His video is worth a watch. It’s in his book for tips on short handed sailing.

And yet when you read guidance about how to brief a novice crew before (say) berthing, it emphasises that you must be certain to use terminology that they understand. So you might assume a loiterer on a quayside understands "cleat", "bollard" and so forth, but there is hardly any time to check!

 

[Stemar]

If someone wants to help, especially if wind and tide are pushing me off the club pontoon, I'm glad for the help, but I try to make sure they get the line I want them to get - a centre line, and ask them to make it off to that cleat. If they can manage that, the rest doesn't matter; I'm attached, more or less parallel to the pontoon and if I'm a bit further off than I want, I can always motor against the line to get in.

When I take a line, it's usually because I can see (stereotype alert) Lady First Mate holding a bit of string and looking a bit scared, so I'll take her line and ask Sir Skipper where he wants it. Then do what he asks if at all possible.

None of the above will work all that well in a tight finger berth, but I can't remember the last time I set foot in a marina, so I'd probably be a bit useless aboard or ashore there.

The thing that does wind me up is the person who puts a lock on each turn from the first. It doesn't take a lot of wake from passing boats to jerk the line so tight it's next to impossible to undo.

 

[Boathook]

When I assist if they ask for the line back I do that otherwise I make sure that the boat is 'safe and make fast with the comment they can adjust lines as they please. If I see their fenders to low or high I alter them and make a comment to those in charge. I don't like being told how to moor my boat up against a jetty and don't do the same to others. If they are coming along me its another matter!

 

[Poignard]

We took part in a French classic boat rally known as Vilaine en Fête a few years ago. One of the overnight stops was at Redon. Only large vessels were allowed in the basin and smaller craft had to drive their bows into the muddy banks of the river and run a line ashore to a tree.

When we arrived, a little late, the only people on the river bank were some old ladies from a coach party having a stroll.

I hurled our head rope ahore and shouted to the old ladies, asking them to tie the line to a tree.

It took some time to make them understand what was required but after a lot of laughing and good-natured banter in Franglais one of them understoood what was required and did as I asked.

 

[Carib]

Please do remember that every boat, situation and crew is different. For example, rafting up, if the next door boat is larger and with a different hull shape, their mid cleat (if they even have one) may often be forward of your own beam - so using a midships line is a non-starter. Even against a pontoon, cleats are not always spaced at textbook intervals.. So 'one size fits all' advice offered so readily will not always be suitable and you need to be able to adapt.

 

[mjcoon]

We took part in a French classic boat rally known as Vilaine en Fête a few years ago. One of the overnight stops was at Redon. Only large vessels were allowed in the basin and smaller craft had to drive their bows into the muddy banks of the river and run a line ashore to a tree.

When we arrived, a little late, the only people on the river bank were some old ladies from a coach party having a stroll.

I hurled our head rope ahore and shouted to the old ladies, asking them to tie the line to a tree.

It took some time to make them understand what was required but after a lot of laughing and good-natured banter in Franglais one of them understoood what was required and did as I asked.

Sounds like a scene from Dad's Army!

 

[Poignard]

Sounds like a scene from Dad's Army!

One could imagine Sgt Wilson calling across to one of the old ladies:

"I say, Madamoiselle, I'm terribly sorry to bother you but would you mind awfully tying that rope to that tree. Thank you ever so much; and may I say what a pretty hat you're wearing. It really matches the colour of your eyes."